-Dexter Sports
11:29 AM
Dexter-Sports Inbox

Last night's action was some of the best this season. We saw the Brewers blow another lead in the ninth, The Orioles continue their great play, and a circus high-fiving catch by Manny Ramirez had everyone loving mid May baseball. Throw on the fact that the Royals continued their domination of the Tigers this season (now 5-0) and Robinson Cano finally got his average above .200, fans all around can rejoice this Thursday. Especially if your Ryan Braun, who signed a 7 year extension worth a reported 45 million dollars. Welcome to the club Mr. Braun. Here is some news from around the league.

• John Fay, the Reds beat writer for the Cincinnati Inquirer notes on his blog today that Jay Bruce, undoubtedly is ready for the major leagues. Bruce is hitting .667 with 3 homers and 9 RBIs over the last five games. The only issue at hand is the amount of playing time that the Reds can give him. According to GM Walt Jocketty, there will be some point where they will just have to call him up and he continues to say that Bruce is not going unnoticed. Does this mean that a Griffey Deal is in the works? Not so fast, Jocketty also went on to say that there have been no trade discussions.

• Yankees manager Joe Girardi praises defensive pitching whiz Kenny Rogers in a recent article by the Detroit Free Press. Rogers become the all time pick off leader last weekend when Girardi's Yankees came to Detroit. Girardi says that Rogers is the best double play pitcher that he has ever seen.

• The Baltimore Sun is reporting that reliever James Hoey will be out for the rest of the season after getting surgery to repair some torn cartilage in his right shoulder. Hoey appeared in 23 games for the O's last season and was once considered the closer of the future. The Orioles are comparing the surgery as something similar to Troy Patton's season ending operation at the beginning of the season. The Baltimore Sun's Roch Kubatko also wrote a great piece on prized prospect Chris Tillman, who came to the Orioles in the Erik Bedard deal.

• Jim Edmonds is officially a Cub and will split center field duties with Reed Johnson. Edmonds comes to the cubs after being released from the San Diego Padres. The Cubs will pay Edmonds around 290,000 for his duties. The Cubs will option down young Felix Pie yet again to make room for Edmonds. The Cubs hope that Edmonds will be 100% when he joins the club today. Does this mean that Felix Pie is available for the right price? Possibly but Edmonds is not the long-term solution in Chicago.

• The Dodger outfield woes continue. Last night, with the absence of Shortstop Rafael Furcal, Joe Torre put Juan Pierre at the top of the order and placed Andruw Jones second. Matt Kemp got the start and yet again Andre Either was stuck with the shaft. Joe Torre has to go with Pierre, or he has no speed currently at the top of the lineup. This would not be an issue if the Dodgers didn't blow a lot of money where they didn't need to. Hopefully Either, who has had a far more productive season than Juan Pierre, will sneak some more playing time.

• Yankees GM Brian Cashman is sick of answering the question, "When is Joba going to begin his rehab to become a Starter?" According to the New York Times, Cashman will not articulate on the plan. It seems the Joba, who has been dominant in his setup role, would be better off staying put. The Times notes that his 98 MPH fastball will not be around if he starts and that it is a risk to take such a good piece away from this team, in hope that he will be as dominant as a starter. I completely agree here. Keep Joba in the pen if you want to stay in the hunt Hank. If you love Joba so much, why don't you go find some better starters available via trade instead of wasting your time on the Kei Igawa project.