Items of interest; irresponsible rumormongering 

Posted 9:06 AM by Sean
As expected, Ervin Santana has been called up to make tonight's start against the Nationals. Following last night's 11-1 pasting, it will be interesting to see how the Nats approach Santana, and vice-versa.

Oh, and memo to the folks booing Jose Guillen's at-bats - show some class, gang. The guy carried last year's squad for a little while early in the season.

Sent down to make room for Santana was Casey Kotchman, whose 0-for-10 performance this time around (two starts, two pinch-hit ABs) brings his big-league line to .206/.279/.254 for his career in 126 at-bats. Guess that Erstad contract extension in 2002 wasn't such a bad idea after all, huh?

Meanwhile, Kendry Morales has been promoted to Double-A Arkansas after posting a .344 average at Rancho Cucamonga. If Morales continues to progress, we may see a fairly major logjam at the Major League level, considering that Maicer Izturis has already started playing rehab games at Salt Lake. Even promoting Izturis means that the Angels will need to send Robb Quinlan, Jeff DaVanon, or Juan Rivera down, so I'd think that Morales will get his shot no earlier than September (barring injuries, of course).

And here's something to think about: given that the Angels' offense - now improving, thank God - has suffered a great deal from a lack of DH, let us consider the possibiliy of this deal, or something similar, at the July 31 trade deadline.

Giants get: Jarrod Washburn (trade and sign), Casey Kotchman, and Brandon Wood OR Erick Aybar OR Alberto Callaspo.

Angels get: Barry Bonds.

That's assuming Bonds is healthy by then, or close to it, anyway. Bonds has said that he could see himself finishing his career as a DH, and has even specifically mentioned the Angels as a possibility. And the seriousness of his current health problems argue against his being much of an asset to the Giants for very long if he has to play the field when he returns. Interestingly, both Bonds and Erstad have contracts that run through '06, so the Angels could be rid of Bonds's salary in time to pursue a free agent first baseman, if they so desired (though Bonds is owed an additional $5 million per year through 2011, which the Angels would be crazy to take on; the Giants would need to pay some or all of that). The Giants also need to get younger in a big way, and if they're out of it at the trade deadline...

Call me crazy. But.