I’ve been a bit AWOL this past week. I’m back at school and doing stuff for frosh orientation. Have no fear, The Baseball Guy will bring you back your regularly scheduled programming soon…maybe even today.

In a bit of old news, the Braves designated Bob Wickman for assignment on August 24. This is obviously tied to Wickman’s alleged attitude problems.

Mark Bowman, the Braves beat reporter had the story. I believe that Schuerholz was thinking way ahead in his trade deadline moves when he acquired Octavio Dotel. I think he got Dotel in the event that Wickman would be released or traded because of his unwillingness to take one for the team in non-save situations.

The Cubs acquired outfielder Craig Monroe from the Detroit Tigers for the cliché PTBNL and cash considerations yesterday. It doesn’t hurt to add him especially since the Cubs have the payroll. Detroit designated Monroe for assignment last week and I have a story up about that.

Monroe’s designation by the Tigers was just one of a string of moves they made in order to boost the team. The Cubs add another outfielder but they’ll have a backlog when Alfonso Soriano returns from the DL.

To view Monroe’s Yahoo! Sports MLB stats, click here.

The Mets made a good move late Monday, acquiring the versatile veteran Jeff Conine from the Reds. Conine is more than a suitable replacement for the recently injured Damion Easley. The former suffered a left ankle sprain and his absence no doubt comes as a hit to the Mets since Easley has played 5 positions this year. Yep…5 positions.

ESPN has the story and the deal involves two minor leaguers being sent to the Reds. The Reds get two young players: SS Jose Castro and OF Sean Henry. I think it’s a good deal for both sides. To replace Conine on the roster, the Reds called up former Devil Ray Jorge Cantu.

First the Yankees make an interesting move by designating Mike Myers for assignment, then the White Sox make an even more interesting move by signing Myers.

First…the Yankees. They designate Myers and call up Jim Brower. That’s right…Jim Brower. In 3.1 innings since replacing Myers, Brower has a 13.50 ERA. That’s right. They replaced a lefty who gets righties out, with a righty who encourages baserunners to cross at will.

Then the White Sox sign Myers and demote a position player. Jigga what? Fox Sports has the story. A pitcher replacing a position player. I think Myers will help the Sox to accomplish some sort of respectability if nothing else.

To view Myers Yahoo! Sports stats, click here.

I really didn’t want to report this, but Zambrano signed a 5-year $91.5 million contract extension with the Cubs on August 17. Everyone thinks he’s the ace of the Cubs staff, but I beg to differ. An ace doesn’t walk 100 guys in a season. Sorry. It’s a fact. An ace isn’t supposed to issue so many free passes in a season.

Scott Kazmir could get away with walking 100 guys in a season, but he’s spent about the equivalent of 3 years worth of starts. Zambrano is in his 7th year in the bigs. Last year he walked 115 guys. This year he’s on track to walk 97 in 33 starts. Sure he strikes out guys, but walking about 100 guys and striking out about 200 isn’t becoming of an ace.

Zambrano gets wins. I can’t doubt that. In fact, he’s good. But I think he can be even better. A team shouldn’t fork out $91 million in the hope that a guy gets better. They pay for the real deal. Zambrano will never win a Cy Young if he continues to issue 100 walks or around that mark. He could win 25 games, but if he walks a lot of guys it’ll be hard for the baseball public to say he’s great. ESPN has the story up.

Zambrano’s deal includes an option in 2013 which could make the deal a 6-year $110.75 million. Big Z gets a full no trade clause and a $5 million signing bonus. But Big Z still said “Not everything is about money, you know.” Really now.

To view Zambrano’s Yahoo! Sports MLB stats, click here.

According to ESPN, the White Sox signed right fielder Jermaine Dye to a two-year contract extension today. The contract is for 2-years and $22 million with a mutual option for a third year. The contract calls for salaries of $9.5 million in 2008, $11.5 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2010 option year. The converse of the option being picked up is a buyout for $1 million.

While Dye has a team-high 24 Homers for the Sox this year, I think it’s a bad deal, but not that bad. It sure beats a 6-year commitment that top tier outfielders would demand and it helps to bridge the gap between Sox prospects getting seasoned in the majors. Dye is hitting .245 with a .309 OBP and .490 slugging %. That has him on the brink of the decent standard for outfielders OPS which stands at .800; compare that with Dye and he’s .799 this year but .823 for his career

I think the best part of the deal is the number of years or the lack thereof. I’ve never understood the infatuation with Dye. But he produces when he needs to show his value.

So Wily Mo Pena’s career as a Red Sox player has mercifully come to an end, according to Amalie Benjamin of the Boston Globe.

The Sox needed to clear a roster spot and Pena effectively got his pink slip. The Nationals acquired him from the Sox and in return the Sox will receive cash considerations and a PTBNL…ah…the infamous PTBNL. This is a useful loophole in the waiver trade deadline because guys who are on the active roster and are to be traded, must clear waivers I think. So this just allows the Nationals to keep their roster, as punchless as it is.

I think Pena will do well in RFK. It’s a low pressure situation and he still has some power in his bat. It’s up to the Nats hitting coach to harness Pena’s chi…or something.

To view Pena’s Yahoo! Sports MLB stats, click here.

According to ESPN, the Tigers designated left-fielder Craig Monroe today. It’s a so-so deal. Monroe was coming off a career year in 2006 in HRs and RBI’s. His strikeout rate and OBP are abysmal. The Tigers get rid of a few hundred thousand dollars here.

In tandem with designating Monroe, the Tigers optioned infielder Omar Infante to their Triple-A affiliate while recalling an infielder: Ramon Santiago. They also promoted top prospect Cameron Maybin.

The “deal” looks like this:

Out: Craig Monroe, Omar Infante

In: Ramon Santiago, Cameron Maybin

The Braves inquired on Monroe a few years ago but nothing ever came of it. It would have been hard to imagine Andruw Jones and Craig Monroe on the same team offensively. They probably would have had 275-300 K’s between them. Monroe is a free agent this year so it’ll be interesting to see who makes a move for him for 1.5 months left in the season.

To view Monroe’s Yahoo! Sports MLB stats, click here.

With just over a month left in the regular season, I thought I’d take a look at contenders for the NL Cy Young award. A few criteria should be set out.

• The eventual Cy Young winner needs to have wins; not necessarily lots of them, but equal to or more than the other guys. Case in point: last year’s winner Brandon Webb. He won the award with a 16-8 record. Aaron Harang of the Reds was pretty good last year, but I think his losses and ERA cost him a few votes.
• Low ERA. Even if the wins aren’t there, a low ERA helps a lot. Maddux won the award one year with a 16-6 record, but his ERA was:1.56; A stat I like to look at is ERA/WHIP differential. Maddux’s was .66 that year he won when he had 16 games. Did I mention that he also had 10 complete games?
• Strikeouts; WHIP; Walks and HR allowed are all important stats, but they aren’t as critical as Wins and ERA.

So the front-line contenders are: Tim Hudson, Carlos Zambrano, Cole Hamels, Jake Peavy, Brad Penny, Brandon Webb

Outside chance: Aaron Harang, Chris Young, John Maine, John Smoltz

• Based on wins, Young and Smoltz gotta go. Webb is on thin ice regarding wins, but his scoreless streak more than compensates for the difference in wins. While Young leads in quite a few categories like WHIP, ERA and batting average against (BAA), it’s hard to include a guy who has 5 fewer wins than the leader. Young missed a couple starts when he was on the DL, but it still won’t bring him that close to the leader. Smoltz…no wins.

• Low ERA…who doesn’t have it? Zambrano, Hamels, Maine and Harang. (In fact, Zambrano would have been eliminated anyway because he gives up too many walks…way too many. And for those who say it’s only one category, well Russ Ortiz had 21 wins for the Braves in 2oo3 but he gave up 102 walks. In fact Ortiz finished 4th that year in the voting. ) So wins and ERA are important. Can’t have one without the other…well you can but it’s stiff competition this year. Maine and Hamels have given up 18 and 25 HRs respectively. No chance.

Based on stats, the order of the remaining contenders:

1. Jake Peavy- San Diego Padres
2. Brad Penny- Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Tim Hudson- Atlanta Braves
4. Brandon Webb- Arizona Diamondbacks

Note that 3 of the 4 contenders based on stats are based in the punchless NL West. I pick Peavy to win because he has quite a few things working in his favor, especially Petco Park and the fact that Penny normally has a second-half meltdown. Hudson has been great and is resembling the pitcher the Braves traded for when he was in Oakland. Webb is the odd man out. He’s putting together some great peripheral stats, like the scoreless streak, complete games and shutouts. Where it really counts though, he’s behind the other three, and his losses are starting to mount up.

It’s an interesting race for the Cy Young. Let’s see what happens.