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Join SI.com's James Quintong in a discussion of some of the latest news in football, baseball and other sports and how it relates to fantasy teams and leagues.
8/17/2007 04:40:00 PM

On the move

Cameron Maybin
Cameron Maybin needed just six games at Double-A before the Tigers called him up to the majors.
Ed Wolfstein/Icon SMI
Some quick transactions notes heading into the weekend:

-- The Red Sox gave up on Wily Mo Pena, shipping him to the Nationals for a player to be named later. Pena has good power, but only had five homers and an anemic .218 average this season, and was definitely on his way out. However, a change of scenery, even to Washington, might get his bat going again. He'll take at-bats away from guys like Nook Logan, Ryan Langerhans and Ryan Church. Don't go breaking the bank for him, but he might be worth a look in NL-only leagues if you need some power.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox will probably go with rookie Jacoby Ellsbury and recently acquired Bobby Kielty to fill that fourth outfielder role. Along with that move, Boston called up another one of its top pitching prospects in Clay Buchholz to start the first game of a doubleheader against the Angels. Buchholz was adequate in his major-league debut, going six innings, allowing four runs (three earned) and eight hits, walking three but striking out five to get the victory. Not bad, not great, but at least it's something to build on.

-- Speaking of top prospects, the Tigers called up their top young hitter Cameron Maybin from the minors despite playing just six games in Double-A, but homering four times and hitting .400. At Single-A Lakeland, Maybin hit .304 with 10 homers and 25 steals. More surprising than the callup was that the Tigers designated Craig Monroe for assignment to open up a roster spot. Monroe had struggled this year, hitting .222 with an anemic .264 on-base percentage, although he did have 11 homers and 55 RBIs. And he was coming off a career-high 28 homers and 92 RBIs last season.

Maybin will probably share time with Marcus Thames, and he'll also have to hold off Ryan Raburn for at-bats as well. Still, with such a huge prospect now up, it'll be tough to just keep him on the bench, so they'll give Maybin plenty of chances to succeed, even though the Tigers are in the midst of the playoff chase. If you've stashed Maybin on your roster all year, I guess now is the time to use him.

-- Finally, Carlos Zambrano got his contract issues all squared away, agreeing to a five-year, $91.5 million deal. Zambrano has been somewhat up and down all year, struggling in April, but then pitching like the All-Star we expect him to be for much of the season before going on a recent slide just before agreeing to the deal. Maybe some players just don't need the contract pressure, so with the deal all settled, Zambrano can go pitching like the top star he is.
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