San Diego Padres Give Mark Kotsay Another Shot for $1.25 Million

Apparently, Mark Kotsay is not done playing baseball.

For whatever reason, the San Diego Padres feel Kotsay will be able to contribute to their outfield situation... because he's certainly not going to do anything for their run-scoring situation. Anyway, he's one of the few big leaguers to more or less beg to play there:

"There was no secret that I wanted to come back and play here... At this point, all signs pointed to coming back to San Diego. It's tied to multiple things. My family is here and it gives me a chance to be part of an organization that's growing. I still have multiple friends in this organization. I even think the clubhouse staff is still the same. I'm excited."

I'm sure you are.

Kotsay was with the team from 2001-03, where he never really did anything spectacular. The 35-year-old, who has bounced around seven different organizations during his 15-year career, is a .278 lifetime hitter.

He took it up a notch with the Milwaukee Brewers during his attempted comeback season last year and batted .270 with three home runs and 31 RBI. Good luck, buddy!

[MLB]

Braves Sweep, Jones Still Ridiculous

Chipper Jones drove in five runs for the Braves, including a three-run shot for his ninth homer of the season Sunday as the Atlanta Braves finished their sweep of the Cincinnati Reds with a 14-7 victory to bring them back up to .500 baseball.

The Braves, who nailed a season-high 19 hits, scored seven runs in the second inning and Kelly Johnson went 4-for-6 with three doubles. Three doubles! Furthermore, Mark Kotsay went 3-for-4 with a homer, his second of the year.

Atlanta veteran Tom Glavine couldn’t get his act together for his first victory, giving up seven hits and walking five for six runs in just 4.2 innings.

Bronson Arroyo was roughed up for seven runs on seven hits, and lasted only 1.1 innings. This marks the shortest outing of his career as his ERA sky-rocketed to 8.63.

Someone better call 911, cause Chipper Jones is on fire. The 36-year-old sweet-swinging switch-hitter is batting .425. Holy Smokes! The Braves, on the other hand, aren't faring so well on the road. They're 11-4 at The Ted, but 4-11 away.

That's not as crappy as the Reds, though, who just finished another five-game road losing streak to lose their 12th of 18 road games.

[AJC]

Mark Kotsay Moves to Atlanta

Mark Kotsay is on his way to filling Andruw Jones' spot in the Atlanta Braves' outfield, at least for this season... or until he hurts himself.

The Braves reached a preliminary agreement this weekend to nab the injury-plagued outfielder from the Oakland Athletics for reliever Joey Devine and some cold, hard cash, once Kotsay passes a physical and the commissioner's office approves the amount of money involved with the trade.

Suffering through back problems much of last season after having part of a herniated disk removed from his lower back, Kotsay hit .214 with one home run and 20 RBIs in 56 games with the A's. The 32-year-old career .282 hitter, who has 11 notches in his big league belt, will most likely be a temporary solution until Jordan Schafer is ready to make his climb to the majors.

Devine, 24, was 1-0 with a 1.08 ERA in 10 games -- 8.1 innings -- for the Braves last season, striking out seven, but walking eight. In the minors, the righty was 5-4 with an impressive 1.89 ERA and 20 saves between AA Mississippi and AAA Richmond in 2007.

[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Mark Kotsay Injury Update

After being plagued by pain and stiffness for more than two seasons with no progress through rehabilitation, the Oakland Athletics' centerfielder Mark Kotsay has opted to undergo arthroscopic surgery to repair the herniated disk in his back. Though there is no exact timetable for his return, he could be sidelined for up to three months.

Kotsay, 31, hasn't practiced since Feb. 26th, when he first complained of stiffness in his back and had an MRI test two days later. He then left the A's spring training camp in Phoenix and headed to Los Angeles late last week for further testing and a second opinion.

Kotsay played postseason baseball for the first time in his 10-year big league career in 2006, starting 96 of the A's first 111 games through Aug. 6th, but the pain in his back limited him to 25 starts over the final 51 games. He matched his career-lows with 7 home runs and 57 runs, grounding into a career-high 18 double plays while batting .275.

With Kotsay out, Milton Bradley has been moved from right field to center while the club has options in the corner spots with Shannon Stewart, Nick Swisher and Bobby Kielty.

[San Francisco Chronicle]

Bobby Kielty's Knees, Mark Kotsay's Back

Sometime yesterday Babes Love Baseball got its 10,000th hit. We think it's because we waited until now to post this pic of Oakland Athletics outfielder Bobby Kielty, who underwent successful surgery on Friday to repair a torn meniscus in his knee.

The injury happened Sunday while he was running the bases during a rundown drill, not realizing the severity of it at the time and practiced Monday before feeling some pain.

The A's are hoping he will be fully healed by Opening Day, but on the grounds of Kielty being a slow healer, I wouldn't put money on him returning before the second week of the season.

In other A's injury news, center fielder Mark Kotsay has been out since Monday with the same lower-back spasms that have cost him playing time over the past two seasons. He didn't hear anything new on Thursday when given the results of his MRI exam, so he flew to Los Angeles early Friday in search of a second opinion.

This is the earliest in the season Kotsay has ever been hit by problems. He missed 25 of the A's final 51 games last season because of back pain, and says that this episode is the worst since coming to Oakland before the 2004 season.

[Oakland Athletics News]