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Today’s entrant from the always entertaining and informative 2009 Basball Prospectus Annual are their notes on Milwaukee’s Corey Hart:

“Hart went from being a kep player in 2007 to a total mess in 2008; despite getting off to a solid start (.300/.348/.473 through May), he hit just .252/.275/.452 the rest of the way. His hacktastic approach at the plate caught up with him; he saw one of the heaviest diets of sliders of any player, and swung at far more pitches outside the zone than he had in the past. By September, he was a wreck, hitting just .173/.192/.245. He’ll need to rebound to remain an asset as he becomes more expensive.”

Today’s entrant, their notes on the LA Angels’ Kendry Morales:

“Morales hasn’t lived up to expectations since the Angels took him out of Cuba, but with Kotchman and Teixeira out of the way, he’s finally going to get his chance. His minor league numbers have been consistently excellent, his brief big-league performances spotty. The Angels and scouts from outside the organization raved about his winter performance in the tough Dominican league, where Morales, in shape and focused, his .404/.450/.778 in 26 games for the Gigantes. He could be a real sleeper in 2009.“

Hmmm, he does indeed have a steady gig in a loaded line-up, and this spring, in 63 at-bats (better sample size than usual for the spring) he is hitting .397/.426/.667 with three home runs and eight doubles. Even in the inflated offense that is Arizona, that is noteworthy. Worth a flier late in your fantasy drafts…

When you get a chance to fully peruse the 2009 BP Annual, make sure you linger on their insightful rundown of the current state of the Padres ownership (and their review of San Diego’s checkered ownership history). It sets the stage to properly appreciate this note on likely 2009 SS for San Diego, Luis Rodriguez:

“The Venezuelan took over for Khalil Greene when the latter was battered into submission by a hopped-up suitcase. Rodriguez isn’t much of a shortstop, has all the home-run potential of Stephen Hawking, and is a ’switch-hitter’ who checks his bat against left-handed pitching. Unless the Padres have acquired another shortstop by the time you read this, Rodriguez will start. It’s going to be a long year.“

They have not. And it will be.

BP 2009 on Joey Gathright:

“Gathright picked up an extra-base hit once every 79 plate appearances during his time in the majors last year, the worst ratio in a season of at least 300 PAs since Rafael Belliard in 1988. Toss in his feeble work with Omaha, and a more punchless performance hasn’t been seen since 1968. No one in the majors is faster, but that speed has not translated to good defense, making baserunning and the occasional bunt single his only tangible contributions. That’s not a player worth the raise he would have seen in arbitration, and the Royals wisely nontendered him. Gathright was then picked up by the Cubs, who were worried they might not have enough outfielders to block Felix Pie.”

And, after BP’s 2009 Annual went to press, the Cubs did indeed solve that little problem by dealing Pie out of town…

—Cole Hamels heading back to Philly to get his left elbow examined. Illumine us, Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr.:

“He’s had a little bit of a persistent soreness in his elbow; we do not believe it’s serious. But at least at this time we thought it was important for Dr. (Michael) Ciccotti to check him out and see if there’s anything more serious than we think it is.”

Hmmmm. I will strongly be considering adjusting my fantasy draft sheet accordingly. “Persistent soreness” seems less than ideal when it comes to pitcher’s elbows…

—Pudge Rodriguez, still whacking thrown balls around the World Baseball Classic, has finally found a home for 2009. That would be in Houston where he will split time with JR Towles. That particular home park gives Rodriguez some fantasy value again.

—Ryan Braun will continue to hang with the US World Baseball squad, despite straining a muscle in his ribcage during the US win over the Dutch. Pulled/strained muscles are the injury du jour of the WBC (Pedroia, Chipper).

—Albert Pujols hits his first homerun of the spring. The comment that follows that blurb from “Philip” is, well, representative of that particualar genre. Note to newspapers and most websites in general, it’s okay to disable comments from time to time. Not every thought needs to recorded for posterity.

—After watching Brian McCann take the field in left for the US late in the game last night in the WBC, I wondered to what lengths Davey Johnson will go win games as manager of the American club. Not much further than that, apparently. Johnson says he would forfeit a game, even if it meant elimination, before risking players. Good. More from Johnson:

“I’m definitely going to have a list of things to submit to MLB of things that would make it easier for the manager” to avoid injuries, Johnson said. Among those, Johnson said he would like to see more exhibition games before the tournament, fewer days off and a rule change allowing a manager to reinsert a player into the lineup if an injury occurs during the game.“

All sensible suggestions. The biggest problem I can see, from having watched a bunch of these games since the latest global tournament experiment kicked off, is the down time for major leaguers who should be getting ready for the season. Jake Peavy went seven days between outings last week, getting lit like the town drunk Saturday night. Felix Hernandez is starting for Venezuela tonight, and it had been nine days since he last worked in a game. That kind of disruption to routine puts starters way behind where they should be, and may explain some of what Nate Silver found back in 2006.

Little changes to improve what has been a really cool thing would be very appropriate for MLB to consider.

While we’re here and talking about Davey Johnson, will someone please give him a job? He’s a ridiculously good manager, one the Reds never should have fired. In a league where incompetents get recycled too often, a truly skilled manager like Johnson should not be away from the bench as long as he has.

The Annual on Joe Mauer:

“His defense speaks for itself, so he should have a long career as a backstop, even if his offense fades. Speaking of which, want to see something really scary? Through his just-completed age-25 season, Mauer has hit .317/.399/.457. Through his age-25 season, Jason Kendall batted .312/.399/.451. Just sayin’.“

Indeed.

Throw in the bad back, and that’s worth tucking away for future reference.

The Baseball Prospectus Annual has become a must read in quick order for any baseball fan. Even if you do not participate in a fantasy league, the writing and analysis in and of itself is worth the $15 – $21 (depending on where you order it from). Today’s bit of goodness? The Jon Lieber section:

“As fun as it is to remember when Lieber was stolen from the Pirates for Brant Brown – the “outfielder” who gave us Ron Santo’s famous shriek of “Oh noooo!” – that was 10 years ago. Lieber no longer has the ability to fool enough people on the right often enough to have a future in talk radio, and he fools those on the left less often thatn Bill O’Reilly. A free agent, he’ll go wherever desperation cries our for succor and give it his best shot.”

Quality.