Angels 25-year-old reliever Darren O’Day made his first major league appearance on Monday, getting himself out of a jam in the 8th by striking out the Twins’ Brendan Harris and inducing a flyout from Adam Everett. Although he’d never played above Double-A, O’Day went 3-0 with a 2.04 ERA in 17 2/3 innings this spring, and found a spot on the roster when 4 of their pitchers wound up on the DL.

Quick note on the Angels’ pitching situation: Kelvim Escobar is potentially done for the season, and I can’t be the only one who thinks that John Lackey’s injury is more significant than the Angels are letting on. Perhaps that will keep Nick Adenhart in the starting rotation longer than expected, and could create a regular bullpen job for O’Day. A shakeup appears imminent in Anaheim.

A few notes of interest from ESPN legend Peter Gammons latest chat:

• From the sound of things, Gammons thinks Clayton Kershaw is certain to be a factor for the Dodgers this year.  Their main concern is limiting his inning early so he finishes in the 150-160 IP range.
• Tigers manager Jim Leyland thinks Detroit’s first pick in the 2007 Draft, Rick Porcello, will be with the big league club some time this season.
• Gammons also notes that players like Porcello, the Yankees Austin Jackson, Andrew Brackman, and Ian Kennedy, the Red Sox Lars Anderson, Ryan Kalish, Anthony Rizzo, David Mailman, and Will Middlebrooks, will have a serious impact on this year’s draft.  Of course these players are all now top prospects who were drafted way above slot in later rounds.
• Picking player comparables is always tricky business, but Gammons thinks the best comparable he’s heard for Yankees SP Ian Kennedy is the Blue Jays SP Shaun Marcum.

Earlier this week we listed the top prospects getting cut from the Rays, Indians, Pirates, Nationals, Rockies, Rangers, Red Sox, Twins, Angels, and Orioles.  We’ve listed below a handful of prospects who have been cut since then.

• Beau Mills, 3B/1B, Indians
• Trevor Crowe, OF, Indians
• Matt LaPorta, OF, Brewers
• Phillipe Aumont, RHP, Mariners
• Robinzon Diaz, C, Blue Jays
• Charlie Morton, RHP, Braves
• Tyler Flowers, C/1B, Braves
• Brett Sinkbeil, RHP, Marlins
• Lance Broadway, RHP, White Sox
• Rick Porcello, RHP, Tigers
• Dexter Fowler, OF, Rockies
• Chris Nelson, SS, Rockies
• Jeff Samardzija, RHP, Cubs
• John Bowker, OF, Giants

As usual, some great prospect tidbits out of a few blog entries by ESPN’s Keith Law (Link to first entry; Link to second entry). Law is in Arizona with his family, and these are a few notable comments he had about a few prospects he watched play. Gives you a more scout-like perspective of how these guys are playing.

• Law saw Angels’ top pitching prospect Nick Adenhart pitch four innings against the A’s. His two best pitches, a late-action two-seamer fastball and a deep breaking curveball, both looked very good and were well used by Adenhart. His third pitch, a changeup, wasn’t performing quite as well. Adenhart will need to develop his ability to use this pitch if he’s to realize the lofty projections anointed him.
• We’ve mentioned the huge three-run bomb that A’s prospect Daric Barton hit in his first game back after injuring his wrist. Well, Law cautions that we shouldn’t get too excited about this HR as it was hit off of non-prospect Matt Wilhite, whose arm-slot is uber conducive to a swing like Barton’s.
• Bad news on one of our top rookie breakout candidates, Rockies’ SP Franklin Morales. We were excited by the news that Cook and Hirsch had both been temporarily shelved, seemingly opening a door in the rotation for Morales. Law noticed, however, that Morales’ velocity was way down at a point in the spring where most pitchers are getting up to their normal speeds. Law spoke with a scout who had noticed the same thing in his previous start as well. Let’s be clear, it was Morales mid to high 90’s velocity coupled with his devastating slider that made him look so good last year. If he doesn’t have that stuff back come season start, Morales could be in a world of hurt.
• We’ve also noted that Rockies prospect Jayson Nix appears to be the front runner for the starting 2B job. Law thinks it will be a short-lived tenure for Nix, though. He notes that Nix’s swing is too long, and he struggles to connect with any decent fastball or breaking ball.
• Law also watched Giants flamethrower Erik Threets in one inning of work. Law wasn’t too enamored with Threets, who surprised him with a solid inning of work. Threets is throwing in the mid to high 90’s, but doesn’t have a second pitch to back it up.

Most teams have made their final cuts of spring training over the past few days.  This means that the remaining players not cut will more than likely spend the remainder of the spring with their respective teams.  We’ve listed below the more noteworthy prospects who have been sent back to the minors:

• Wade Davis, RHP, Rays
• Jake McGee, LHP, Rays
• Adam Miller, RHP, Indians
• Chuck Lofgren, LHP, Indians
• Mike Aubrey, 1B, Indians
• Danny Moskos, LHP, Pirates
• Collin Balester, RHP, Nationals
• Tyler Clippard, RHP, Nationals
• Garrett Mock, RHP, Nationals
• Ross Detwiler, LHP, Nationals
• Greg Reynolds, RHP, Rockies
• Casey Weathers, RHP, Rockies
• Max Ramirez, C, Rangers
• Chris Davis, 1B, Rangers
• German Duran, 2B, Rangers
• Elvis Andrus, SS, Rangers
• Justin Masterson,  RHP, Red Sox
• Michael Bowden, RHP, Red Sox
• Deolis Guerra, RHP, Twins
• Jordan Walden, RHP, Angels
• Matt Wieters, C, Orioles

So, you’re diligently preparing for your fantasy draft and searching desperately for this year’s Ryan Braun - the rookie fantasy sleeper stud that takes everyone by surprise and catapults your squad to a championship. Unfortunately, all you can find are experts’ “Top 100 Prospect” lists, which include prospects that are still a year or two away, or so-called “Sleeper” lists consisting of 2nd and 3rd year players that everyone in your league has already heard of (and are already planning to draft before you). What if - hypothetically - someone had organized a constantly updated list of rookie fantasy sleepers, tiered by starting status, ranked by predicted fantasy impact, and linked to recent news on each rookie, that you could have running in the background of your draft as a quick reference?

• Look no further than the MLBProspectNews.com 2008 Rookie Fantasy Sleepers page, located under the MLBPN Features section of our navigation bar.

• Mets’ starting OF Moises Alou is going to miss at least 4-6 weeks with a hernia.  While this is bad news for Mets fans, it could be good news for prospect Fernando Martinez.  With all the injuries affecting the Mets starters, there may be a need to expedite the call-ups of their prospects.
• Dbacks RHP Max Scherzer had a rough outing today.  He gave up 3 ER in two innings with 2 HR, 4 H and a wild pitch.  He did also have 4 K, showing signs of his ability.  ESPN’s Keith Law doesn’t think Scherzer has the command or durability to be a starter, but thinks he could be a solid reliever.
• The Nationals reassigned 16 players to their minor league camp today.  Among the 16 were southpaw prospects Ross Detwiler, the 6th overall pick in the Draft, and Josh Smoker. We might see Detwiler as a September call-up again, but more than likely he won’t join the rotation until 2009.  Smoker is only 19, so he’s got a few years down on the farm before he’ll be fantasy relevant.
• Steve Pearce of the Pirates hit another HR today, his 2nd of the spring.  Eric Hz of FakeTeams argues that if Pearce keeps hitting them, the Pirates will have to keep him on their opening day roster.

According to Tyler Kepner of The New York Times, Mike Mussina doesn’t see the point in limiting young pitchers.

“They’re an asset, and you have to take care of your assets. At the same time, they’re not 19-year-old kids, either. They’re certainly capable of doing it. You just have to see how they’re doing in August.”

Ironic, since it will soon be a young pitcher that will be taking his spot in the rotation, maybe as early as this season. In the same breath, Mussina says that he hopes that Joba Chamberlain will remain the setup man for a while, saying:

“I like what Joba was doing last year. That’s a pretty big role, too, getting to the closer. You look in the post-season, the teams that can fill in that space from the starter to the closer are the teams that do well.”

That seems to conflict a bit with Mussina’s previous stance, since leaving a pitcher of Chamberlain’s caliber in merely a setup role is practically the definition of “limiting a young pitcher”.

Is it possible that the real reason Mussina wants Chamberlain to stay the setup-man is because he knows he could be the odd-man-out of the rotation? With Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes, and Chamberlain starting that would leave Ian Kennedy and Mussina to duke it out for the fifth spot. Kennedy is a 24-year-old top prospect in the organization, and part of a powerful young trio that Manager Joe Girardi would like to keep together for a long time. What’s more, according to Gerry Fraley of Sportingnews.com it is Yankees GM Brian Cashman’s plan to have more than 70 starts by pitchers 25 or younger this season.

Things do not look good for Moose, who has been roughed up already this spring for 5 runs in 2 innings. Even though the Yankees are paying him $11.5 million this year and will be counting on him as a starter to open the season, it wouldn’t surprise us to see him lose his job if he can’t pull it together when winning games becomes a priority… which it always is for the Yankees. Fantasy owners should pick up low-risk-high-reward Ian Kennedy in the final rounds of the draft and wait patiently to see how things pan out.

• Toronto beat writer Jordan Bastian answered questions about the Jays’ prospects in his most recent MLB mailbag.  He notes that the Jays have decided to convert 2007 sandwich pick Brett Cecil from a relief role to a starter.  This is an interesting move, because Cecil was definitely on the fast track to the big show as a powerful setup man or big league closer.  It’s tough to say that about many 21 year olds, but that’s how impressive Cecil has been.  Of course a reliable SP is more valuable than a reliable reliever,  so we’ll have to monitor Cecil’s development in Single- or Double-A this season to see how this move pans out.
• Discussed in the same chat, Bastian thinks that top prospect Travis Snider will also have his big league call-up delayed.  Bastian sees Snider starting in Double-A.  While there is some potential for him to get the September call, it doesn’t sound like Snider will be fantasy relevant for another year or even two.  Also, as Lisa Winston of MLB.com reports, Toronto Director of Player Development Dick Scott thought that Snider was robbed of the Midwest League MVP.

Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, and Phil Hughes took down University of South Florida Friday in an 11-4 victory in a taste of whats to come. George A. King III of the New York Post relates that the three are relieved none of them were traded for Johan Santana and are looking to reward the Yankees for sticking with them.

Chamberlain got the start (even though he will be starting the season as Mariano Rivera’s setup man) and retired all six batters he faced, striking out two of them. Kennedy also worked two scoreless innings and gave up a single, the only hit allowed by the trio. Hughes struck out two in one inning of work.

Part of their success can be attributed to Andy Pettitte’s early morning workout routine with the young pitchers. Chamberlain, Kennedy, and Hughes have been participating every morning in Pettitte’s “starter’s program for stamina” to get them ready for the physical rigors of pitching every few days.

Fantasy-wise, it appears that Ian Kennedy is slated to start fifth right now behind Wang, Pettitte, Hughes, and Mussina, assuming that Chamberlain starts in the bullpen like everyone says. If that remains the case you can expect some pretty solid numbers from Kennedy with the massive run support the Yank’s bats will provide (i.e. Wins). If you’re worried about Kennedy getting bumped from the rotation if Chamberlain moves into that role mid-season, I wouldn’t be. At this point, aging Mike Mussina (who allowed 5 runs on 6 hits in 2 IP yesterday) would probably be the first to go.