alexi_ogando_slumpUsing the best technology available to us today, SlumpBot .200 identifies a few players who are currently having a bit of trouble and then offers solutions for performance recovery.

Alexi Ogando, Texas Rangers

Data: 12-6, 3.57 ERA, 151 1/3 IP, 3.76 FIP, 1.14 WHIP, 2.95 K/BB

Malfunction: Alexi Ogando is a remarkable story. He is a converted position player who was denied a visa to the States for five years after the Rangers took him in the Rule 5 Draft because he participated in a scam by which Dominican baseball players were paid to marry women whom they'd bring to the States and thereby expedite their citizenship process. He finally arrived in the majors a year ago July, and he immediately turned into perhaps the best reliever on the AL champion Texas Rangers. This year, the Rangers decided to convert him yet again, this time into a starting pitcher, and once again he thrived, making the All-Star team and fire-balling his way to a terrific 11-5 record with a 2.88 ERA on August 4. But

franco8231On occasion, Big League Stew honors a birthday boy per week by taking a longer look at his career. Please join us in lighting the candles.

It's hard to call Julio Franco an ageless wonder. Unlike, say, Craig Biggio, Franco looked his age during each of his 23 major league seasons from 1982 to 2007.

But Franco is perhaps the greatest old position player of all time,  having broken Jack Quinn's 76-year-old record to become the oldest player ever to hit a home run. Counting his stats in professional baseball in Japan, Korea, Mexico, the Dominican Winter League, and the majors, he has more than 4,000 career hits, and his 2,586 major league hits place him 80th on the all-time list, three ahead of Ernie Banks. (Franco is just one hit ahead of his former teammate, Chipper Jones, who likely will soon push Franco to 81st.)

Franco is one of the greatest players to emerge from San Pedro de Macoris, the sugar town on the Eastern Coast of the Dominican Republic that became known as "the city of

burnett823Using the best technology available to us today, SlumpBot .200 identifies a few players who are currently having a bit of trouble and then offers solutions for performance recovery.

A.J. Burnett, New York Yankees

Data: 9-10, 4.96 ERA, 156 IP, 4.71 FIP, 1.42 WHIP, 1.89 K/BB

Malfunction: Normally I wouldn't write up a player like Daisuke Matsuzaka or A.J. Burnett. At this point their established level of play is so mediocre that a few months of sustained relatively subpar play hardly deserves to be called a "slump." But A.J. Burnett has really made me sit up and notice. In his last nine starts, Allan James Burnett has allowed 38 earned runs in 49 1/3 innings,  which equates to a 6.93 ERA over an average of 5.5 innings a start. Meanwhile, opposing hitters have a .916 OPS against him. If the Yankees didn't have a papier-mache pitching rotation already, Burnett and his $82.5 million contract would be in the process of pitching their way out of the Yankee rotation — and manager Joe Girardi

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The Stew goes through the quad and into the gymnasium to look at some of the hottest players in baseball and their chances of keeping it going.

Curtis Granderson, New York Yankees

The Naked Truth: .281/.374/.593, 34 HR, 95 RBIs, 22 SB, 10 CS, 63 BB/129 K

Having a nice little Saturday: And boom goes the dynamite. Granderson is having by far his best offensive season in the majors, leading the majors in RBIs, runs scored, and total bases, while definitively answering my 2010 question: "Can Granderson solve his lefty pitcher problems?" The answer: Yes, he can.

Well, at least for now. Is it permanent or is it a fluke?

You're my boy, Blue!: When it comes to Granderson, the numbers against lefties are everything. In 2010 I wrote that he was a "platoon player," and in previous years, his OPSes against lefties have been the following: .647, .484, .739, .494, .671. This year, it's a stunning .965, virtually indistinguishable from his .967 OPS against righties. The OPS against righties isn't

damon817Using the best technology available to us today, SlumpBot .200 identifies a few players who are currently having a bit of trouble and then offers solutions for performance recovery.

Johnny Damon, Tampa Bay Rays

Data: .262/.315/.396, 10 HR, 51 RBIs, 11 SB, 4 CS, 33 BB/70 K

Malfunction: Johnny Damon is starting to be targeted by those "is he a Hall of Famer?" articles and that's due to two assumptions: The first is if he gets 3,000 hits, it will be impossible not to induct him. The second is that he's virtually guaranteed to get there, considering he's just 312 hits shy of that magical mark.

But with Damon's performance this year, the second assumption has become less of a certainty. Right now he's a DH who has hit .238/.306/.343 since July 1 and those are the kind of numbers that cause an everyday hitter to become a part-time player. It might be a slump, but if this is the beginning of the end, then Damon might indeed fall short of 3,000.

Diagnosis: The first thing that stands out from

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Using the best technology available to us today, SlumpBot .200 identifies a few players who are currently having a bit of trouble and then offers solutions for performance recovery.

Carlos Beltran, San Francisco Giants

Data: .284/.378/.495, 15 HR, 68 RBIs, 3 SB, 0 CS, 61 BB/72 K

Malfunction: Carlos Beltran is one of baseball's good guys, and his comeback this year has been joyous to watch. The only problem is that he hasn't done anything since being traded to San Francisco. He's batting .244/.261/.356 since joining the Giants, with no homers, just one walk, and 11 strikeouts.

Actually, most of that line is actually a result of his 3-for-5 day on Aug. 3. In his other 10 games in a Giants uniform, he's batting .200 with a .495 OPS. The Giants acquired him to bolster their sputtering offense, but instead of raising team offense, he's just fallen to their level. {YSP:MORE}

Diagnosis: Beltran has played 11 games with the Giants and has been hampered with a wrist injury that could keep him

votto85

The Stew goes through the quad and into the gymnasium to look at some of the hottest players in baseball and their chances of keeping it going.

Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds

The Naked Truth: .324/.431/.522, 17 HR, 69 RBIs, 6 SB, 4 CS, 75 BB/82 K

Having a nice little Saturday: Joey Votto just won NL Player of the Week honors for his recent work: Since July 26, he's 16 for 37 with four homers, 10 RBIs, and a 1.392 OPS in nine games. He's followed up his MVP campaign with a season that's nearly as strong. Like Adrian Gonzalez, Votto's home runs are down this year, but Votto is still leading the league in walks and OBP, and he's still probably the best first baseman in the league. (His batting stats are pretty hard to distinguish from Prince Fielder's, but he's a much better defender.)

You're my boy, Blue!: Why is the Toronto native so much better at hitting than us puny Americans? His plate discipline is a pretty key reason why. His 15.2 percent walk rate is tied for fifth-best in

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Major league clubs produced a flurry of activity leading up to Sunday afternoon's trading deadline, and each move ostensibly was made to improve each team involved — whether it be for this season or future ones.

But which contending teams made the biggest game-changing swaps? Let's take a look at what's happened in recent weeks to figure it out.

1. Atlanta Braves get Michael Bourn: Atlanta was known to be hotly pursuing a number of outfielders despite a public unwillingness to trade any of its top pitching prospects. But the Braves managed to hook up with the Astros, a team starved of top prospects in the upper minors, and managed to obtain the best center fielder on the block without giving up any of their major assets. They traded quantity rather than quality; at present, neither Paul Clemens or Brett Oberholtzer profiles as anything beyond an innings eater or a reliever. Bourn replaces Jordan Schafer and Nate McLouth, both of whom are on the DL, but also were ineffective when