Around the AL: Bad week for the Yankees

Who knew failing to sign their first-round draft pick would be a highlight?

They fired two scouts who are under investigation in a probe of possible skimming from contracts with Latin American players. Carlos Rios, director of Latin American scouting, and Ramon Valdivia, Dominican Republic scouting director, had their contracts terminated after being accused of skimming six figures from the deals.

On the same day that the news broke, the Yankees also optioned center fielder Melky Cabrera to Triple-A, designated Richie Sexson for assignment and placed pitcher Dan Giese on the disabled list in a major roster shakeup.

The Yankees called up Brett Gardner from Scranton to replace Cabrera, Cody Ransom to replace Sexson and Chris Britton to replace Giese.

Cabrera was hitting .115 in August and .242 overall.

Scapegoat? Not according to general manager Brian Cashman.

“You can take Melky's name and exchange it with a lot of guys on this field right now that are making a hell of a lot more money than Melky Cabrera,” Cashman told reporters. “They're better than what they have showed, too. But in this case, Melky had options and I have a guy who is pushing his way into the mix in Brett Gardner, so in Melky's case, I had a choice I could make.

“In the other guys' cases, we can just keep running their names in the lineup, keep making sure they go through the processes they should and hope for better results.”

Cashman stressed that he believes Melky Cabrera is an everyday major league center fielder. Just not right now.

“He has struggled for an extended period of time and placed his spot in jeopardy to have to be sent down. And someone else, behind the scenes, Brett Gardner, has pushed himself into the conversation. It's hard to look at the future right now, because I am looking so hard right now at '08."

Cabrera didn’t see this coming.

“I never thought it was going to happen,” he said.

Four-gone conclusion

You don’t see this very often: Two Kansas City Royals pitchers combined to allow home runs to four consecutive Chicago White Sox batters in a game last week.

With two outs, Joel Peralta served up a three-run shot to Jim Thome on a 3-1 splitter. Paul Konerko jumped on the next pitch and increased Chicago’s lead to 7-1. Peralta then got ahead of Alexei Ramirez, 1-2, before allowing another home run.

Robinson Tejeda entered the game and Juan Uribe greeted him with the fourth homer, on a 1-2 pitch.

Toby Hall struck out to end the fun.

The Boston Red Sox were the last team to hit four homers in a row, during an April 22, 2007 game against the Yankees. Chase Wright served them up to Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell and Jason Varitek.

Getting More from Mora

Melvin Mora and Javier Vazquez were named co-Players of the Week in the American League.

Mora easily could have taken the award by himself. The Orioles’ third baseman hit .563 with four doubles, a triple, three homers and 13 RBIs. He posted a 1.031 slugging percentage and a .556 on-base percentage, and had six straight multi-hit games to close the week. Vazquez went 2-0 with a 0.56 ERA in two starts, with one walk and 18 strikeouts in 16 innings.

How hot is Mora? Before Monday night, he had the highest average in the majors since the break at .432, with 12 doubles, one triple, nine homers, 43 RBIs and 22 runs scored. He had 11 multi-hit games in his last 12 starts, and 21 RBIs in his last nine games. He had hits in 14 of 15 games, posting a .500 average.

Some quick hits:

• Tampa Bay placed closer Troy Percival on the disabled list for a third time. Now it’s a cartilage injury in his right knee. He has 27 saves for the first-place Rays, but durability issues.

• Mike Hargrove wants to manage in the majors again, which must come as a surprise to the Seattle Mariners. “I'd like to have one more chance, without a doubt,” he said. “It really would have to be the right place, and the team that did it would have to believe I wouldn't walk away.” Hargrove resigned as Seattle’s manager a little over a year ago, saying he lost his desire.

• Los Angeles Angels shortstop Maicer Izturis tore a ligament in his left thumb and won’t be part of his team’s drive to a world championship. Ever try driving with a torn thumb ligament? Izturis aggravated the injury last Wednesday and was scheduled to undergo surgery this week. He’s expected to be ready for spring training.

• Last week, the Texas Rangers became only the third team since 1956 to score 17 runs in a game and lose. It happened against the Boston Red Sox. And given the Rangers’ pitching staff, it should have surprised no one.