Zack Greinke has been one of the best pitchers in baseball over the last year.

As I’ve written many times in this very column, one of my favorite places to find baseball information is over at The Hardball Times. They have a section on the site called THT Live that always has interesting and unusual items on a variety of baseball topics. Yesterday, Matthew Carruth, one of THT’s primary editors, posted a piece about the folks at Dodger Thoughts, who are looking to put together a comprehensive list of everybody’s favorite sports writers. They invite anyone to add their thoughts in their comment session. If you have a favorite you’d like included, and would like to register your opinion, pay them a visit and voice your opinion.

The Marlins are shaking up their lineup with Josh Willingham on the DL for the next couple of weeks. Hanley Ramirez, normally the Marlins leadoff hitter, will move down and bat third in the order, and either Alfredo Amezaga or Cody Ross will move up to take the leadoff role. Oddly enough, Ramirez’ career batting average batting third is about 20 points lower than when he bats leadoff, and he has publicly stated that he is less than comfortable in any other spot in the order. Neither Ross nor Amezaga appear to have the on-base skills required of a leadoff hitter, as they both have a .317 career OBP, though I guess Amezaga’s current OBP of .354 makes him the favorite. Neither player is hitting particularly well now, so this move may backfire on manager Fredi Gonzales, but in looking over the stats of the current roster, he doesn’t really have any other choices for the job right now.

The Brewers must be disappointed at the way things are playing out for them so far. It appears that Yovani Gallardo may be lost for the season with a torn ACL, and Dave Bush is the best they can do for a replacement for Gallardo. Ben Sheets always seems to be one misstep away from a trip to the DL, and guys like Carlos Villanueva and Jeff Suppan have been only marginally effective. Meanwhile, Derrick Turnbow was so bad that they showed him the door rather than try to help him find his lost stuff, the team is looking quite foolish for throwing $10 million at Eric Gagne, and David Riske is looking like another high priced flop. I watched a few innings of a recent Brewers game and was shocked to see how much Prince Fielder has begun to look like his father, Cecil Fielder. I’m not talking about his face, though. I mean his swing, and the way he..ahem…runs the bases. I get the feeling his career arc is going to end up being eerily similar his father’s. Big Daddy hit 51 home runs in his first full season of at-bats, but never repeated the feat, and saw his numbers diminish each year for the most part. Prince Fielder hit 50 home runs last season, and I’m willing to bet he never does it again.

Owners of Mark Reynolds beware! He struck out twice more Saturday, so he has now whiffed 26 times in his last 11 games and 40 times altogether in 102 at-bats with just 13 walks. Even worse, Reynolds has stopped hitting too, with only a double and a pair of singles in those same 11 games, his average has plummeted from a high of .344 on April 8^th down to his current .226. The scary thing is that if you look at graphs of his stats [Thank you, Fangraphs] every single stat is trending downward since his arrival in the majors. I have to admit that I pimped him in my Waiver Wire Wonders column back at the beginning of the season, but I’ve got to recommend to those who have him that you consider unloading him after his next streak. He will get hot again, and it may last a couple of weeks, or even a month or so. Once that hot streak ends, sell high! Unless, of course, you think you can con somebody right now.

The Royals have to be happy with what they are seeing from Luke Hochevar. He battled C.C. Sabathia and the Tribe for six innings yesterday, and came out on top. The strikeout rate is where it needs to be, and he keeps the ball in the park, now he just needs to cut down the walks a bit and he’s mixed league material. Al only leaguers should be on to him already.

Sticking with those Royals – do you know which pitcher has the best ERA in baseball since last season’s All Star break. Well, would you be surprised if I said it was Zack Greinke? Right now his ERA is 1.47, a mark bested only by Cliff Lee, and since the All Star break it’s 1.97.

Saw this amazing stat last night – 16 of the last 17 home runs hit by White Sox batters have been solo shots. Their offense has been swooning for their last 10 games or so, with Carlos Quentin being the only reliable bat in the lineup. Paul Konerko has been in and out of action periodically due to a hand injury, Jim Thome is whiffing like crazy, and while Nick Swisher is still getting on base at a decent clip because of walks, he is not hitting and does not run. There are rumblings (Grumblings?) that the Pale Hose are thinking about bringing Jerry Owens up from Triple A to give them some speed at the top of the lineup in the hopes it will spark some offense. If Owens is sitting on your waiver wire, you might think about grabbing him as a speculative pick. He’s batting .299 with a .390 OBP in the minors, with five stolen bases, almost as many as the whole Sox team which has just eight this season, last in the AL.

It’s still a little soon to tell for certain, but it looks like Carlos Delgado is coming out of his season long funk. Since the “snub” five games ago, when Delgado would not come out for a curtain call after a homer, he has gone 6 for 18, with three home runs and 6 RBI. I watched him at bat a few times, and he just looks more comfortable at the plate. If he’s been left for dead on your waiver wire, grab him and wait to see if this is real. If you check his splits, you’ll see that he has historically been awful in April. In 2007, he batted .188 in April, so I think all the hand wringing about him being “done” is quite premature.

It was announced in the Mexican newspapers yesterday that ageless first baseman Julio Franco has officially announced his retirement. Franco lasted 23 years in the game, and batted .298 over his career. I’ll bet he never juiced either. Best of luck Julio.