Everyone thought that the New York Yankees pulled off something of a coup this offseason when they traded for a promising pitcher named Michael Pineda from the Seattle Mariners. Pineda was white hot for the Mariners for most of last season before tailing off towards the end. Still, the Yankees acquired the 23-year old in [...]
There has been a ton of speculation about Philadelphia Phillies 2B Chase Utley. He’s got chronic knee conditions (not a specific injury, mind you) and he hasn’t done much of anything all spring training in terms of doing baseball stuff. So what’s wrong? How bad are his knees? Will he play in 2012? Is he [...]
As a Philadelphia Phillies fan who reads this story, all I can say is a big “phewww!” At one point this offseason, there was reportedly a four-year, $44 million contract on the table for Ryan Madson, who just came off a great year of closing for the Phillies. Then, all of a sudden, they pulled [...]
Do you remember when Joba Chamberlain first came up and starting pitching well? Remember when he was about to have his first start and ESPN would break into all sorts of programs that he was warming up or took a piss in the dugout bathroom? Yeah, that was a long time ago. Now, not many [...]
The Kansas City Royals seem to be in a bind every season as year in and and year out, it turns out that they don’t really have many players who excel at the game of baseball. It’s a true story, just look at the standings from…any time that isn’t in the 80′s. So when they [...]
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun had an insane 2011 season. He hit .332 with 33 HR’s and 111 RBI’s. It was a monster season, and enough to earn him NL MVP honors. Then it came out that he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. He never said that he didn’t do it, but instead protested that [...]
Dontrelle Willis used to be a hell of a pitcher. And while those days are long gone, he did pitch surprisingly well for the Cincinnati Reds last season, holding lefties to a .127 batting average. He was good enough to persuade the Philadelphia Phillies to sign him to a minor-league contract this offseason. Too bad [...]
The Philadelphia Phillies ran away with the NL East last year. Their pitching was filthy and their hitting was, well, good enough. But, while many are picking them to win the division again this year, they are taking on water at an alarming rate. Ryan Howard tore his Achilles tendon while making the final out [...]
This is good news for St. Louis Cardinals fans and/or anyone who already had their fantasy baseball draft and took Chris Carpenter relatively high. Carp hasn’t pitched yet in spring training and the Cardinals have been fearing that he has nerve damage, which would blow. But, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch [...]
Last season in spring training, it was an injured hand that sidelined Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Domonic Brown. It set him back a bit and Brown does not need any of that. He used to be one of the top prospects in all of baseball (agreed to by just about everyone), but since has struggled [...]
In 1991, pitcher Brien Taylor was the first-overall pick of the New York Yankees. He had showed some promise in Double-A at one point, but never was able reach his full potential because of a poor life decision. He got into a fight and injured his pitching shoulder, and was never able to pitch the [...]
File this under “things I didn’t see happening this February.” On the final out of the Philadelphia Phillies season, Ryan Howard grounded out and popped his Achilles tendon as he headed towards first base. Not only had the Phillies lost – falling way short of expectations – but they now had their superstar piled in [...]
The New York Yankees are famous for making big splashes in free agency and adding the big names. But they’ve made some smaller moves this offseason and that may end up helping them more. After all, how many more superstars can you have? According to Bryan Hoch on Twitter, the Yanks have signed RHP David [...]
As we know from recent movies that try to make their GM look like some sort of genius even though he’s never won jack, the Oakland A’s are always looking for creative ways to get better. Whether it’s finding sub par hitters who get on base a lot or finding suspended juiceheads who can’t play [...]
The New York Yankees have finally agreed to terms with the Pittsburgh Pirates on a deal for A.J. Burnett, the overpriced pitcher who the Bucs could really use. The Yanks are eating a ton of the money but it’s better than having to decide whether or not to send Burnett out to the mound every [...]
Here go the New York Yankees again, making their huge splashes in free agency. Who is it this time? Clemens? Kevin Brown? A-Rod? Nope, they’ve signed heavyweights Russell Branyan and Bill Hall to minor league contracts. Both will get invites to spring training. Hall will make $600,000 if he makes the club and there are [...]
Texas Rangers slugger Josh Hamilton has had some issues in the past. After being the No. 1-overall pick by the Tampa Bay Rays, he missed the 2003, 2004 and 2005 seasons due to drug and alcohol addiction. Some would say that it was disappointing. But, Hamilton battled back and has become the player everyone thought [...]
It’s generally well known that the Washington Nationals blow. The main team down there is sadly the Baltimore Orioles and people just tend not to care about the Natties. But, could that be changing? They already went out and got Gio Gonzalez and they have young guns like Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg on the [...]
The sports world is stunned today as they have learned that Pat Burrell plans to retire. The 35-year old has had foot problems that will just make it too painful to continue. He told the AP back in November that it’s too problematic to keep playing, even though he wasn’t sure of his decision at [...]
You can never have enough depth. For the Philadelphia Phillies, that depth is needed in the outfield. Shane Victorino is back in centerfield, but they are trusting John Mayberry to play a full season in left and maybe hoping that Dom Brown emerges in right after competing with some of the average joe’s they signed [...]
Jon Heyman of SI reported earlier that the Boston Red Sox have made an offer to free agent right-hander Roy Oswalt. Oswalt must have plenty of options out there, because Heyman says that he hasn’t accepted it yet. “#Redsox made offer to oswalt but are unsure hed go since hes yet to accept. he rejected [...]
One of the highest profile free agents in baseball this year is/was Prince Fielder. It was believed that he was looking for a deal in the neighborhood of eight years, $200 million. And obviously, he wasn’t worth that because no one would give it to him. Hell, that’s why he was on the market for [...]
Well isn’t this interesting? If this doesn’t shine even more light on the fact that MLB has no clue what it’s getting from player’s from foreign countries, I don’t know what does. First we had the Leo Nunez fake identity scandal, and now this. You know that pitcher on the Cleveland Indians, Fausto Carmona, that [...]
The New York Yankees have been a bit quiet this offseason. That is, until now. It seems to have started yesterday, and now the news just keeps on coming. It was reported on Friday that the Yankees had agreed to a trade with the Seattle Mariners. They would be sending catcher Jesus Montero and right [...]
There have been a lot of hot stove rumors about starting pitchers in the last few months, but not a ton of action. That’s probably because starters such as Roy Oswalt, Edwin Jackson and Hiroki Kuroda have been way too high. But, ESPN‘s Buster Olney says that’s changing. We’re roughly a month away from pitchers [...]
