Clearing The Bases

What shall we talk about tonight?  So many things going on in the world of fantasy baseball that I feel we need a news and notes column to go over each team.  We’ll do the American League first, followed by the National League on Thursday.  As always, these teams are in no particular order.   […]

Clearing The Bases

Major League Baseball teams for the most part use the first third of the season (April, May) to evaluate their team, the middle third (June, July) to make acquisitions to help the team, and the last third (August, September) to fight for a playoff run.  Now trading won’t really pick up for another month or […]

Kemp Unanimous Pick For NL Stan Musial Award

Bautista holds off Ellsbury in American League There were some outstanding performances this year in Major League Baseball.  However, one clearly stood out from the pack. Los Angeles Dodger outfielder Matt Kemp was named the National League Stan Musial Award winner for 2011 in voting held by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  Kemp received all 15 […]

Triple Milestones–Final 2011

Seven players reached the milestones of a .300 batting average, 30 home runs and 100 RBI this year. Four American Leaguers and three National Leaguers made it.  The only repeaters are Miguel Cabrera and Paul Konerko. The three National Leaguers who made it last year, Albert Pujols, Joey Votto and Carlos Gonzalez fell short but Pujols […]

In The Wake Of An Epic Collapse, Troubling Insights Into The Mind Of Adrian Gonzalez

Adrian Gonzalez’ comments from earlier in the week lead me to ask whether the Red Sox made a mistake in bringing him to Boston Boston Globe columnist Peter Abraham posted an interesting article on Boston.com yesterday morning on the subject of accountability. In the wake of the ballclub’s September debacle, he neatly juxtaposed the reactions […]

Surviving Your Team’s Collapse

Until just a few weeks ago, I was traipsing down the path of the content and just, confident in my knowledge that my Boston Red Sox were well on their way to a deep run in the playoffs. They had the most dominant offense in baseball, a pitching staff that was at least adequate, and […]

Boston Hitting .500 in $20 Mil Club

Much can be said about the Boston Red Sox foray into the $20 million club. This year, for the first time in its history, the club signed a player for $20 million…a year. And, Boston followed that up a while later and signed a second player for $20 million…a year. Boston lost its first six games […]

Boston Sweeps Yanks but Playoff Hopes Remain Dim

Boston has finally reached .500 this season but now midway through May it’s a likely bet the Red Sox playoff hopes in this overly-hyped season remain iffy at best. Their position in the standings is certainly not bleak, however, for the Red Sox to have any chance of reaching the playoffs, the team would have […]

Terry Francona’s Do or Die Mission

“I think Francona should be gone by the end of the month and the pitching coach also. They both suck.” That’s not me saying it. I intercepted a message on an answering machine from one lifelong Red Sox fan (who lives in Rhode Island) to another lifelong fan. And, no I’m not talking the Twenty-oh-fours. […]

Boston Suffers from an Identity Crisis

Everyone knew (free agency) was affecting our club, but we didn’t talk much about it. The thing was, the fun had gone out of the game, not only that year but in the following seasons as well. Baseball went from a team orientation toward an individual orientation. Instead, new guys were coming in and the […]

Starting With Three Losses: A Historical Perspective of The Olde Towne Team

A long, cold, wet winter that still hasn’t completely transformed into spring here in the Pacific Northwest was made much more palatable by the thought of All-Stars Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Bobby Jenks wearing Boston’s carmine hose for the first time, not to mention veteran reliever Dan Wheeler, who wrapped a 2.36 ERA for […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: AL East – Boston Red Sox

The Red Sox prospects for the 2011 season are so bright, Adrian Gonzalez has got to wear shades Boston Red Sox (2010 record: 89-73) The 2010 edition of the Boston Red Sox was a very good ballclub. Entering the season, it appeared they would have an extraordinary pitching staff but a questionable offense. As it […]

Clearing The Bases: Designated Hitters

Most players who are playing full-time at designated hitter this season we have discussed at other positions, so for this column, we will make it short and sweet, and only discuss the DHs that we haven’t gone over at any other point in this series of columns.  The problem with selecting someone who is a […]

Gonzalez’ Agent Encouraged After Negotiation Session With Red Sox

John Boggs, the agent for Red Sox 1B Adrian Gonzalez, arrived in Fort Myers yesterday afternoon. He didn’t waste any time getting down to business, as he met earlier today with Theo Epstein and Ben Cherington to discuss a contract extension for A-Gon. After the meeting, he said he would be “extremely surprised” if the […]

Clearing The Bases

Clearing The Bases                                                                                                                                          March 9, 2011 By George Kurtz Today we will go over our top 20 First Basemen.  This is a loaded position with some of the best hitters in the game.  Generally I like to wait to grab a 1B seeing as though the position is so deep.  That being said there will […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: NL West – San Diego Padres

San Diego Padres (2010 record: 90-72) Notable additions: SS Jason Bartlett, 1B Jorge Cantu, RHP Aaron Harang, 1B Brad Hawpe, 2B Orlando Hudson, CF Cameron Maybin, SP Dustin Moseley, C Gregg Zaun Notable subtractions: 2B David Eckstein, RHP Jon Garland, 1B Adrian Gonzalez, CF Tony Gwynn Jr., SS Miguel Tejada, C Yorvit Torrealba, RHP Chris […]

AL East Positional Analysis And Ranking: First Base

Over the next two weeks, I’ll examine the relative strengths and weaknesses of the teams in the AL East, on a position-by-position basis. The players at each position will be ranked in relation to their peers within the division, with each team being assigned points based on where their player ranks in comparison to the […]

Boston Finally Gets Their Man

The Boston Red Sox held a press conference early Monday morning to make an announcement that has been in the works for over two years. Joined at Fenway Park by principal owner John Henry and General Manager Theo Epstein, newly acquired first baseman Adrian Gonzalez was introduced to the Boston media for the first time. To his […]

Sincerely, Adrian Gonzalez

What if you broke into the hotel room of Adrian Gonzalez, looked through his things, and found a diary? What would it say? Here is a possible answer: June 2000 I DID IT!!!! Today is a day I will never forget. I was the first overall pick of the 2000 draft today. Looks like I […]

Sorry Albert, It’s Votto’s Time

Ranking the 2010 NL MVP Candidates [Author’s note: Irony can be pretty ironic, I suppose. It’s not the first time that an MVP favorite tanked in the post-season, but Joey Votto did just that, going 1-for-10 against the Phillies as his Cincinnati Reds went three and out. It’s worthy to mention that the ballots from […]

Is This the Last the Cubs Have Seen of Derrek Lee?

Chicago Tribune’s Paul Sullivan mentions in his piece from yesterday’s paper that most people believe Derrek Lee will be playing elsewhere in 2011. Sullivan cites “his age, his numbers and the fact the Cubs need a left-handed power hitter and first base is the logical position for such a player.” When we last checked Kornheiser’s […]

Write-In Campaign Adds Pressure on Selig?

Latino advocacy organization Presente.org is ramping up the pressure on Bud Selig with a write-in campaign to take the All-Star Game out of Phoenix in response to the Arizona Hispanic profiling bill.  After huge protest marches several weeks ago, the write in campaign provides a time-honored, American tradition to keep the pressure on Commissioner Selig. […]