The Sunday Notes: Leftovers Edition

At some point over the last couple days, chances are you rummaged to find a snack in the refrigerator to find the leftover cranberry sauce sprouting some new life form. Yes, the leftovers time forgot is the theme for this edition of the Sunday notes. Whether writers grabbed some badly needed time away or I […]

Monday Night in Chicago

Nearly 100 years ago the South Side of Chicago was home to one of the greatest shames in baseball history when eight members of the 1919 White Sox were accused of taking money from gamblers and handing the World Series to the Cincinnati Reds. Shame and controversy – and a battalion of reporters – returned […]

In an Odd Way, This Former Manager Now More Valuable to Independent Leagues as a Scout

The first time I met Chris Carminucci he was managing the Can-Am League’s travel team, the Grays, in 2005.  Travel teams are not expected to do well, but his energy and upbeat nature were infectious. The Grays actually won half of their games the first half of the season, and it seemed obvious Carminucci would […]

Second Half Help

They aren’t all prospects but they all could help you in one way or another. Here is one player from each team worth picking up for the 2nd half of the season. Note: All players are 30% owned or less in Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Baseball Arizona Diamondbacks - 3B Matt Davidson – The Futures Game MVP […]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Starting pitcher Randall Delgado, you know, one of the key pieces in the OF Justin Upton trade, is off to a rough at AAA and may not be the first call up once the Dbacks need help in the rotation, that may go to Tyler Skaggs. Good thing that Upton fellow isn’t off […]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Centerfielder A.J. Pollock had a big game Wednesday, hitting two HRs and driving in four runs. Pollock may not have even begun the season with the team except for the injuries suffered by Adam Eaton an Cody Ross, problem is when those two return from the DL there may be no room for […]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Funny how things work out. During the off-season the DBacks were making deals because they thought they had a stockpile of outfielders, but after trading Justin Upton and Chris Young, and with the elbow injury suffered by Adam Eaton , that depth has been severely depleted…..Speaking of Upton, he just hit his second […]

Clearing The Bases

With all of the injuries throughout Major League Baseball and the natural progression of fantasy teams claiming players off the waiver wire, the pickings have become pretty slim in deeper leagues.  With that in mind we are going to talk about minor league players that could help your team in the coming weeks or months.  […]

Clearing The Bases

On April 10 I wrote at column detailing the closer situation for each team because there had been a few injuries during spring training that took a couple of closers out for the season.  Well a month later half of baseball no longer has the same pitcher closing for them that they planned on to […]

Clearing The Bases

What is our next top 9 list you ask?  Well it will be about some of the best players taken in the first couple rounds of most fantasy drafts that have gotten off to slow starts in one way or another and what should be done with them.  General rule of thumb is that most […]

Clearing The Bases

We always say at draft time don’t overpay for saves, and that piece of advice seems to be especially important this season.  Closers normally take a beating as it is the one spot on a baseball team that is sure to have the biggest turnover year after year.  Not every relief pitcher is capable of […]

BBA Names Arizona’s Gibson, Tampa Bay’s Maddon Top Managers

Top Blogger Organization Awards Connie Mack Award For 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson and Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon were named the 2011 Connie Mack Award winners today by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance.  The Connie Mack Award recognizes those considered the top manager for the season. Gibson took over an Arizona team that […]

24-Year-Old on Top of Indy Baseball World

It Is Another Busy Week in the Indy World With One 24-Year-Old Sitting on Top of It Every 24-year-old involved in Independent Baseball dreams of landing an honest-to-goodness major league opportunity. It has happened once more, although this time it was not a 95-mile per hour fastball or rare power that provided the launch. I […]

Yakima Bears Hope to Fill Void Left by Beavers

Baseball fans in the Portland, OR area saw their beloved Beavers head south last year for warmer pastures, but the metro-area may not go very long without a professional baseball team. As has been reported, the Yakima Bears (Single A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks) are hopeful a planned and expected move to Vancouver, WA […]

Clearing The Bases

Last week we discussed the most disappointing players at each position, this week we’ll go with the most surprising, players who are playing well and above what we thought they might in spring training.  Some of the players listed are no longer playing at that position but that is where they qualified at coming into […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: AL Central – Detroit Tigers

Tigers 1B Miguel Cabrera Detroit Tigers (2010 record: 81-81) The Detroit Tigers finished the 2009 season tied for first place in the AL Central (86-76) after having relinquished a seven-game lead to the Minnesota Twins during the last four weeks of the season. They then lost a one-game playoff in The Metrodome in 12 innings, […]

2011 Pre-Season Preview: NL West – Arizona Diamondbacks

Arizona Diamondbacks (2010 record: 65-97) Notable additions: 1B Russell Branyan, LHP Zach Duke, RHP Armando Gallaraga, RHP David Hernandez, 3B Melvin Mora, OF Xavier Nady, RHP J.J. Putz Notable subtractions: 1B Adam LaRoche, 3B Mark Reynolds, RHP Brandon Webb Arizona is an organization that is floundering, always taking a step to one side and then […]

2011 MLB Power Rankings, The Ides of January Edition (Part I, #21-#30)

  With most of the top free agents now signed and teams starting to take shape as we approach spring training, I thought I would share my pre-pre-season pespective on the relative strengths (and weaknesses) of all 30 major league teams. I have broken the article down into three installments, and will publish one of […]

MLB Team Snapshots

The Beautiful Mind level insanity around the AL Previews formula I’ve been tinkering with and referred to in these two posts should (hopefully) be done today. In an effort to not let the homework slow down our production, we thought it would be fun to take another stroll around the Major Leagues and see what each […]

Deadline Day for Draftees is Quickly Approaching

With a mere 11 days to go until the deadline for 2010 draftees to reach agreement with their respective teams there are a number of interesting stories worth monitoring. As of this morning, 25 of the first 50 picks have yet to sign a contract – including 7 of the first 10. The surprising part […]

What Ever Happened to the 2005 Houston Astros?

In the last week, Eric Bruntlett was released by the Washington Nationals, Jason Lane was released by the Florida Marlins, Adam Everett was designated for assignment by the Detroit Tigers and Mike Lamb was designated for assignment by the Marlins.  All four were members of the 2005 Houston Astros team that won the National League […]