Jacoby Ellsbury and Robinson Cano are going to get the headlines. Treachery, real or imagined, wears well on a tabloid cover. The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees brought back some key players last… Read more »
Miscellaneous
The second half of this week hasn’t lived up to the hype of Super Tuesday, but has still seen a number of moves, including a run of reliever contracts I’ll break down here. They include:… Read more »
The Washington Nationals had as miserable an 86-win season as the Wild Card Era has seen in 2013. In the run-up to the season, they drew comparisons to the 1990s Braves, the 1986 Mets and—strangely,… Read more »
Ricky Nolasco is a California native, pitched all but the last dozen starts of his big-league career in Miami and has a surname that sounds like it should triangulate a Manhattan neighborhood. As of Wednesday… Read more »
B.J. Upton hit free agency in November of 2012. In the brief time he spent on the market, before signing with the Atlanta Braves one year ago Thursday, I wrote this long, detailed breakdown of… Read more »
Carlos Beltran has always been a darling to saber-slanted baseball nuts like me. He’s a tremendous slugger, has consistently posted above-average OBPs, played great defense in center field at his peak and is one of… Read more »
The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are the most interesting team in baseball. You can argue with me on that point, and you might even win, but at this moment, that sure feels The Angels… Read more »
As a thought experiment, consider a world in which ballclubs get a choice. Every November, they receive a three-option menu. They can take $10 million from a central fund, to spend as they please. They… Read more »
There are too many layers to the trade that sent Ian Kinsler to the Detroit Tigers and Prince Fielder to the Texas Rangers to write a single, coherent article in summary. Therefore, I’m breaking it… Read more »
Baseball’s Hot Stove activity tends to come in fits and starts. Roster deadlines, various meetings and the winter holidays punctuate the offseason in such a way that news tends to come, not in drips, but… Read more »
After the girl you fell in love with in middle school, but never even spoke to, came the girl you fell in love with in high school, but not deeply enough to keep you from… Read more »
Most of us will live our lives in relative anonymity. We’ll work hard, but change jobs more often than we imagine. We’ll have great work go unrecognized, sometimes for good reasons, sometimes for bad ones…. Read more »
I mention this every trade deadline and at the start of every Hot Stove season, but if you don’t talk to or read me, and haven’t noticed yet, Ken Rosenthal has the best connections for… Read more »
With trade rumors surrounding Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki (rumors which seem to lack much foundation, but rumors nonetheless), I thought you might be interested to know that 2014 marks the true beginning of the… Read more »
Baseball fans, and baseball teams, for that matter, overrate pitching. There’s no point in my leading this piece with any other thesis. I think the details of what is to come make for an interesting,… Read more »
The Minnesota Twins annoounced on Monday that long-time catcher and franchise player Joe Mauer will be their full-time first baseman beginning next season. The move has been proposed and debated for years, now, as a… Read more »
The offseason is a sad time. Baseball games make being a baseball fan truly joyous. Even as a borderline addict of the game, I find the Hot Stove a bit stuffy at times. The nice… Read more »
Sorry for going silent at just the wrong moment, as it seems. I’ve been sick; my kids have been sick; my wife just got sick; and I still don’t have home Internet service. Beginning tomorrow,… Read more »
By the time a World Series makes its first scene change, the easy stories have been told, and the stock characters have been introduced. Each teams’ ace or aces have had their days, and even… Read more »
The St. Louis Cardinals stole fewer bases than every other big-league team this season. Contrary to what Tim McCarver told you, they’re a poor base-running team. The only virtue of their running game is that… Read more »
One of the most interesting things about the 2013 St. Louis Cardinals, and there are plenty, is the fact that so many fans and analysts so badly misunderstand how they work. It’s especially true of… Read more »
It’s not that Game One of the 2013 World Series completely defies analysis. It’s just that, all things considered, it probably engenders more bad analysis than good. Hopefully this Series gives us more competitive and… Read more »
St. Louis Cardinals ace starter Adam Wainwright has a small platoon split, at least flying over it at 10,000 feet, and that might have led Boston Red Sox manager John Farrell into a mistake when… Read more »
I’m over the moon here. I’m pumped. The 2013 World Series is upon us, and for baseball fans who really enjoy the game played at its highest level, this is Heaven. The Boston Red Sox… Read more »
The Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed tp sign second baseman Alexander Guerrero, a Cuban defector with no American professional experience, to a four-year, $28-million contract, according to Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com, with a handful of… Read more »
Jacoby Ellsbury hit the ball fairly sharply, but turning a double play would have been nearly impossible. Jose Iglesias got to the ball just behind second base, but he never had it, not even for… Read more »
The St. Louis Cardinals are National League champions for the second time in three years. Their 9-0 thumping of the Los Angeles Dodgers Friday night put an exclamation point on a series that showcased all… Read more »
I don’t know how Jose Abreu’s long and unparalleled success in Cuban baseball will translate to Major League Baseball. I don’t know if he will join the lineage of Paul Konerko, Frank Thomas and so… Read more »
Mike Napoli didn’t get a very good look at Anibal Sanchez the first time around. Sanchez had held Napoli’s Boston Red Sox hitless in his six innings during Game One of the 2013 ALCS, striking… Read more »
The news itself is a bit stale: Ryan Sweeney signed a two-year, $3.5-million deal to stay with the Chicago Cubs nine days ago. At the time, I thought little of it. The terms of the… Read more »
