Baseball Historians

You never like to see your young arms having injury problems but Josh Johnson took a step back in his recovery from being shut down at the end of last year because of a forearm injury.  Just a couple of days ago, Johnson was having discomfort in his tricep although there’s no word on what […]

Curt Schilling wants to play in 2008 after initially saying that he’d retire after the 2007 season.  Good news for the  Red Sox IF the two sides can come to an agreement on a contract extension.  So far, it’s in the preliminary stages but Schilling has said he’d like to stay in Boston.  He didn’t […]

Baseball America recently unveiled their list of the top 10 Reds Prospects. No surprise as Homer Bailey tops the list. I talked about Homer Bailey already so I’ll spare you a repeat. BA concludes that he’ll start the season in Triple A then get called up midseason for some much needed help […]

We all know Andruw Jones will be in centerfield and it looks like Jeff Francoeur will be in right.  The question is, who will be the Braves starting left fielder in 2007.
This MLB.com column seems to think nobody.  At least not one guy.  There’s speculation that the Braves will once again go with a platoon […]

Hello, my name is Ken Peters and I’ll be covering the Arizona Diamondbacks for the Baseball Historians network of websites.  While 2007 will only be the tenth season the Diamondbacks have been in existance, it’s been an interesting run.  You have the 100 win season and 35 game turnaround in 1999 (only the second season […]

While one of my favorite publications, the Baseball Prospectus Annual, hasn’t yet come out, the website has released their PECOTA projections.  PECOTA cards to fun to look at so I thought it’d be worthwhile checking out first basemen Prince Fielder’s PECOTA card to see what we find.
The first thing you have to like is the […]

Right handed relief pitcher Roman Colon had surgery on his neck in the offseason and it doesn’t look like he’ll be ready for the start of the season so it’s expected that he’ll find his way onto the disabled list at the beginning of the year.  An ancilliary benefit of this is, Colon is out […]

Recovering from knee surgery is no easy task, and to do while competing at the major league level is even tougher.  Jason Kubel’s career was temporarily derailed when he suffered a knee injury that kept him out actioon in 2005.  Even last year, as he recovered from the injury, his other knee began to flair […]

There’s no doubt that Phillies have an impressive one-two punch in Bret Myers and Cole Hamels.  When you throw in the depth that the Phillies have given themselves with the additions of Adam Eaton and Freddy Garcia, the Phillies look pretty good when it comes to starting pitching.
In this MLB.com column, you get the lowdown on […]

It looks like top White Sox prospect Josh Fields is ready.  He had a fantastic season at Triple A and he even spent some time down in Venezuela playing winter ball.  Now with spring training on the horizon, Fields has his eyes set on a spot on the big league team.  From the sounds of […]

There’s no doubt that Scott Kazmir broke out in 2006.  His strikeout rate was phenomonal and his walk rate improved considerably.  Of course the problem was, he logged only 144 innings because of a bad shoulder.  Scott Kazmir provides the Devil Rays with an “ace” quality pitcher for the first time in the franchise’s history.
That’s […]

NBCsports.com recently unveiled their Angels preseason preview and you have to like what you read.  The story on the Angels is great pitching and good hitting and while they lost a couple of guys and probably way overpaid for Gary Matthews, Jr., they’re probably the favorites to win the AL West.
The news about Bartolo Colon […]

I’m a little late on this but I just found it.  NBCsports.com unveiled their 2007 Tigers preseason preview last week.  Joel Zumaya is the cover boy and while there’s no huge surprises in here, the conclusion is one of the most pessimistic I’ve seen.  I mean, the Tigers are a lock to make the playoffs, […]

Hello, my name is Phil Duncan, and like my counterpart who’s writing about the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, I have one of the easiest jobs in the Baseball Historians network.   I’ll be covering the Rockies for the network and not only have the Rockies only been around for fourteen years, but the teams playoff record […]

When your biggest addition is former closer Danys Baez, it’s tough to be too optimistic about the Orioles.  The Orioles spend money, but they seem to do it wisely enough to turn those dollars into wins.  This season, the Orioles were pretty much on the sidelines when it came to the hot stove, unless you […]

According to Buster Olney, the Red Sox have a potential deal in the works that would send Mike Lowell and Julian Tavarez and some prospects to the Colorado Rockies for first baseman Todd Helton.  The Rockies would be on the hook for less then half of Helton’s salary over the next six seasons as part […]

I have to say, I was pretty pessimistic about the Darin Erstad signing.  I’ve never been a huge fan of Scott Podsednik either and I think having both of these guys on the team (which eventually they will) means we have two low production bats on the 25 man roster. 
That is, until I saw Peter […]

If you take away the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who have never made the playoffs in their brief existance, the Toronto Blue Jays are tied for the fifth longest playoff drought in all of baseball.  All but the Royals, Nationals (as the Expos), Pirates and Brewers have had longer droughts.  While it’s never going to […]

Toby Hall was one of my favorite Devil Rays for a while.  The catcher never did catch fire like a lot of people thought he would but when he was traded along with Mark Hendrickson for a young catch named Dioner Navarro, I thought the Devil Rays had gotten the short end of the stick in […]

By Thaq Diesel
One year ago I bought a new Sony Wega HD television, using the Super Bowl as the impetus for finally getting away from analog signals.  After a year’s worth of sporting events in my living room, I still say to my wife, “See? You can see the holes in their jerseys!  Look at […]

Over the last five years, the players that have left the A’s could make up an All Star team.  As an A’s fan, you expect it and the latest players to leave are Barry Zito and Frank Thomas.  The Big Three are no more, at least not the early 2000s version.  Now the A’s are […]

First off, the Pirates lost out on another starting pitcher yesterday with Jeff Weaver looking more and more likely to go to the Mariners.  That leaves Tony Armas as the next best option for that fifth spot in the rotation.
In other news, the mega deal that will pay Chase Utley $85 million over seven years […]

Baseball is more and more becoming an international sport.  Mets general manager Omar Minaya is helping foster the internationalization of the sport by heading to Africa of all places to hold a baseball clinic in Accra, Ghana.  In addition to Minaya, former major leaguers Dave Winfield, Dusty Baker, Dave Stewart, Bob Watson and Regiie Smith […]

I was pretty happy when the Phillies committed to Chase Utley by signing him to a seven year, $85 million deal.  I thought it was win/win.  Utley gets a ton of cash, and he gets it quicker then if he went through the arbitration mess.  And we get probably the best player at his position […]

Keith Law may have highlighted the Yankee’s farm system in his latest column at ESPN.com, but what he has to say at the end, when he lists his top farm systems, says it all.  He concludes, that with studs like Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes, the Devil Rays have by far the best farm system […]

This isn’t good to read, but it’s not a huge surprise either.  Keith Law at ESPN.com recently wrote an article about how much the Yankees farm system has improved.  In the sidebar, the mentions that the worst farm system probably goes to, gulp, the Padres.  They passed up a ton of talent in 2004 and […]

For a while, the Yankees haven’t had many bullets in the chamber when it comes to prospects.  Trade deadline deal after trade deadline went down until the Yankees farm system was pretty much depleted.  The only reason we didn’t further deplete the farm system in 2006 was because the Phillies were looking to dump Bobby […]

Did you ever think, say even two or three years ago, that anyone would be saying this about the Tigers?

Welcome.  My name is Dylan Bolling and I’ll be covering the Milwaukee Brewers for the Baseball Historians network of baseball websites.  I really think when you combine a weak NL Central with a solid Brewers team, that this might be the season for Milwaukee fans.  Not only do I think the Brewers will have their […]

Randy Levine and Brian Cashman are going to lead a delegation to Beijing, China next week.  The ultimate goal is to eventually open a baseball academy in the Asian country, which the team hopes will bring a wealth of talent.  China didn’t last very long in the World Baseball Classic but in 2008, Beijing will be […]