Baseball Historians

As youngsters we are taught that the name of the game in baseball is pitching. Unfortunately, when you take a look at the statistics of the 2007 Pittsburgh Pirates you will see that their dismal ERA of 4.93 placed them 14th in the National League, only .01 ahead of the 2 worst staffs (Cincinnati and [...]

The Marlins’ starting pitching could summarize their 2007 season with one simple phrase: “What happened?” Injuries, a lack of consistency, and the surprising drop in Dontrelle Willis’ production ravaged the young Marlins staff. Well, now what?
The Marlins start the 2008 campaign with only one of their pitchers from their 2007 Opening Day rotation, Scott Olsen. [...]

It appears as though left-handed ace Erik Bedard will either get a bunch of money to stay in Baltimore or he will indeed be traded. Sources close to the Orioles indicate Peter Angelos would prefer to keep his ace pitcher and has contacted Bedard in an attempt to discuss a five-year contract extension.  However, there [...]

It finally happened.  After a rumor filled winter meetings, the Twins finally dealt Johan Santana to the Mets for four prospects.  Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra all come over from the Mets and the deal is contingent on the Mets and Santana reaching a long term deal.
You have to hate it [...]

I’m heading off to work soon but I wanted to pose a question to everyone.  With Johan Santana’s departure from the division, that makes C.C. Sabathia the top pitcher in the American League Central.  After thinking about it, does that make Justin Verlander the second best pitcher in the division?  He’s had two solid seasons but [...]

Johan Santana is now out of the American League Central and good riddance.  The Mets dealt four prospects for the star pitcher and that makes the Mets one of the front runners to win the National League pennant this year.
The decline of the Twins helps the Tigers but it also means a team like the [...]

In her regular mailbag column, MLB.com beat writer Carrie Muskat answers readers questions and she touches on everything from Ryan Dempster’s move to the rotation to whether Brian Roberts could still be coming to Chicago.  These are always interesting reads and Carrie does a nice job.  One interesting fact in the column is that the [...]

The Nationals newly acquired catcher, Paul Lo Duca, recently went under the knife and had knee surgery.  He’ll be out for four to six weeks and while this will carve into his spring training time, it looks like he should be ready for Opening Day.
At 35, you wonder how well he’ll be able to recover [...]

Brandon Inge hasn’t backed off from his desire to find a team that would play him every day at third base but he’s now said that he’s preparing for a utility role with the Tigers for the 2008 season.  At this point, Inge doesn’t have much of a choice because the Tigers have pretty much said [...]

After a historic season in 2007, the Tigers may be looking to lock up Curtis Granderson to a long term deal despite the fact that he’s not even eligible for arbitration yet.  This is one of those big win/potentially big loss kind of deals because while Granderson had the monster year last year, there’s not [...]

It looks like the Reds have made their choice and after the fiasco in Sarasota earlier in the week, the Reds have decided to move forward to try to secure the facility in Goodyear, AZ. I don’t know this will affect the Reds Florida State League affiliate but it looks like the Reds will [...]

Former Tigers radio broadcaster and Hall of Famer Ernie Harwell turned 90 today.  The last time I talked to Ernie was over the summer about a book project I was working on and he’s still sharp.  I still highly recommend his audio scrapbook.  You get four discs of baseball memories that at least I’ve listened [...]

The Reds made it official and they signed Jeremy Affeldt to a one year, $3 million deal and he has a chance to make a million more if he hits some benchmarks.  Affeldt is a former starter who turned reliever and now the Reds are hoping he can find a spot in the rotation.  Affeldt [...]

You have to love a dedicated city.  Sarasota’s County Commissioners went through such a huge effort to get together and they got so much accomplished.  They voted to do nothing for a while.  With a 3-2 vote, they agreed not to vote on a stadium renovation plan that would keep Sarasota as the Reds’ spring training [...]

Former closer Matt Mantei was one of 21 players invited to Tigers spring training this February as he continues his attempt at a comeback.  The former Diamondback hopes to make an impact this spring after a couple of years off and while it’s not expected that he’ll make the team, it’ll be interesting to see [...]

Kevin Goldstein published his list of top eleven Red prospects and like everyone knows, there’s some definite heat at the top.  Jay Bruce, Joey Votto and Homer Bailey are all bluechip prospects and they get five stars from Goldstein.  Johnny Cueto gets four stars and those four guys will provide the Reds with a solid [...]

In a nicely done piece, John Walsh at the Hardball Times takes a look at the best outfield arms in baseball and amongst left fielders, Alfonso Soriano is in a class by himself.  His kill rating of 266 is by far the best in his class with Emil Brown’s 190 a distant second.  His hold [...]

John Sickels recently published his list of the top twenty Phillies prospects and while there’s some decent talent at the top, things thin out quickly and at the moment, the Phillies sport a pretty unspectacular farm system.  The top five is dominated by pitchers with Adrian Cardenas sitting as the only position player and even [...]

Angel Pagan is coming home as the former Mets prospect was traded by the Cubs to the Mets for Corey Coles and Ryan Meyers.  Coles and Meyers both had decent seasons but neither are high level blue chips and neither even made an appearance in John Sickels Top 20 Mets prospects list. 
Pagan gives the Mets [...]

Baseball America recently revealed their top ten Red Sox prospect list and topping the list is Clay Buckholz.  Little surprise because the kid already has a major league no-hitter under his belt.  Buckholz is going to get a shot to pitch in the Red Sox crowded rotation in 2008 and hopefully he’ll play a vital [...]

MLB.com is reporting that the Angels are in talks with the White Sox for a deal that would send Howie Kendrick and Ervin Santana to the White Sox for slugger Paul Konerko.  While I’d love to see a guy like Konerko driving in runs in an already solid Angels lineup, losing Kendrick and Santana would [...]

Today marks the 88th anniversary of the Yankees’ acqusition of Babe Ruth.

The Athletics picked up three more prospects to go with the guys they picked up when they sent Danny Haren to Arizona.  This time is was Moneyballer Nick Swisher who’s sent out of town and in return, the Athletics get pitching prospects Gio Gonzalez and Fautino De Los Santos in addition to outfielder Ryan Sweeney.  [...]

Gio Gonzalez is on the move again as he was one of three White Sox prospects who were dealt to the Athletics for slugger Nick Swisher.  This is an interesting move because the White Sox are kind of on the fence in the American League Central.  They’re probably still not as good as the Tigers [...]