Baseball Historians

The United States entry into the 2009 World Baseball Classic has lost and added an outfielder in the past 24 hours. A day after the club added Philadelphia Phillies CF Shane Victorino to replace injured Cleveland Indians star Grady Sizemore, Colorado Rockies OF Brad Hawpe withdrew due to a fluke injury. The power hitting OF [...]

I’m watching the archive of the Indians/Padres game from today and I’m impressed with the Indians new spring training home in Goodyear, AZ.  The Reds will be playing there next year as well. 
With that, the Tigers have been at Joker Marchant longer then any other team has with their spring training partner.  Still, a trip [...]

Well, it seems like I haven’t been locked out of my site today and after some much needed maintenance, I’m hoping it won’t happen again.  In the meantime, the Tigers are in the eighth inning of their third spring training game so there’s quite a bit to catch up on.
I have been able to listen [...]

Team USA suffered a major loss today when Cleveland Indians star Centerfielder Grady Sizemore withdrew from the 2009 World Baseball Classic with a groin injury. This a major blow to the title hopes of the Red, White and Blue as Sizemore is considered by many as the top leadoff man in the game. The current [...]

It’s been a rough February.  Between Tigers Corner (which I’ll eventually get to) and now my current problems, I’ve been unable to login in to Wordpress for a week.  Not sure what was different today, but I’m not going to argue.  Anyway, I’m having some problems with my host and I’m working through them so [...]

Frank McCourt, Ned Coletti, Manny’s agent Boras and Boras’ assistant skipped the Dodgers first spring training game yesterday to meet at Dodger stadium. The Dodgers put up a two-year, $45 million deal. The first year would give Manny $25 million and the second $20 million, with the second being an option, so Manny could opt [...]

The last time the Dodgers met the Cubs, they swept them in a three-game NLDS series in October. The Dodgers were on pace to pick up a win until Ramon Troncoso gave up a granny to Micah Hoffpauir in the fifth inning. Troncoso had come on in place of Eric Milton, who tossed a couple scoreless innings. [...]

The roster for the United States entry into the 2009 World Baseball Classic was announced Tuesday and features 27 major leaguers.(Out of a maximum allowable number 28) The roster features 2 catchers, 7 listed infielders and 4 outfielders. Manager Davey Johnson’s pitching staff features only 4 starters but 10 relievers, including 4 lefties. This could [...]

Team USA and the 15 other clubs most announce their final rosters of 28 tonight at 6 pm. Each team must have 13 pitchers and at least 2 catchers. Stand by for the players on Manager Davey Johnson’s roster later this evening.

The Dodgers are set to take on the Cubs in their first Spring Training game on Wednesday. At camp so far, Jason Schmidt has made progress and it looks as if he will have a good chance at being the fifth starter in the rotation to start the regular season, which would give him his [...]

The big news of the first 10 days of camp was announced Sunday by Mets Manager Jerry Manuel. Rookie Daniel Murphy, thought to be in the mix at 2b(with veteran Luis Castillo) or a possible platoon OF candidate, has won the starting leftfield job. Murphy has hit .313 over 13 major league at bats and [...]

I guess new ownership is better then the team being gutted.  Still, as the Padres celebrate their 40th anniversary, Padres fans have a few things to be hopeful for. Jake Peavy is still with the team and it’s not like any of the other teams in the NL West got dramatically better.  The Dodgers are [...]

It’s kind of sad when the most excitement you can get out of Mariners fans is the return of Ken Griffey, Jr.  Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to see Kid retire in a Mariners uniform but still, this team didn’t do much to improve from their 101 losses in 2008.  Yes, they were the [...]

The Dodgers signed free agent secondbaseman Orlando Hudson to a one-year deal today. The deal will cost the Dodgesr $3.4 million, a possible $4.6 million in incentives, and their first round draft pick.
Hudson, a 2007 All-Star, is coming over from the Arizona Diamondbacks, where he batted .305 with 8 homeruns and 41 RBI in 2008. [...]

Andre Ethier reported to Spring Training camp a few days early and a few days before his set arbitration hearing. But a day before the hearing, the Dodgers and Ethier agreed on a one-year, $3.1 million contract. Ethier was going to seek $3.75 million in the hearing, and with the Dodgers originally offering $2.65 million, the [...]

You can tell spring training has started because there’s plenty to write about.  Jason Beck went wild recently and seems like he’s writing a handful of columns a day.  His latest is a nice piece on Brandon Inge and his most recent move to third base.  I know he hasn’t been able to hit much, [...]

The Mets signed veteran righthanded starter Livian Hernandez to a minor league deal over the weekend and is not someone new to GM Omar Minaya. Minaya had Hernandez in Montreal/Washington from 2003 to August 2006 and sited the need for veteran insurance in a release. The younger brother of ex Met Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez, [...]

1)  Justin Verlander
2)  Jeremy Bonderman
3)  Armando Galarraga
4)  Edwin Jackson
While the order may change slightly, there’s about a 99% (and barring an injury) that this is how the front four of the Tigers’ rotation will shake out.  The big question is, who becomes the fifth starter heading out of spring training.  In the past, teams have [...]

10 am is the time, Lakeland is the place.  While I’m sure there’s been some activity at Joker Marchant the past few days, today marks the official start of spring training as pitchers and catchers are required to report.
In a little over a month, all of our questions will be answered.  Is Carlos Guillen ready [...]

In an interview that was taped for ESPN on Monday’s early afternoon, and then immediately released to air, Alex Rodriguez admitted to using performance enhancing drugs from 2001-2003, during his stay with the Texas Rangers.  He seemed genuinely apologetic, and sorrowful to his fans and the Rangers organization.
In his home in Miami, A-Rod’s interview with [...]

No Mark Teixeira.  Not much of anything.  At least not much to get excited about if you’re a Nationals fan with spring training kicking off in five days.  The Nationals resigned Odalis Perez and outside of that, the front office did little to address the problems that plagued this 100 loss team.  Adam Dunn is [...]

The Blue Jays have gotten good at one thing, and that’s avoiding the arbitration table.  Shawn Camp signed over the weekend and that marks twelve straight years where the team has avoided arbitration.  Camp will make $750k in 2009.
Pitchers and catchers report in just one week.  It’ll be an interesting season for Jays fans because [...]

Welcome to the most anticipated season in the Rays short history.  The team is coming off of not just their first post season appearance, but their first World Series.  They also made some moves, and while some are good, some could come back to bite the team in the you know what.  As it stands, [...]

Chris Jaffe, at the Hardball Times, penned an interesting piece on how the Tigers have never really had great pitching.  At least not historically.  He takes a look at the first half of the Tigers’ history.  As he talks about, there’s pretty much Hal Newhouser then everyone else.  Tommy Bridges warrants some Hall of Fame [...]

As the 2009 season is approaching, the “steroids in baseball” conversation is long from over.  I was hoping that we could put that in the past and remember the Mitchel Report, and the players  testifying  before congress as things that ended in the 2008 season.  But now we have a huge name being mentioned in [...]

Kevin Goldstein recently released his list of the top eleven prospects in the Tigers system and I was generally pleased.  There’s a few of these lists that I check out and out of all of them, I respect Goldstein’s the most and he doesn’t disappoint.  I recently had to pen a top ten prospect list [...]

Not leaving a thing behind in the big move across the street to new Yankee Stadium, the boss remembered to bring everything with him, including his check book. The Yankees have not hesitated to put themselves back in the discussion for the best team in the majors, this winter, with huge offseason signings totaling more [...]

Pitchers and Catchers report in just over seven days (a week from Friday) and outside of the Justin Verlander signing, things have been pretty quiet.  The Tigers outrighted Eddie Bonine to the Mud Hens and that’s probably where he’ll pitch in 2009.  With Nate Robertson, Dontrelle Willis and Zach Miner all vying for the fifth [...]

Joe Torre spent the afternoon in front of a line of fans and reporters stretching around the block of a Mid-Town Manhattan bookstore, on Tuesday, defending his new book entitled “The Yankee Years.” A lot has been said since excerpts starting leaking out last week about the book, and the feelings of those involved. Alex [...]

A lot has happened in baseball since the last time I have had the opportunity to be a part of BaseballHistorians.com.  I want to thank everyone responsible for making this a reality for me again this year.  I hope to become a spark that enables discussion, and hopefully bring you the information that makes this [...]