Baseball News Blog

Here come the Boston Red Sox!!!They're making their move and in one weekend, they went from 5th to 3rd in the AL East. 8-2 in their last 10 games... winning away games and a 5 game win streak.Let's see how they do against the new last place team, Baltimore Orioles (in Baltimore). One can expect that the fans at the games will be 50% Red Sox fans as usual (Cheap airline tickets to Baltimore,

Spring training is under way and....I didn't know that the Dodgers played in Arizona.... a few years back I saw them in Florida for spring training. Was that a coincidence? Or did they move their spring training facility?Also, the Red Sox are planning a nicer spring training ball park which is alright but the one they have now is fine. I'm not sure of the reason for this.I hope Josh Beckett's

Pujols arrives at camp with no hard feelingsAlbert Pujols said an awful lot in 25 minutes of speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, but out of the more than 3,000 words he spoke, 10 of them are going to stand out. Pujols reported to Cardinals camp at about 6:30 a.m. CT/7:30 ET on Thursday, did some early work and addressed reporters shortly before 9 a.m. ET. He talked at great length in

I can't wait for spring training to start. The weather is starting to get to me. I feel like this winter has been especially harsh. It seems like every square inch of the US has had snow at some point or another... I know, slight exaggeration.Does anyone else feel the same way? I mean spring training isn't too far off right now and all I can think about is heading to FL to watch spring

Red Sox fans, make sure you have it marked on your calendar... 1/29/2011 is the day Boston Red Sox tickets go on sale (for most games anyway).You will be able to wait in virtual waiting rooms for hours while not being able to buy tickets haha. Well, if you're planning on buying tickets, GOOD LUCK!

I'M BACK! More news to follow.

This will be the last post on Baseball News Blog. Thanks to everyone who has visited the site over the last four years. It's been fun.Mariners, World Champions that Weren�t. Derek Zumsteg: "'The Mariners had Junior, A-Rod, and Randy Johnson, and they didn�t win squat.' I can�t tell you how many times I�ve been told that about the Mariners. But I�ve never sat down and taken a serious look at

One on One: Nothing But The Stats.Did you think Miguel Tejada's 150 runs batted in were a fluke last year? Well, he has 25 RBI in 22 games in 2005. I know it is (really) early, but I still find it interesting that Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Al Simmons, and Hack Wilson are the only players ever to knock in 150 or more runs in consecutive seasons. Gehrig and Ruth each turned the trick

What Can Brown Do For You? "Watching Kevin Brown struggle in pinstripes again this past weekend raised the question -- at least in my mind -- is he the greatest Brown ever to play major league baseball? Raise three fingers in the air if you know the answer to that right off, as we prepare for another exciting rendition of Baseball's Hall of Names ... Woohoo!" (Batter's Box Baseball Blog)Tek the

Chat: Joe Sheehan.BigPapi34 (Boston): 87 wins for the Yankees? That is by far the most pessimistic forecast I've seen. I'd be giddy if it actually happened, because the headlines from New York (and Tampa) would be priceless. Defend thyself.Joe Sheehan: Aging hitters. Aging fielders. Overrated and overpaid rotation that, aside from the tall guy, will be victimized early and often by the latter.

New York Fancy Ladies 4, Toronto Blue Jays 3. "I thought earlier this week that Alex Rodriguez had been handed the plot to his inevitable cheesy Hollywood bio-pic: if I was a screenwriter given the task of writing The A-Rod Story, I would do my damnedest to hang the story around A-Rod saving the kid in Boston...[T]he pre-kid-saving blackhearted A-Rod was in full effect against the Jays last

The Devil's Advocate: A Major Disaster. "The problem with the Yankees has nothing to do with Joe Torre or Mel Stottlemyre. It�s not about lineup construction or bullpen usage. The Yankees are struggling because the front office did a terrible job of building a team with the resources they had. For whatever reason, they neglected their depth and their defense, they placed too high an emphasis on

Willis pitches second straight shutout. The Marlins' team ERA is now 1.36. They have four complete games; the other 29 teams have a grand total of two. (Yahoo!)Roger Out. "In the best game of the young year, Kazuhisa !sh!! reined in his control to play gunslinger with official Pro-Bites sponsor Roger Clemens. The fat-headed Texan threw smoke (but no splintered bats) and shut the Mets down

Sorry for the unexpected two-week absence. Back to baseball!The Red Sox Home Opener! (4-11-05, Complete with Pictures and Videos!) (Fire Brand of the American League)Sitting among the Fenway faithful. Bill Simmons: "I'm not claiming that I helped spawn the miracle fetus or anything, but the doctor told us that the baby was conceived shortly after the Cabrera trade. Maybe she didn't do as much

Custodians. John J Perricone:If McGwire (or Bonds, or Sosa, or Brady Anderson, or whoever) used steroids prior to 2002, it wasn't cheating, it wasn't against the rules, and they didn't hurt anyone. Bill Madden, (or any one of these sportswriters) writing that Bonds should retire, for the good of the game, cannot make the same claim. He is writing something that is hurtful, that is not based on

I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide...and I'm on TV. Jay Jaffe will be appearing live on MSNBC's Connected Coast to Coast today (Wednesday) at 12 noon EST/9 AM PST. Topic: steroids. (Futility Infielder)First Time Caller, Long Time Moron.The greatest of all sports talk traditions is the mock trade. Two rules of the call-in show mock trade:1. Assume the prospect you've heard about on your team is as

Cards move Ankiel to outfield.JUPITER, Fla. -- Cardinals lefthander Rick Ankiel, once deemed the game's most promising young arm, will convert from pitcher to outfielder, effective immediately. The Cardinals confirmed the move Wednesday morning shortly after rain washed out what was scheduled to be Ankiel's spring debut in a B game against the Florida Marlins."We are fully supportive of Rick's

For my eyes only. John J Perricone: "From what I have read, the list of side effects associated with steroids could hardly be described as life-threatening; or even very dramatic; it's possible this could happen, maybe that could happen. There seems to be little proof of these side effects, other than to say, lots of people think they are real. Even if it's a given that high doses of steroids

Breakfast With Bill James. Part One. (The Baseball Analysts)Breakfast With Bill James (Part Two).RL: There you go. In the 1982 Baseball Abstract, you introduced the Defensive Spectrum, which I believe was one of your biggest contributions. How did you develop that and does it still hold true to today?BJ: It still holds true. I use the Defensive Spectrum as an example to try to explain to

2005 Season Preview (American League). Includes a paragraph on every significant player on every team. (Doubleswitch.com)2005 Season Preview (National League).RF - Brian Giles - OK, we all know the bad news. The Padres traded Jason Bay and Oliver Perez to get Giles in 2003... and you know, it's not a totally farfetched idea that Bay and Perez could be the MVP/Cy Young winners this year or next.

"Who Was Your Favorite Player Growing Up?" A "talented group of writers, analysts, and baseball executives" answers the question. Part 1 of 3. (Baseball Analysts)Day Two: "Who Was Your Favorite Player Growing Up?" (Baseball Analysts)

Smoltz for Alexander. A great trade for the Braves and...a great trade for the Tigers. (The Hardball Times)The Williams-Santo Cubs: 1970-1973. "If the Cubs were frustrated following 1969, they had to have been devastated following 1970. One would think they would be more motivated than ever to get it right this time. Yet their sequence of off-season transactions was bizarre, almost insane." (

Scoping the San Diego Rotation. (Dodger Thoughts) The Williams-Santo Cubs: 1966-1969. (The Hardball Times) Clemens Rocketing Up the All-Time Charts. Ranking Roger. (Rich's Weekend Baseball BEAT)

Santana to get four years, $40 million. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)Four More Years! "For a small-market team like the Twins, committing a huge chunk of the payroll to a single player is very dangerous, regardless of how great that player is. If Santana, who had his elbow cleaned out following the 2003 playoffs, misses one season over the life of the deal, he will not only leave the Twins with a

Early NL Central Preview. "The Pirates' big move this offseason was to dump one of their few unambiguously good players in Jason Kendall on the A's in exchange for some money and a few trinkets. That bad move looked even worse as February rolled around and the Pirates found themselves several million dollars under budget and with no one to spend their money on. GM Dave Littlefield has said that

Today's Password: Evil. A Giants fan looks at the 2005 Dodgers. (McCovey Chronicles)Your Semi-Favorite Year. Name your favorite year of Dodger baseball in which the team didn�t win a World Series. (Dodger Thoughts)QOTD / MYOR: I'm Patient Of This Plan. "Which are the most improved offences in each league? Who let way too much talent walk? Can the Red Sox lead the Majors in runs for a 3rd

I�ll Take Manhattan: Baseball�s Most Lopsided Trades. "A few hundred years ago the Yankees traded some beads to the Indians for the isle of Manhattan. They even made the Indians eat the bulk of Manhattan�s remaining contract in the deal. And yet that does not even compare to Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi. Now that was a lopsided deal if there ever was one." (Mike's Baseball Rants)

....

Tigers close Ordonez deal. Five years, $75 million. (ESPN.com)

Magglio's Millions. "The Tigers have made a signing that smells like summer armpits, tastes like sun-dried mayonnaise, and sounds like John Kruk�s unreleased album of Cyndi Lauper covers. Awarding Magglio Ordonez a possible $105 million, as Dave Dombrowski and company have just done, is the Ben Affleck film festival of free agent

YouNeverKnow '05: It's That Time Again. "It's Groundhog Day, and you know what that means ... it's time for 2004 pre-season nominations for the Annual Batter's Box Joaquin Andujar Award. The player who will eventually be awarded the 2005 Andujar will be the epitome, in retrospect, of a low-risk, high-reward transaction." Previous winners: Esteban Loaiza (2003); Ronnie Belliard (2004). (

A BatOpinion. "The Twins are apparently befuddled by their repeated failure to draw two million fans, despite the team's success on the field. Team Batgirl believes that the Twins can come up with all the snappy marketing campaigns they want, but marketing just isn't the issue. Back in the early '90s, this was a baseball town. Then came the strike, then the great period of Tremendous Sucking,