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I've been meaning to run the final poll results from all the offseason report cards we published before and early in spring training. Here are the American League tallies. Keep in mind that the polls were conducted before some recent developments too...

Confession: I spent all offseason believing the Yankees would still rank among the American League's elite teams in 2013. After all, despite the woeful hitting in the postseason, this was still a team that won 95 games and had the second-best run dif...

New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon compared David Wright to Derek Jeter, to which Wright responded by saying, "In my eyes, that's the ultimate compliment. I think it's somewhat undeserving. But it's humbling to be mentioned in the same sentence with him...

2012 in review Record: 95-67 (95-67 Pythagorean) 804 runs scored (2nd in AL) 668 runs allowed (4th in AL) Big Offseason Moves Re-signed free agents Hiroki Kuroda, Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera and Ichiro Suzuki. Signed free agents Kevin Youkil...

This will be the year. How long have we been saying this about the New York Yankees? This will be the year. Too old, too many bloated contracts, not enough young talent coming up through the minors and now ownership that -- horror of horrors! -- s...

Some postseason averages through the first four games for some Yankees hitters: Alex Rodriguez: .125, 16 AB, 9 SO Ichiro Suzuki: .200, 20 AB, 3 SO Nick Swisher: .133, 15 AB, 3 SO Robinson Cano: .111, 18 AB, 1 SO Curtis Granderson: .063, 16 AB,...

It began when Josh Hamilton dropped that routine fly ball in the final game of the regular season and has carried over into the postseason: We haven't exactly seen a lot of elegant baseball so far. Consider some of what we've seen: The Braves ...

For a few minutes there I thought we had time-warped back to 2003 or 2004, with the Red Sox and Yankees playing a big game in October, Yankee Stadium shaking with noise, Derek Jeter watching intensely from the top step of the dugout. Then I saw Bo...

You'd think everyone in the greater New York metro area who would want a Derek Jeter jersey would have one by now, but such is not the case: For the third straight year, Jeter's jersey was the top-selling jersey. Jeter beat out Josh Hamilton, the new...

The American League MVP race appears to be a two-man showdown between Mike Trout and Miguel Cabrera, although I suspect if neither the Angels nor the Tigers make the playoffs, we may see some scattered first-place votes for Josh Hamilton, Adrian Belt...

It's a very special edition of SweetSpot TV as Eric Karabell and myself discuss Mr. Derek Jeter. At the age of 38, Jeter is having a terrific season at the plate, hitting .321 and leading the American League in hits. We raise the question: Is Derek J...

It's Hall of Fame induction weekend, so congratulations to Barry Larkin and the late Ron Santo for their honor. Jerry Crasnick has a nice story about covering the young Larkin with the Reds. On a related topic, Graham Womack of the Baseball: Past ...

WAR is not the Holy Grail of statistics. It's a conversation starter, not a conversation ender. It's important, it's useful and most of all it's fun. It's the best tool for comparing players across positions or across eras. It's a great tool for e...

My favorite All-Star selection in the past decade was reliever Mike Williams of the Pirates in 2003. At the break, he had 25 saves ... but a 6.44 ERA. He was the Pirates' lone representative, of course, although the club did have other worthy options...

ESPN Insider Chris Sprow joined me to talk about the red-hot New York Yankees -- with 10 straight wins entering Tuesday night's game, have they separated themselves as the team to beat in the AL East? And we can't avoid discussing R.A. Dickey, but do...

Umpires. Can't live with them, can't live without them. Well, maybe we could live without them, but I'm not quite ready to move to robotic umpires and computerized strike zones just yet. Jerry Crasnick has a story on the state of umpiring in the m...