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The cream of the 2013 free-agent crop was obvious and expensive. Teams entered the offseason flush with cash and spent prodigiously. Outfielder Josh Hamilton was the best position player, while B.J. Upton and Michael Bourn followed not far behind...

Blog | May 10, 2013

It was an active offseason that witnessed the trade of a Cy Young Award winner, several large, multiteam trades and an inflated free-agent market. So to evaluate and rank the offseason of all 30 teams, I took into account the following factors: &...

Blog | February 12, 2013

Every team entering the offseason would love a shot at even one (if not several) of the top available players on the free-agent market. But that often only comes with a particular equilibrium of financial resources and baseball needs. Below are 1...

Blog | November 13, 2012

Even though the offseason has only just commenced for the San Francisco Giants and Detroit Tigers, general managers of 28 other teams already have been pondering their futures for some time. For five GMs in particular, their jobs for the next thr...

Blog | October 30, 2012

Let's consider these facts from ESPN's Stats & Information department regarding the New York Yankees' historically poor performance in the American League Championship Series: • The Yankees' .188 batting average in the 2012 postseason i...

Blog | October 20, 2012

It was a summer of success for baseball's mid-Atlantic teams. After much losing over the past decade, both the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals took their divisions by storm. One surprised, the other finally arrived, but both buoyed fan bas...

Blog | October 15, 2012

In 2004, outfielder Carlos Beltran came into the season making $9 million on a one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals. By the time 2005 spring training rolled around, he was with the New York Mets making $119 million on a seven-year contract w...

Blog | October 03, 2012

Starting pitching is what got division leaders to where they are now and it is what many believe will decide the four wild-card berths. Just look at the teams vying for those slots and the pitchers they boast: the Tampa Bay Rays are led by David Pric...

Blog | September 17, 2012

Now that baseball's July 31 trade deadline has come and gone, it's time to assess the aftermath. The flurry of activity up until the very end underscores just how many teams still feel they are in the hunt for postseason play, as well as some very sh...

Blog | August 01, 2012

The buildup to the 2012 trade deadline has been better than advertised. We've already seen the Detroit Tigers trade a couple of top prospects for Anibal Sanchez and Omar Infante, the Los Angeles Dodgers swing a deal for Hanley Ramirez, and the New Yo...

Blog | July 27, 2012

There is a huge difference between a team's retooling and rebuilding. For the Philadelphia Phillies, that difference is left-hander Cole Hamels. By keeping intact a starting rotation of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee and Hamels, Phillies general manager ...

Blog | July 16, 2012

With increased parity and two wild-card berths available, there are fewer sellers this season than ever just before MLB's July 31 trade deadline. Because of that, conventional wisdom dictates it could be a slow go for teams in search of help. How...

Blog | July 03, 2012

With just more than six weeks before the July 31 trade deadline, the difference between buyers and sellers remains blurred. Parity and the addition of two wild-card berths has many teams on the fence about being a buyer or seller. For now, there are ...

Blog | June 12, 2012

On March 1, Brian Cashman's job got a lot more difficult. That's when the New York Yankees' general manager was reading the headlines Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner made when he said the Yankees would get their payroll below $189 million by 2014....

Blog | May 24, 2012

Heading into spring training, every general manager has a list of questions that he wants answered. Whether that's seeing if a player has rebounded from surgery or if an aging veteran has any gas left in the tank. It might be a position battle that n...

Blog | February 22, 2012

Jim Bowden breaks down next winter's free agent class, including predicted salaries and teams.

Story | Conversation | January 25, 2012