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About 15 minutes ago, no one wanted to employ Jose Valverde. Now a contender has him facing Gordon/Escobar/Butler in the ninth. OK...- Joe Sheehan (@joe_sheehan) April 25, 2013 The last we saw of Jose Valverde, he was buried deep i...

From the Detroit News: But it's been quite interesting this spring and offseason, as Jim Leyland repeatedly has said he thinks (Alex) Avila can be a bit too selective at the plate. So, your response, Alex? "I just don't swing at balls out of t...

Some random stuff on sacrifice bunts as a follow-up to the previous post ... Nobody loved to bunt as much as Gene Mauch. If Earl Weaver was famous for playing for the three-run homer, Mauch was famous for playing "little ball." The fact that he ne...

2012 in review Record: 88-74 (88-74 Pythagorean) 726 runs scored (6th in American League) 670 runs allowed (5th in AL) Big Offseason Moves Re-signed Anibal Sanchez. Signed Torii Hunter. Lost Jose Valverde and Delmon Young. It has been a rel...

At this point, there isn't a whole lot to say. The San Francisco Giants' pitching has been spectacular, their defense has been terrific and the Detroit Tigers' bats are as cold as the Michigan weather. But the series isn't over, not with Max Scherzer...

DETROIT -- There will certainly be some cries that Jim Leyland should start Justin Verlander on three days' rest in Game 4, thus giving Verlander the opportunity to start Game 7 on short rest as well. As intriguing as that option may sound, Leylan...

SAN FRANCISCO -- This was the Madison Bumgarner Giants fans saw most of the season: the pitcher with impeccable control, the ability to get inside on right-handed batters, generate ground balls and change speeds. This was the pitcher who had become o...

SAN FRANCISCO -- One of the reasons I like Detroit manager Jim Leyland is he doesn't always automatically nod his head at conventional wisdom. Asked after the Game 1 loss about the Giants' momentum, he said, "I'm a guy that doesn't believe in momentu...

It has been a long season. Remember when the Oakland A's and Seattle Mariners began in Japan way back in March? OK, you probably don't. But you've made it this far. Don't quit now. We have at least four more games left and hopefully seven. Here's why...

The obvious answer here is: Well, of course, you do. Starters rarely throw complete games anymore in the postseason; in the past 10 postseasons we've had just 19 complete games. Only two starters have thrown more than one in that span: Josh Beckett a...

More baseball! On a day that featured a quadruple-header of baseball playoff action, a game in which a starting pitcher who didn't win a game all season gets a W, a game with a demoted former two-time Cy Young winner coming out of the bullpen for ...

The Oakland A's didn't really know what to expect from Brett Anderson, who hadn't pitched in 20 days since suffering an oblique strain. But here's the one thing about Anderson: He can roll out of bed and throw the ball over the plate. He returned ...

With help from the blog network writers, here are reasons each team can win the World Series. St. Louis Cardinals 1. A potent, balanced lineup. The Cardinals had the best on-base percentage in baseball, including four starters -- Matt Holliday, J...

Here's the thing about closers: If they were better pitchers, they'd be starters. Here's another thing: They're often inconsistent from week to week and month to month, let alone season to season. Here's one more thing: Even Mariano Rivera isn'...

You have to love August baseball. This is when the grind of the long season settles in, when depth becomes even more important, when pitchers have to pitch through fatigue and soreness and maybe a little pain. It's when we find out if the pretenders ...

We're back with more divisional position rankings for 2012. You can scream, you can holler, you can protest and call me names. But just because I rated your player lower than you think he deserves doesn't mean I hate your team. (Here are the NL Ea...