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I heard a great description of Matt Harvey's curveball the other day from a longtime evaluator, and it really would apply to Clayton Kershaw's curveball as well: Even when a hitter is looking for it, even when he plans to swing at it, even when he kn...

Blog | May 15, 2013

The look and tone that Angels manager Mike Scioscia aimed at the umpires in Houston on Thursday night reminded you of a third-grade teacher admonishing students over a paper airplane thrown across the room. Scioscia's language, however, was a litt...

Blog | May 10, 2013

LOS ANGELES -- The first time Clayton Kershaw threw a slider with intent to do damage, about four years ago, A.J. Ellis was asked to catch him in the bullpen. Kershaw did what Kershaw always does, which is to develop a plan and carry it out. This is ...

Blog | April 02, 2013

Clayton Kershaw's slider has allowed him to take his game to the next level, writes Buster Olney.

Blog | Conversation | April 02, 2013

An evaluator who has logged a lot of spring trainings in Arizona considered the buzz that has surrounded the Los Angeles Dodgers' 22-year-old Yasiel Puig, and decided that the last time he could remember this much interest was back in the mid-80...

Blog | March 25, 2013

The Los Angeles Dodgers have a tough decision to make with Yasiel Puig, writes Buster Olney.

Blog | Conversation | March 25, 2013

Players injured during the World Baseball Classic will have their salaries paid by the WBC organization while they are unable to play for their major league teams, according to an MLB source.

GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- This is Part II of our rankings of the early-season schedules, from toughest to easiest. On Saturday, the focus was on the American League. Sunday, we turn our attention to the National League: 1. Pittsburgh Pirates Games again...

Blog | February 24, 2013

Buster Olney ranks the early-season schedules of NL teams. The Pittsburgh Pirates have the toughest path.

Blog | Conversation | February 24, 2013

In part four of our six-part series this week, we rank the top 10 infields in history. 1. 1976 Cincinnati Reds 1B Tony Perez, 2B Joe Morgan, SS Davey Concepcion, 3B Pete Rose Start with this: Joe Morgan posted an OPS+ of 186 that year, which is ...

Blog | January 23, 2013

Buster Olney ranks the top 10 infields in baseball history.

Blog | Conversation | January 23, 2013

For most of the first five decades of Major League Baseball, managers preferred to rely on their starting pitchers through the late innings. It wasn't until the '40s and '50s that managers began to regularly use pitchers like Joe Page,...

Blog | January 21, 2013

Buster Olney ranks the top 10 bullpens in baseball history, along with the latest news and notes from around baseball.

Blog | Conversation | January 21, 2013

I grew up as a crazy Los Angeles Lakers fan right in the middle of Boston Celtics country in central Vermont, which meant that all of my friends rooted for Larry Bird and Robert Parish and Cedric Maxwell, and I rooted for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magi...

Blog | January 20, 2013

Buster Olney ranks the top 10 rotations in baseball in today's blog, along with the latest news and notes from around baseball.

Blog | Conversation | January 20, 2013

We're less than a month from the start of spring training, and as one general manager said Monday, we've reached the stage of the winter where what you see is what get, for the most part. Most teams will do a little roster tinkering over th...

Blog | January 15, 2013