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For as long as people have written words on the Internet, there's been a baseball snarkiarchy. This devoted group of provocateurs has made a sport of mocking numerous players over the years. Often analytically inclined, they home in on a certain kind...

Last year, Jason Motte was one of the best and most reliable closers in the game, racking up 42 saves, nearly 11 strikeouts per nine innings, and a 2.75 ERA. He signed a two-year, $12 million contract in January, and was widely expected to have anoth...

On Wednesday, I covered 15 players with compelling backstories who've been invited to spring training with American League clubs. Per that article: "These are the NRIs, the non-roster invitees promised almost nothing — not a job, not a major le...

The Baltimore Orioles were a bad team in 2011. Terrible, really. They won 69 games, finished last in the AL East, and allowed 152 more runs than they scored. If anyone other than Dan Duquette and the players' moms figured the O's could storm back, wi...

Trying to handicap the home stretch of a pennant race is an exercise in futility. Can Nate McLouth and Lew Ford carry the Orioles to postseason glory? Will Ervin Santana and Dan Haren lead a huge Angels comeback after stinking for most of the season?...

The Brewers have moved 9.5 games closer to the National League's wild-card spot in the past 39 days. The Phillies have also chopped 9.5 games off their wild-card deficit in the past 37 days. Milwaukee now sits 3.5 games behind St. Louis w...

We covered the American League's trade deadline fallout on Wednesday. Now, on to the National League. NL WEST SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS Acquired Hunter Pence from Phillies for Nate Schierholtz, Seth Rosin, and Tommy Joseph The Pence trade upgrades...

In acquiring Zack Greinke from the Brewers for three prospects, the Angels now have an argument for the best rotation in baseball. Better still, even if his first start ended in a 2-0 loss to the Rays, the Angels outfoxed their archrivals and improve...

Three big contract extensions in 24 hours. How'd the Indians, Rangers, and Reds do? Let's take a look. Carlos Santana signs a five-year, $21 million deal with the Indians that includes a $12 million club option for a sixth year. Seven years...

Welcome to the inaugural edition of Grantland's weekly MLB Power Rankings. Every Monday we'll size up all 30 teams, evaluating each one based on a combination of recent play, overall team quality, and statistical spelunking. Most teams have p...

Ryan Braun will be in the Milwaukee Brewers lineup on Opening Day. On Thursday, an arbitration panel upheld Braun's appeal and threw out a pending 50-game suspension against the reigning National League MVP. It marked the first time that a major ...

Prince Fielder's gone. Ryan Braun might be gone for 50 games, pending his appeal of a suspension for taking a banned substance. Take that much pop out of any lineup, and you've got a team destined for meaningless baseball by August, right? In this ca...

The Royals need to steal a page from their successful small-market brethren, and they need to do it now.

Baseball's Hot Stove season is far from over, with Prince Fielder, Edwin Jackson, Roy Oswalt, Ryan Madson, and others still lurking in free agency, and the trade market still stuffed with possibilities. But several teams will end up standing pat from...

Let the numbers run through you like a bouncing ball through a Milwaukee Brewer's legs. Shaun Marcum set the all-time record for worst ERA by a playoff starter. Starting pitchers allowed 18 earned runs allowed over 10 innings in the decisive games...

TIGERS 7, RANGERS 5 (Rangers lead series 3-2) You can get big hits from unexpected sources. You can trot out the best pitcher in the league. You can even get a stolen base from the slowest athlete in the Western Hemisphere. The Tigers had all thos...