Free-agency side dishes (before the turkey)

So many teams are sitting back and waiting for the completion of the Type A free-agent and possible non-tender markets that there probably won't be a ...

Blog Entry | Conversation | November 25, 2009

ESPN RISE All-Decade Baseball Team

ESPN RISE All-Decade Baseball Team

Those who favored King Felix and Verlander

The AL Cy Young Award went more or less as expected, with the very deserving Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals running away with it, nabbing 25 o...

Blog Entry | Conversation | November 18, 2009

September 11, 2009; San Diego, CA, USA; Colorado Rockies manager Jim Tracy (4) during batting practice prior to the game against...

The market for those coming off injuries

One problem with market inefficiencies is that, once they're identified, it's usually a matter of time before they disappear as more players bid up th...

Blog Entry | Conversation | November 17, 2009

Money talks, but baseball won't listen

Did the Yankees buy a World Series celebration? Their money didn't hurt, but that $207 million payroll is the least of baseball's competitive-balance problems.

Chapman kept defection plans from kin

Aroldis Chapman simply left his room at the Domina Hotel in Rotterdam last July and went down to the lobby. The Cuban pitcher's defection during a tournament in the Netherlands lacked any of the drama a movie script writer would want.

Rangers make hires in baseball operations

...Price attended Harry Wendelstedt's Professional Umpiring School in 1978. Littlefield was a national crosschecker for San Diego for five seasons before joining the Rangers. Booher was most recently a Red Sox area scout...

Obstacles to a World Series rematch

Charlie Manuel quoted a general after Game 6, in pronouncing that the baseball world has not seen the last of the Phillies. "I'll tell you something -...

Blog Entry | Conversation | November 05, 2009

Six key matchups for Game 6

Six key matchups to watch in Game 6: Chase Utley versus the Yankees' adjustments: The Phillies' second baseman is not missing any fastballs; he is ha...

Blog Entry | Conversation | November 04, 2009

Howard's slide-step hurting the Phillies

The great thing about the postseason, an evaluator noted the other day, is that you always find out what the real weaknesses of hitters are (or at lea...

Blog Entry | Conversation | November 02, 2009

Winter market forecast: A flood of non-tenders

The conversations between general managers began accelerating this week, and some have noticed a distinct trend that does not bode well for this winte...

Blog Entry | Conversation | October 31, 2009

The leftovers tell us a lot from Game 2

It has been a World Series of pitching so far, with the inevitable umpiring controversy sprinkled in. Some leftovers from Game 2: Mariano Rivera is ...

Blog Entry | Conversation | October 30, 2009

Lee's calm is the Yankees' storm

We are accustomed to seeing October tension reflected in the eyes of the pitchers. Orel Hershiser's eyes in 1988 were intense -- the Bulldog locked in...

Blog Entry | Conversation | October 29, 2009

The top matchups of the World Series

These are my top matchups of the World Series, beyond the battle of old friends CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee: The Yankees' hitters against Cliff Lee's f...

Blog Entry | Conversation | October 28, 2009