According to a tweet the other night by Buster Olney, the Philadelphia Phillies attempted to trade pitcher Joe Blanton to the Los Angeles Angels for OF/DH Bobby Abreu, then planned to flip Abreu to the New York Yankees for A.J. Burnett.  My first thought was how much cash would the Phillies have wanted the Yankees […]

Last night was Trevor Bauer’s Double-A debut with the Mobile Bay Bears, the Arizona Diamondbacks affiliate in the Southern League. Bauer was the third overall pick in the 2011 draft out of UCLA. He was the second Bruins pitcher taken in the first round, with overall No. 1 Gerrit Cole (a former New York Yankee […]

Buster Olney of ESPN believes MLB should go back to the pre 1969 format and just have two leagues: The American League and the National League (subscription required). Under his plan the top five teams in each league would get playoff berths. This would negate some of the yearly advantage that big market teams like […]

The Miami Heat might not be the only organization trying to build a “super team.” Now that it appears Cliff Lee is close to spending the rest of the season in pinstripes the Yankees have six starters for five slots. The odd man out is likely Javier Vazquez who has been a disappointment since the […]

Was the leak about a Cliff Lee to the Yankees being a “done deal” a ruse to get other teams to ante up top prospects? According to Buster Olney “no deal between the Mariners and Yankees is in place yet, and it may be that the news of the Lee talks could spur more talks […]

Just last week we reported the Indians would be willing to listen to offers for RHP Fausto Carmona. I believed he would be an interesting option since he is young (26 years old), contract friendly (three team options), and would have a better balance of upside/cost than a Roy Oswalt, Cliff Lee, and Dan Haren. […]

The Red Sox are on the precipice of falling far enough behind in the AL East that they may consider moving on from stars of their past. Already you have seen Tim Wakefield sent to the bullpen and David Ortiz platooned at DH. In today’s ESPN Insider column, Buster Olney suggests Ortiz could be released […]

The Joe Mauer agreement has put the fans of Minnesota in a complete 180 degree situation from the days of contraction. It wasn’t that long ago fans of big market teams were contemplating which stars they could “pick” from the dispersal draft when Montreal and Minnesota were contracted. Today the Twins are not only alive, […]

Angel Pagan seemed poised to win the CF job for the Mets this spring. As a matter of fact, I could see him supplanting Jeff Francoeur, upon Beltran’s return, if Frenchy returns to his 2008 Atlanta levels of offense. Jason Pridie drove in four runs this week and we all know what Frank Catalanotto can […]

One of the mysteries of baseball is how Mariano Rivera has been able to perform at a Hall of Fame level into his late thirties, and now, forties. Take a look at other top closers in the history of baseball and how they fared in their age 39 season: Goose Gossage- 1 Save, 3.57 ERA, […]

The Mets courtship of Bengie Molina has hit the ridiculous stage. Buster Olney just reported that Molina turned down the Mets most recent offer, and now the Seattle Mariners might be the catcher’s likely destination. All winter we have reported a mutual interest between the Mets and Molina. The problem is each side has a […]

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to lay off WFAN in 2010. It was primarily due to the fact that I have said my piece about the station, and know it will never change as long as the current leadership is in charge. Their decline will be slow since they have established themselves over […]

ESPN’s Buster Olney just “tweeted” the following: Yankees finished org. meetings — they’re cutting payroll. I’m not sure yet by how much, but during season, expectation was to $185 mill. That doesn’t sound like we will see Holliday, Halladay, Jason Bay, or John Lackey. There has been speculation the Yankees will try to bring back […]

What if Sergio Mitre comes up and pitches for the Yankees, not like the guy who was 4-1 with a 2.32 ERA in AAA, but more like the guy with the lifetime 5.36 ERA and the 1.545 WHIP? What do the Yankees do then? With the report that Chien-Ming Wang was most likely lost for […]

Thought I would share a little tidbit from Buster Olney’s chat over at ESPN SportsNation: Doug (NY): “I think it’s the ballpark. Every year in free agency, we generally see the elite pitchers avoid places like Colorado, Cincinnati and Baltimore, where they have smaller ballparks” I hope the Yankee brass is reading your chat, Buster […]