2010 Offseason Review: AL East

AL East
Baltimore Orioles
Key losses- Chris Ray, Danys Baez
Key additions- Kevin Millwood, Garrett Atkins, Mike Gonzalez
Off-season grade- C+
Justification- Kevin Millwood provides some leadership for the Orioles young staff. He’s also very durable and that should keep the young staff from pitching too many innings. Garrett Atkins is a nice low risk/high reward signing. Mike Gonzalez stabilizes [...]

2010 Offseason Review: AL West

AL West
Los Angeles Angels
Key losses- Vladimir Guerrero, John Lackey, Chone Figgins, Darren Oliver
Key additions- Hideki Matsui, Joel Piniero, Fernando Rodney
Off-season grade- C
Justification- Losing Lackey hurts, but if Piniero can pitch like he did in 2009 he’s a better pitcher and cost less than Lackey. Matsui is a good choice to take over the DH spot. [...]

Talks Heating Up With Sheets

It was reported recently that the Chicago Cubs had put Ben Sheets on the back-burner, despite mutual interest.
Well, today Jim Bowden tweets “Ben Sheets negotiations, according to reliable sources, are heating up with teams most interested … the Rangers, Mets, Mariners, A’s and Cubs.”
Also, on MLB Live with Bowden and Joe Castellano, Bowden reported that [...]

Seattle Mariners Top Ten Prospects 2010

1) Dustin Ackley-OF/2B/Utility
What a hitter. Seattle is doing all the right things lately, all they have left it seems like is to find a position for this guy. They need his bat.
2) Gabriel Noriega-SS
Real young, but an outstanding defensive shortstop with improving offensive skills. He needs a lot of time with a lot of patience. [...]

Is Run Prevention the New Moneyball?

Jack Zduriencik inherited quite a mess when he took over the General Manager for the Seattle Mariners following the 2008 season. He took over a team that won 61 games in 2008. That team was the first team in MLB history to lose 100 games with a $100 million payroll. In one off-season he transformed [...]

So Long Big Unit

After 22 seasons in the major leagues, Randy Johnson retired on Tuesday. Johnson will go down as one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He has accomplished everything a player can accomplish during his career.
He won the Cy Young award 5 times, owns a World Series ring, a World [...]

Cubs Nearing Swap of Milton Bradley for Carlos Silva

After a seemingly endless era of Cubs management trying their hardest to trade Milton Bradley, his short tenure on the north-side has (almost) officially come to a close.

Larry Stone of the Seattle Times reports that Bradley will be taking his raw offensive talent (and attitude) all the way up the Seattle, to join the Mariners [...]

West Coast Shakeup

Well, the hot stove has been awfully lukewarm thus far this winter, but the Roy Halladay three-team deal brought some much-anticipated heat. It also brought what could figure to be the first step in the changing of the guard in the AL West, as according to the dynamics of the deal so far, Cliff Lee [...]

Roy Halladay Gone to Philly! Seattle Jumps into the Mix and Snags Cliff Lee!

Holy Smokes- after reports saying John Lackey is close to signing with Boston, Seattle wastes no time in jumping into the biggest blockbuster of the offseason less far and works out a 3 team deal with Philly and Toronto to get Cliff Lee. Roy Halladay is finally on his way to Philly, and Toronto likely [...]

Is Figgins Really the Best Choice for Seattle?

I’ll be frank. I think the Mariners dropped the ball again in terms of spending money on the free agent market. Everyone knew that Figgins was going to be overpaid, but I think he was overpaid by a team that frankly needs more than another speedster to compete in the AL West with the Angels [...]