Archives › 2009 › August

Jon Heyman (and many others) are saying that the Red Sox are going to release John Smoltz today.  Rosenthal has the Dodgers, Cardinals and Marlins as interested.  No chance he’s going back to the Braves, says Mark Bowman, and he provides some statistical reasons to be wary of Smotlz, even as a reliever: During the…

Before the game starts it’s the home team — not the umpires — who decide if a game should be delayed due to rain. According to Dejan Kovacevic — one of the best beat writers in the business, by the way — the Cubs screwed up yesterday’s rainout against the Pirates royally: First, there was…

The guy sounds like that personal trainer I’ve been ducking at the gym for the past six months: “There are things in life you don’t like to do, but you have to do them. I don’t like abs [abdominal muscle workouts], but I have to do them. I have to start doing them every day…

I’m not sure what’s more pathetic: the fact that the Atlanta news paper keeps running stories about Jeff Francoeur, or the fact that Braves fans like me keep reading them.  Anyway, there was another one over the weekend, and Jeffy unleashed a couple of Jeffy-gems: Q: Things must be going well on the field, eh?…

Royals 3, Tigers 2: A lot of people experience anxiety about taking a day off work. They check their email a lot, allow themselves to be preoccupied, and generally feel as though the office can’t get by without them. This is baloney, of course. The world goes on fine without you. No one is so…

It’s a game of chicken. A staring contest. A battle of wills. Will the Washington Nationals sign Stephen Strasburg? If they don’t ink the San Diego State phenom by midnight Eastern time on Monday night, then they lose the rights to the savior of the franchise. The man who can single-handedly inspire Nats fans to…

David Wright spent Saturday night in the hospital after getting beaned in the head by a 94-mph Matt Cain fastball, but was released Sunday after being diagnosed with post-concussion symptoms. Corey Koskie’s career was ruined by the aftereffects of a concussion and the Mets saw how much it hurt Ryan Church last year, so certainly…

Tonight, we’re following along with Sunday Night Baseball as the Phillies and Braves play the rubber game of their three-game series in Atlanta. Join in and participate with your comments.   <a href=”http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=a254464d2f” >Phillies vs Braves: Live Chat</a>

It’s fairly irritating when retired baseball players give the whole “Back in my day, things were different” spiel (I’m look at YOU, Tom Seaver). But when someone plays that card and says something totally asinine and illogical, the only medicine is to turn off the TV. This is Dave Winfield a few minutes ago on Baseball…

Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman brought some stone-cold logic to the Steven Strasburg negotiations before Sunday’s game: “When it comes down to it, Strasburg has to think about, ‘Can I go to bed if I turn down $15, 16 million dollars — whatever it is — to pass up the opportunity to play for these…

In 20 games since joining the Cardinals, Matt Holliday is batting .475/.505/.813 with five homers, 20 RBI, 17 runs scored and an 1.318 OPS. Unreal. But did you know that Jeff Francoeur (four) has drawn more walks than Holliday (one) this month? It hardly matters when you are swinging such a hot bat, but Holliday’s…

Barry M. Bloom of MLB.com penned an excellent piece on former Mets and Rangers manager Bobby Valentine, who recently agreed to part ways with the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League after this season. As a result, the 59-year-old Valentine is on the hunt for a job in the United States, whether on television…

“It’s puzzling. It doesn’t mean that it’s crazy, because this is baseball. The ball’s not bouncing the right way. Last year, it bounced the right way every time.” – With Brad Lidge’s latest implosion against the Braves on Saturday, he became the fifth player since 1954 to have a loss, blown save and two errors…

- The nightmare season for the Mets continues as David Wright had to leave Saturday’s game against the Giants after getting beaned in the head by a 94 MPH fastball by Matt Cain. Of course, Johan Santana had to follow that up with his best Shawn Estes impression, throwing behind Pablo Sandoval in retaliation. What…

Tyler Kepner, who covers the Yankees for the New York Times, sparked a mini-controversy with an innocent little tweet following Mark Teixeria’s heroics in a 4-2 win over the Mariners on Friday night. “By the way, this is probably obvious by now, but Teixeira’s the AL MVP. No question, as Joe Torre would say.” Rob…

“He doesn’t get to play a whole lot, and achieving what he did tonight is very exciting. He didn’t know the situation of the game and that there are certain things you don’t do. He doesn’t know any better. I have plans to talk to Mike Scioscia, because I’d hate to see them do something…

As the Monday deadline to sign Stephen Strasburg approaches we learn that the Nationals have offered the 21-year-old right-hander the largest contract ever for a player taken in the amateur draft. Not surprisingly, according to Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, the deal is worth more than the $10.5 million Mark Prior got from the…

What might get lost in the aftermath of a wild 9th inning rally for the Red Sox is a puzzling decision by Terry Francona. The Boston manager can thank Victor Martinez that he’s not getting hammered in the press today. To recap, the Sox entered the top of the 9th trailing Texas 4-2. David Ortiz led off…

This is part of a series of articles examining what every team’s roster would look like if given only the players it originally signed. I’m compiling the rosters, ranking them and presenting them in a countdown from Nos. 30 to 1. No. 30 – Cincinnati No. 29 – Kansas City No. 28 – San Diego…

- The pitching matchup of the night pits Clayton Kershaw against Dan Haren as the Dodgers take on the Diamondbacks in Arizona. Kershaw currently ranks seventh in the NL in ERA, two spots behind Haren. The two are going in opposite directions, though. Kershaw has a 1.55 ERA since the beginning of June and a…

9 1/2 years after spending $96 million to buy the Royals, David Glass has decided to check out first-hand just what is wrong with his team. Reports The Associated Press: Glass said Friday that he plans to clear his schedule to attend more games and see why the Kansas City Royals are having one of…

This is part of a series of articles examining what every team’s roster would look like if given only the players it originally signed. I’m compiling the rosters, ranking them and presenting them in a countdown from Nos. 30 to 1. No. 30 – Cincinnati No. 29 – Kansas City No. 28 – San Diego…

General manager Theo Epstein and the Red Sox stayed busy this afternoon, sending Single-A infielder Kristopher Negron to the Reds to reacquire Alex Gonzalez three seasons after he was Boston’s starting shortstop. Gonzalez hit just .255/.299/.397 in 111 games with the Red Sox in 2006 and has been even worse this year, batting .210/.258/.296 in…

Neftali Feliz followed up his impressive big-league debut by showing that he was human in appearance No. 2, but got back to being untouchable last night. He struck out five of the six batters he faced in two perfect innings, and now has the following video game-like numbers through four career outings: IP ERA SO…

Pablo Sandoval has quickly become one of my favorite players, because he looks like a beer-league softball slugger, swings at absolutely everything from both sides of the plate, never seems to shut up, can often be spotted dancing in the dugout, runs like he’s chasing a piece of cake, and already has a pair of…