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You’ll recall that last month I passed on a rumor I heard that Frank McCourt planned to sell the Dodgers once the divorce stuff is all settled.  Upon posting it, the Dodgers Thought Police called me, demanding a retraction and calling me irresponsible. Which was fine. I figured I had simply hit a nerve —…

Sticking with the Reds, My favorite Reds blog, Reds Reporter takes us back 20 years to a simpler, more dorky time.  Question: who’s got the worst flow: Paul O’Neill or Chris Sabo?

After bad news regarding Dontrelle Willis and Khalil Greene, finally some good news from one of the players who have struggled with anxiety disorders and allied maladies recently: When you ask Joey Votto about his offseason, he gives you a polite “fine, thank you.” But the Reds first baseman knows you want to know more.…

“No comment . . . and make sure you write that it is a no comment with a headshake from side to side.” – White Sox’ GM Kenny Williams when asked how he felt about Ozzie Guillen having a Twitter account. In other Ozzie Guillen Twitter news, we’re told that the account is not actually…

Back in 1982 Pascual Perez was late for a game with the Braves when he kept circling the city on I-285, unable to find the stadium.  That’s still the best reason I’ve ever heard for being late, but Twins’ pitcher Jose Mijares is probably in second place: Lefthander Jose Mijares reported to camp on Tuesday…

A couple of weeks ago I lamented the fact that fellow West Virginian J.R. House’s career was probably over.  Turns out that it’s not, as the Braves just signed him to a minor league deal. The odds of him sniffing playing time in Atlanta?  Slim and none and none slim [sue me] left town, but…

An interesting little dustup in the baseball blogosphere this morning as Dave Brown at Big League Stew took an awesome picture — and wrote an awesome post, by the way — of a young female fan getting Evan Longoria’s autograph at Rays’ spring training.  The headline: “Looks like someone has a crush on Evan Longoria.”…

Last month it was reported that former Blue Jays’ GM J.P. Ricciardi had signed on with a talent agency, looking to get a TV gig. They did a good job, it seems, as Ricciardi was just hired by ESPN to replace Steve Phillips as their GM-in-residence on “Baseball Tonight.” I thought ESPN’s baseball coverage hit…

Today’s Buster Olney column is actually pretty good as it relates to Jason Heyward’s expectations and the media and all of that, but I can’t help but think his opening paragraphs were specifically intended to give Braves fans a heart attack: Jason Heyward was born in Georgia, was a first-round draft pick of the Atlanta…

UPDATE: Ladson reports that the Nats have signed Livan Hernandez to a minor league deal. 10:00 A.M.: After a full winter of saying that they were looking for a “Livan Hernandez-type” pitcher, but steadfastly refusing to consider Livan Hernandez for the job, the Nats have apparently decided that they just can’t quit Livan, with Bill…

Paul Sullivan reports that the cactus league is displaying a grapefruit with an autograph of a player whose autograph no one really wants anymore. Meanwhile Amalie Benjamin tweets that “starters are throwing bullpens.” While the winter months bring a deafening silence to the world of baseball, the sweet sorrow of spring training must be organized…

Between their multiple businesses, homes, charitable initiatives and executive income, the McCourts’ finances seem outrageously complicated. I mean, it must me murder to do their taxes.  Oh wait . . . The McCourts, who own the Los Angeles Dodgers (so she says; he says he’s the owner and she’s not), jointly pocketed income totaling $108…

John Harper of the Daily News thinks that Robinson Cano needs to step things up: More than Curtis Granderson, more than Nick Johnson, the onus falls on Cano to fill the clutch gap. Indeed, it’s time for Cano to prove he’s more than a great talent, a status he reaffirmed in 2009 with a big…

Like most young hurlers, the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw is subject to a pitch count. He’d prefer that he not be: “This year I don’t think there should be that 100-pitch thing. If there was a pitch count last year, I think this year there should be no restrictions, no holds barred, I should pitch as…

Alex Speier takes a look at the Mike Lowell situation and wonders if the notion that the Sox are going to trade him is all wet. After running through just about every potential trade partner and finding the fit less-than-ideal, he notes: Clearly, the potential fits are few, particularly given the Sox’ desire that another…

Manny’s state of mind is like the weather: don’t like it? Just wait a few minutes and it will change. Here he is a day after saying that he might just retire after this year: Manny Ramirez walked across the Dodgers’ clubhouse on Tuesday to interrupt a conversation. “Listen,” he said as he made a…

The Plain Dealer has a story this morning about Indians’ closer Kerry Wood and the flashing red neon “trade bait” sign floating over his head. He makes $10.5 million this year on a team that doesn’t look to contend and which has no compunction about dumping salary. If he finishes 55 games, an $11 million…

Baseball Prospectus’ Russell Carleton wrote a column last week called “Why All Third Base Coaches Should be Fired.”  The reason: as a group they’re way, way too timid in sending runners home on fly outs.  If that’s not bad enough, Jim Leyland now has another reason to fire his third base coach: While defeating the…

Derek Jeter is speaking to reporters about his life, contract status, the universe and everything. I’m sure there will be a full transcript later, but the quote everyone is tweeting right now is “I’ve never been a free agent and I’ve never wanted to be a free agent.” This is why Jeter is a media…

lar at Wezen-Ball has created a nifty graph/ timeline which tracks every home ballpark used by the Major League clubs over the course of their entire existence. The explanation is here. The timeline itself is here. Pfun Pfact: The Reds’ home park was once called “Palace of the Fans,” and was built with team money. …

There had been a lot of noise about Curtis Granderson moving to left field now that he’s with the Yankees, but yesterday on XM’s Home Plate show, Brian Cashman said “Granderson is out centerfielder.”  Oh, he hedged it a bit and noted that Brett Gardner would be an outstanding centerfielder, but the Granderson is going…

Buster Olney has them. In addition to his $8 million: He gets $500,000 for winning the MVP Award, $200,000 for finishing second through fifth, and $100,000 for finishing sixth through tenth; He gets $100,000 for being voted in as an All-Star, $50,000 for being selected as a reserve; $100,000 for winning the Gold Glove and…

The world changed in a very important way last night at around 9PM. How? Ozzie Guillen’s Twitter account went live. The highlights so far: 3 day of Spring Training and im already boreddddddd going to eat in half hour why dye no have a job ? Thanks a lot for the support i like it…

One day after I pondered whether baseball would react in an ignorant, knee-jerk fashion to that positive HGH test by that British rugby player,  the New York Times reports that baseball plans react in an ignorant, knee-jerk fashion to that positive HGH test by that British rugby player: Major League Baseball, which had long been…

The Thomas M. Cooley Law School of Lansing, Michigan charges its many, many students something like $25-30K a year in tuition for what U.S. News routinely considers a fourth-tier legal education.*  And now their tuition dollars are going to the Lansing Lugnuts, Class-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays: The baseball park will be renamed…