Results matching “awards”

Last week Jim Edmonds indicated that he plans to retire after the season and now it sounds like the 40-year-old outfielder may have already played his final game. Edmonds is on the disabled list with an oblique injury that was originally listed as a strain, but he revealed yesterday that it’s actually a torn muscle:…

Angels outfielder Peter Bourjos had himself a nice little Saturday.  The Halos beat the Twins 9-3 at Minnesota’s Target Field and the the 23-year-old collected a series of firsts. Called to the big leagues on August 3 and thrown into the fire almost immediately, Bourjos hasn’t been perfect.  But he has shown flashes.  On Saturday…

The Twins have reached agreement with their first round pick from this year’s draft, Ohio State right-hander Alex Wimmers.

Peter Bourjos is considered one of the elite defensive center fielders among prospects and Torii Hunter ceased being an excellent defender several years ago, so it makes sense that the Angels would use Bourjos in center field for his big-league debut tonight while sliding Hunter to right field. Of course, given Hunter’s nine straight Gold…

Demoted to Triple-A earlier this month just six starts after his imperfect game, Armando Galarraga is scheduled to rejoin the Tigers’ rotation tonight against the Rangers in Detroit. At the time of the demotion Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said the move was made primarily to get Galarraga some work during the All-Star break and…

Little known fact: The Amazing Kreskin was the only guy who knew about Russell and Huntington’s contract extensions last winter! He also wants a job with the Pirates: The hapless Pittsburgh Pirates have sunk so low in the standings that The Amazing Kreskin is offering his services to bail them out — for an undisclosed…

The Red Sox designated pitcher Boof Bonser for assignment. Shocker, there. Bonser has spent most of the season on the DL, and the two occasions he has pitched he has been shelled, allowing four runs in two innings. Bonser was a failed starter who had some promise when he was moved to the pen in…

I realize that some of you were watching the Tony Awards, the NBA Finals and other things that don’t really matter all that much, but the smart ones among you were watching the Cubs-White Sox game. If you did, you watched a pretty damn spiffy pitching matchup, with Ted Lilly and Gavin Floyd matching no-hit…

Since my Ken Griffey Jr. retirement piece received so much feedback… After the 1999 season, Ken Griffey Jr. was famously named the Player of the Decade by the players themselves, as part of the MLBPA’s Players Choice Awards. No balloting was ever announced, so we don’t know how close the vote was. The choice garnered…

I like eulogies — for careers and lives — that are a little on the brutally yet respectfully honest side. Outside of Rob Neyer — who always delivers at times like these — I’m not guessing we’ll get a ton of that when it comes to the Kid, but I can live with it.  Here’s…

Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu said Wednesday that Ken Griffey Jr. has opted to retire, effective immediately. Griffey, the 1997 AL MVP, was hitting just .184/.250/.204 and was homerless in 98 at-bats this season. He lost playing time to Mike Sweeney last month and saw his role decrease even further with Milton Bradley back from the…

Commissioner Bud Selig has been named the first recipient of Taylor’s Award, presented by the Taylor Hooton Foundation to “an individual who has made a major impact on efforts to educate and protect American youth from the dangers of using performance-enhancing drugs.” Couple thoughts: 1. Great for Bud! You’ve come a long way, baby!  Ten…

As an addendum to this morning’s story about Brian Cushing, the football writers have, after a re-vote, decided to allow Cushing to keep his Defensive Rookie of the Year award despite the fact that he had tested positive for a banned substance before the season started. Like I said this morning, the notion of going…

This question was inspired by Mr. Piazza’s own comments in the New York Times over the weekend, in which he says he’d prefer to go in with a Mets cap: The bulk of my career was with the Mets,” he said, “and after going through the trade, then the drama of 9/11. I’ll never forget…

It’s safe to say I’ve given up on my hopes of becoming a major league GM. But if a reader hits the lottery, buys a team and decides to give me a shot, know that there’s a couple of rules I’d live by: 1. Never give multiyear deals to bench players 2. Don’t re-sign veterans…

Juan Gonzalez sat for an interview with ESPNDeportes.com on Monday, during which he denied ever taking steroids, saying “I never used any of that stuff,” and saying “I have nothing to hide. Nothing.” This is consistent with what he said in 2005: “It’s not true . . . I never saw needles. I never saw…

The good Mr. Neyer posted his projected standings at ESPN yesterday.  He has the Yankees, Twins, and Rangers winning their divisions and the Red Sox taking the wild card in the AL and the Phillies, Cardinals and Rockies taking the divisions and the Braves taking the wild card in the senior circuit. Rob’s a lot…

Between now and Opening Day, HBT will take a look at each of the 30 teams, asking the key questions, the not-so-key questions, and generally breaking down their chances for the 2010 season.  Next up: The Rockies. The big question: Are the Rockies the best team in the National League? I’m going to say no…

Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, and the rest of the Giants’ division-winning 2000 squad will be reunited April 11 in San Francisco as the team holds a 10th-anniversary celebration for AT&T Park (which was then called Pacific Bell Park). Bonds and Kent famously didn’t get along (to say the least) during their hugely successful run with…

Between now and Opening Day, HBT will take a look at each of the 30 teams, asking the key questions, the not-so-key questions, and generally breaking down their chances for the 2010 season.  Next up: the defending NL Champs. The big question: Will the real Cole Hamels please stand up?Hamels was otherworldly in the 2008…

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…

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…

Defense: the final frontier . . .: This could be the year that baseball-stat freaks finally crack the “Derek Jeter enigma.” A panel of coaches has awarded the New York Yankees’ shortstop four of the past six Gold Glove awards for fielding excellence. That drives statisticians nuts, because nearly every statistical model ranks Jeter’s defense…

Frank Thomas officially announcing his retirement has me thinking about his place in baseball history and preemptively worried that the Baseball Writers Association of America may not fully appreciate him when he appears on their Hall of Fame ballots in 2014. Thomas was my favorite player growing up, which is admittedly an odd sentiment for…