Fitness Stars of the Martial Arts: Featuring Profiles of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, Cynthia Rothrock, and Carlos Machado (Legends of Health & Fitness)
McCovey Chronicles (Free subscription) | 11/21/2009
To no one's surprise ... -Q: Holliday and Bay are the big names… Have you gauged their possible interest? Do you think either of those guys would have genuine interest in coming to the Giants? -SABEAN: We have not. I don’t think that they would have genuine interest based on the field that they’re going to be involved in. Why would they? I think Sabean's a little cheektender from...
The Crawfish Boxes (Free subscription) | 11/17/2009
by David Zalubowski - AP That's no whiffle bat Bourn is swinging... View full size photo » Let's open with a rather long note from Buster Olney's column on Michael Bourn . Since it's protected by the ESPN Insider firewall and I don't know how many of you subscribe, I'll reprint the high points: Before joining Aguilas in winter ball, in the Dominican Republic, he started to unravel the puzzle...
SportsJustice (Free subscription) | 11/13/2009
On the day Brad Mills was hired, Drayton McLane backed off earlier statements that the Astros were planning on cutting their payroll for 2010 and seemed to leave open the possibility of some winter spending. That's not going to happen. In an interview with Brian McTaggart, Wade confirmed that the Astros plan to have a lower payroll for 2010. They finished 2009 at $107 million, eighth-highest in baseball....
The Crawfish Boxes (Free subscription) | 11/12/2009
The New York Post , attempting to aid a Mets ' team desperate for a slugging outfielder, investigates whether Carlos Lee is available. Ed Wade put the kabosh on that idea: “He is going to be our left fielder. He has a complete no-trade clause and he has made it very, very clear that he does not want to go anywhere.” That makes it sound like the Astros asked Lee if he could be traded, and...
MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com (Free subscription) | 11/11/2009
SI's Jon Heyman reports from Chicago, where the GM Meetings are wrapping up... The Phillies are "intent on pursuing Chone Figgins hard," while the Mets are also fans of the Seth Levinson client. The Angels still hope to re-sign Figgins. Joel Sherman of the New York Post has more on the Mets' interest, explaining that moving Luis Castillo would make signing Figgins easier. Sherman thought...
SportsJustice (Free subscription) | 11/08/2009
Are you ready to be a champion? You are? I hope you know that championships are expensive, and, uh, well, the local baseball team is in kind of a bind. Drayton McLane's net worth is still above $1 billion, but it'll go down fast if he starts throwing sawbucks at these ballplayers. Oh sure, he could raise the payroll a bit and considering it an investment in the future. If the Astros got back to respectable,...
Fake Teams (Free subscription) | 11/07/2009
More photos » by Chris Carlson - AP Browse more photos » Yesterday Bobby Abreu signed a two-year, 19 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. If we were to draft for 2010 today, my guess is that Abreu would be taken around 50th overall which is right about where he was drafted in the 2009 preseason. In 2009, Abreu put up his seventh consecutive season ( eight of his last...
The Crawfish Boxes (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
More photos » by David J. Phillip - AP Hunter Pence (center) and Carlos Lee (right) are equivalent players? Browse more photos » Previously, I wrote about the Bill James Projections for selected Astros ' pitchers. Today, I will look at the Bill James projections for selected Astros' hitters. Below, we compare the 2010 projection for OBP, OPS, RC/G with the player's actual stats from 2009....
Lookout Landing (Free subscription) | 11/06/2009
Baseball players can make contributions in a number of different ways, the most obvious and talked-about of which is how they do at the plate. Defense, position, and baserunning tend to be brushed off as secondary concerns. What follows are the top and bottom 15 in the sum of these latter three values, as determined by UZR, Fangraphs' position adjustment, and Baseball Prospectus' EQBRR. Note that catchers...
The Crawfish Boxes (Free subscription) | 11/04/2009
More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP Congrats to the second-best right fielder in the majors. Browse more photos » Don't know if you noticed, but Hunter Pence was a close second to Ichiro in the third annual Fielding Bible Awards , which were announced Monday. It was a nice finish for Pence, who has worked hard to turn himself into a very capable right fielder. Since Michael Bourn also finished...
MetsBlog (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009
Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors looks at 14 left fielders who could be traded this off season, from Rays OF Carl Crawford and Astros OF Carlos Lee to O’s OF Luke Scott and Rockies OF Matt Murton. Lee, who will earn $57 million during the next three seasons, has hit at least .300 with at least 26 home runs and 102 RBI [...]
The Crawfish Boxes (Free subscription) | 10/29/2009
More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP I get the feeling we'll be seeing a lot of this look of confusion on Mills' face in 2010. Carlos Lee, will likely inspire of most of it. Browse more photos » In case you've been under a rock for the last 12-14 hours, you might have missed this . There are a pantheon of names that strike fear and respect into the hearts of us mere mortals. Last night, another...
Another Cubs Blog (Free subscription) | 10/28/2009
Rally’s bottom 10 in TotalZone: 1. Michael Cuddyer, RF, -26 2. Bobby Abreu, RF, -25 3. Vernon Wells, CF, -19 4. Gary Matthews Jr., CF, -17 5. Alberto Callaspo, 2B, -16 6. Orlando Cabrera, SS, -16 7. Lastings Milledge, LF, -16 8. David Wright, 3B, -15 9. Carlos Lee, LF, -14 10. Miguel Tejada, SS, -14 Rally updated these with park factors (scroll down to the comments) and Abreu was -9. Just to...
The Hardball Times (Free subscription) | 10/27/2009
That is, relative to position, and with the warning that these are imprecise ratings, not the final word, and that multi-year data, if available, must be used to determine who really is a good or bad fielder, preferably supplemented with scouting information. These ratings measure range and reliability only, and do not include an outfielder's throwing or an infielder's proficiency at the double play....
MLB Trade Rumors (Free subscription) | 10/26/2009
With baseball dark until Wednesday, let MLBTradeRumors.com light the way for you... Rob Neyer has a must-read piece about the Astros refusing to give Manny Acta a three-year contract offer. As Neyer writes, "If you think it's silly to give a manager a three-year contract but don't mind throwing $100 million of your ill-gotten gains at Carlos Lee, you probably need to have your head examined (though...
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