MLB News and Rumors

Nobody is more excited to return to baseball than Derek Jeter.
Last season came to a crushing end for the Yankees captain, who fractured his ankle in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series in October, and Jeter says the ensuing offseason has been a nightmare.
“My offseason was terrible,” he told reporters Sunday. “Absolutely terrible.”
Jeter was reportedly unable to walk on his injured ankle for long periods of time, prompting him to ride a motorized scooter through the halls of his 30,000-foot mansion for much of the winter. That doesn’t sound like a terrible way to spend your downtime, but the shortstop was anything but amused.
“I don’t want to make it sound more dramatic than it is, but you have to learn to walk again,” Jeter said. “In that sense, physically, it was a challenge. Mentally, it was a challenge when you are sitting on the couch and you can’t get anywhere. So I had a little scooter to move around. It was tough. It was not fun.”
Though he has been out of com…

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Los Angeles Angels OF Mike Trout has been one of the most impressive young players to break into the majors in some time. As players report for the start of spring training, it appears to one observer that Trout has packed on a few pounds in the offseason. According to one reporter, Trout now resembles an NFL fullback not a major league outfielder. Mike DiGiovanna tweets, “Last season, #Angels OF Mike Trout looked like an NFL RB. He looks more like a FB now, after gaining 10-15 lbs. He reported at 240 lbs.” The added weight should mean little to his game. Trout had a spectacular 2012 season. He scored 129 runs, recorded 182 hits while batting .329 on the year. He hit 30 home runs, driving in 83 and stealing 49 bases. He is ac omplete player who is poised to super stardom.     The post Los Angeles Angels OF Mike Trout put on a few pounds during the offseason appeared first on Hardball Chat Baseball Blog.

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If you follow the Hot Stove League, like I do, you are probably quite aware of the Cardinals offseason moves (or lack thereof).  A while back, Joe Strauss expressed his concerns about the lack of moves by the Cards and, with other teams making significant moves to improve their rosters, it begs the question as to whether the Cardinals have lost ground to the other contenders for the NL crown.

Here’s a look at the contenders in the NL and their offseason moves (to date):

St. Louis Cardinals

The Cardinals lost Kyle Lohse and Lance Berkman (who missed most of the 2012 season) to free agency and recently lost Chris Carpenter to injury.

Carpenter also missed most of the 2012 season to injury, so that’s a wash.  Berkman was replaced at first by Allen Craig, who will be healthy to start the 2013 season.  So the only real whole that the Cardinals need to fill is that of Lohse, who will be replaced in the rotation by one of Shelby Miller, Joe Kelly or Trevor Rosenthal. You can ex…

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Spring Training is right around the corner – literally. Pitchers and catchers will be reporting on Monday, and the rest of the players will be following later that week and into the next week. What that essentially means is that the offseason is just about over, and we’re ready to get the baseball season started. Of course, with the offseason coming to a close, there’s an obligation to determine the winners and losers of the offseason. But instead of breaking teams down into categories, I think it would be easier to just give each team a grade based on what they did (or did not) do this offseason. I’m going to try not to take the transactions from other teams in the division into account when looking at a team, so it will be possible for the majority of a division to have had a good (or bad) offseason. AL East   Baltimore Orioles: C. The Orioles essentially stood pat this winter after a miraculous 2012 season that saw them go on a stunning …

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The off-season isn’t technically over yet, as there are still a few free agents to be signed, and there’s a chance we could see another significant trade before spring training opens. However, most teams have essentially finished their off-season shopping at this point, and now we can look back and see which teams did the best in terms of adding talent to their organizations, or made a good move that pushes them closer towards serious contention without doing long term damage to their franchise. Keep in mind, just because a trade is listed here as a win for one franchise doesn’t mean that I think the decision was necessarily a poor one for the other side. There are several deals below that I think served both teams interest, and in fact, one deal is listed twice, because I think both teams got exactly what they needed in the transaction. There are win-win deals, so the support for one side of a transaction should not be read as condemnation of the other side. We’ll look at the w…

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Michael Bourn rumors have been flying around all offseason, but he is still sitting there without a job for 2013. We were told how he’d be one of the most highly sought after free agents this offseason, but perhaps those people who said that need to rethink it. Bourn has had plenty of suitors, but talks with him have not even progressed to the stages where we were hearing constant rumors of a signing being near. It’s early February, less than ten days before pitchers and catchers report to spring training and he’s without work.
There are reasons that Michael Bourn is still without a job. He’s coming off his best season and he’s seeking a lot of money. Additionally, only the top 10 picks in the draft are protected so most teams who sign him would be giving up their first round pick. The Cubs pick second so that pick is secure, but if they signed Bourn or any other player who was presented a qualifying offer, they would give up their 2nd round pick.
In a perfect wo…

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What if?
For the sake of sanity, this list will confine itself to recent memory.
Sure, it would have been remarkable for Seattle to have Randy Johnson, Alex Rodriguez, and Ken Griffey Jr. for the entirety of their careers, but that accomplishment would have been rare for the best organizations in baseball.
Below are some of the great “What ifs” for the Seattle Mariners.
What if Ichiro Suzuki had signed elsewhere?
The thought of “something out of Star Wars!” (Miss you Dave Niehaus) going to another team is nearly unthinkable.
The way the fans accepted him and his style defined Seattle baseball for a decade.
Most of these “What if” scenarios are frustrating and less fun to think about, so starting with the blessing of Ichiro from Japan is a positive note.
What if the Mariners had signed Prince Fielder?
Count me in as someone who likes Jack Zduriencik and what he is doing from the inside-outs of the Mariner’s organization.
But time after time, and offseason after offseason with unfulfilled promises

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