MLB News and Rumors

College baseball teams sure seem to have fun, and the Cincinnati Bearcats are a good example.

UC finished the regular season 24-32 and placed ninth in the Big East with a 6-18 mark, failing to qualify for the conference tournament. … But that didn’t deter the Bearcats from having a jolly good time.

There was jousting.

There was addressing of royalty.

There was swimming.

The backstroke, too.

There was exploring.

And to top it off, there was a capture.

By the way, the UC Bearcats play their home games at Marge Schott Stadium. … We wonder if the Cincinnati Reds late owner would approve.

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Pitcher Tim Hudson, helped the Atlanta Braves move to the best record in Major League Baseball with the win over the Washington Nationals last night. The Braves are now at 10-1 on the season and off to a red-hot start. No other team in baseball has 10 wins and no other team in baseball has only 1 loss on the season.  With the win the Braves move to a 3 game lead in the National League east over the Nationals and the N.Y. Mets. Hudson pitched 7 good innings against Washington only giving up 1 earned run in the game. He struck out 3, didn’t walk anyone and the run he gave up was a home run to Danny Espinosa in the 5th inning. The Braves took Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg, deep when Evan Gattis hit a 426 foot blast to left center in the 3rd that drove in Upton. Atlanta’s only other run came in the 9th when, Jason Heyward singled into a fielder’s choice that allowed Chris Johnson to score. If the Braves can keep up this pace, the good people in Atlanta will see the team return to …

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher and Team Mexico ace Yovani Gallardo pitched one inning without issue in an exhibition with the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night, setting him up to start against Team USA in the World Baseball Classic on Friday, pending medical clearance.

Gallardo, who has been dealing with a groin strain that has limited in Brewers camp, started for Team Mexico at Salt River Fields, striking out the side and issuing two walks on 24 total pitches.

“For me, the main goal was to make sure I was healthy,” Gallardo said. “I wasnt worried about it going into it. Yet again you always have that in the back of your mind because you’ve been treating it for five days. It felt fine.

“My mechanics got away for those two hitters, but then I was able to get out of the inning.”

Gallardo, who has started on Opening Day the last three seasons for the Brewers, said he has been told by Team Mexico he will start Friday against Team USA as long as the Brewers

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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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A Mets source told Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe that the front office is still trying to get MLB to allow them to keep their first-round pick if they sign Michael Bourn.
They are still trying to determine whether they can convince Bourn to sign a potential backloaded deal and that they will go “all out on the compensation”  if they know their pick will be protected.
In other words they will overpay if they have to as long as they can keep the pick. Sounds like this still has legs. Stay tuned…
Original Post 1/28
Richard Justice of MLB.com reported that the Mets will have little to no interest in signing Michael Bourn to a contract if they are unable to protect their first round pick.
The New York Mets have no interest in signing free-agent outfielder Michael Bourn if it means surrendering their top 2013 Draft pick, the 11th overall. If you’re wondering why a rebuilding team would invest big bucks in a 30-year-old outfielder regardless of the compensation, that’s a question plenty…

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Saying, “Happy Martin Luther King” day just doesn’t feel right. And it is mostly because I lived through those days and they were not happy days. The world was upside down and upheaval was everywhere. It seemed that society was flying apart at the seams. Growing up in Bergenfield, New Jersey, we were somewhat shielded from the strife. Bergenfield was mostly Irish, Italian and Jewish at that time. But four miles away was a town called Teaneck and riots were occurring there. We heard about it and we were scared. But I am one that believes that celebrating Martin Luther King’s life is the right thing to do. His cause was right and just. He fought it courageously and was gunned down way too soon.

So to honor his life today, the idea was to come up with an all African-American team of the greatest players at each position. That seems right too since it was Jackie Robinson’s history-making introduction to the majors that opened the doors to others that have grace…

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This story has been covered on the interwebs on several occasions before this post — including a mention on Wikipedia, a source of 100% reliability — but it’s making the rounds again and given its whimsical nature and cultural and historical importance, it is certainly worth another visit. Old Hoss Radbourn was a pitcher for the 1886 Boston Beaneaters, an organization that after many years would one day become the Atlanta Braves. During a team photo, Old Hoss can be clearly seen giving the middle finger, flipping the bird, the one-finger salute, what have you. As the story goes, the Beaneaters were set to face the New York Giants on the day the photo was taken and apparently, Old Hoss felt the urge to send a little message to the players on the rival squad. And he accomplished delivery of said message by way of shooting up his middle finger. And as luck would have it, the photographer snapped the picture — or whatever they did back then — at the perfect moment. As mentioned above, the photograph ge

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New Toronto ace R.A. Dickey says he’s thrilled to join a team that’s ”all in” to win the World Series and thankful the New York Mets did not meet his contract demands.

The Blue Jays formally introduced Dickey on Tuesday at Rogers Centre after acquiring the National League Cy Young Award winner from the Mets last month.

Dickey says the Mets helped him cultivate his knuckleball and says there is no acrimony between him and his former team, but he’s glad to be moving on.

He says Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos is doing everything to win now after also acquiring All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes and pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle from Miami this offseason. He says if Toronto doesn’t win it won’t be because Anthopoulos didn’t try.

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