MLB News and Rumors

Written By Clifford Santa Monica, When I see a statement made like this, “…if they simply provide production around what they did in 2012 while Kinsler and Cruz tick their production up a notch, the Rangers offense won’t miss a beat without Hamitlon and Napoli in the lineup….” It just drives me crazy. Here is what I say about that….. Dude, if you think the two players you just mentioned will actually DO that, you’re delusional. Nelson Cruz will be 33 years old on July 1st. NOTHING this underachieving possible PED user has accomplished during his tenure with the Rangers suggests to me that we’ll see anything different from him than we’ve witnessed since his original call-up as a 26 year old. in 2006. Namely, inconsistent-to-poor clutch hitting with just enough tape measure home runs mixed in to persuade our wooden-headed manager that he’s a real force in the middle of our lineup. Oh-I left out the fact that (like golden boy Ian Kinsler), he’s both mistake AND injury prone. As for Kinsle

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    So much has been made of players who have become distractions while asking to be traded. For the most part, these players have acted in a selfish way to get out of places they do not want to be. Little to no regard is intended for the team the player is currently playing for. Other times teams are simply looking to dump payroll because they cannot afford the higher salaries. But what about a player who has been the ultimate company man? One who has made position change after position change. After all his own selfless sacrifices, he is given an ultimatum: either wave your no trade clause, or become a bench player. This, of course, is the story of Texas Rangers and infielder Michael Young.

    After making it through his first two seasons on a Rangers team that was not very good, Young became a face of the franchise starting in 2003. His emergence (.306, 14, 72, 204 hits, 106 RS) gave the team a homegrown star (though he was originally drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays) and…

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When the Oakland A’s came to visit the Red Sox this past season, most eyes were on Josh Reddick, who had exploded for the A’s since his trade from Boston.
But outfielder Jonny Gomes, who was reportedly signed by the Red Sox this week, was also getting a preview of his next baseball home — whether he knew it or not.
Gomes and Reddick put on the headsets at Fenway Park for a little chat with the MLB Network during their road trip with the A’s, and they certainly had a good time with the questions. They talked about what it was like for Reddick to return to Fenway Park as well as Gomes’ view of the historic grounds.
“All they did here was lose,” Gomes said when lauding the storied Fenway Park and the fans who have kept it a special place for many years no matter the team’s fortunes.
Gomes shows off his good-natured spirit, which will be coming to the team’s home clubhouse this season, in the segment. Check it out in the video below, with a hat tip to Peter Abraham for posting it on The…

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Outside of their starting staff, there is not a position on the Chicago Cubs roster that needs to be addressed more than third base. The Cubs rolled into the 2012 season hoping that their buying low on Ian Stewart would pay off, and he could turn around his disappointing career with a change of scenery. That didn’t happen. Stewart’s [...]

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The New York Yankees have a nine game win streak happening. Inter-league play seems to agree with the Yankees as they swept the Washington Nationals. The Yankees didn’t look this good when they started the season but as of late the men in the pin stripes have been pouring it on.  One of the reason’s the Yankees are doing this well is their pitching staff. Ivan Nova picked up his ninth win of the season yesterday, he pitched 7-2/3 innings only giving up one run on 7 hits.
The Yankees sit on the top of Baltimore by 1-1/2 games in the A.L. East and this 9 game win streak is the reason why. The Yankees are doing what it takes to win baseball games and with all these wins the guys are getting very confident. The Yankees look like they are going to continue to win and if they can’t be stopped we just may see another year of the Yankees in the play-offs and the World series. Wait, I am getting a little carried away there is still a lot of baseball left, we haven’t e…

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What in the world has been done to the Baltimore Orioles? I mean this in a good way. We are now in the month of May, and the Birds are still flying high thanks to another big win against the Red Sox, this time in dominant fashion. They defeated Boston, 8-2, thanks to a ridiculous seven-run third inning which featured home runs from Adam Jones and Mark Reynolds. They are now 18-9 on the season; meanwhile, Boston is 11-15. For a minute, I felt like I was watching the Orioles emulate the Yankees with a big inning. Yes, they might have been enormously aided by Boston starting pitcher Aaron Cook getting injured on a slide trying to protect home plate in the second inning; however, Baltimore took advantage and clobbered an opponent. Cook would get hammered for seven runs in his outing – only 2 2/3 innings long. For a change, instead of struggling for runs early and having a mount a rally late, the Orioles got down to business early and cruised. Jason Hammel won his fourth game of…

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MILWAUKEE – When Matt Kemp talks about his sizzling start at the plate this year, he points to the two teammates batting behind him in the Dodgers lineup: Andre Ethier and Juan Rivera.

Before the Dodgers’ game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park on Tuesday night, Kemp was asked whether pitchers can still throw around him, giving Kemp little to hit and possibly walking him. “They can’t,” Kemp replied.

“It definitely helps that I have Dre hitting behind me,” Kemp said of Ethier. “Juan’s protecting Dre also, so we’ve got protection in the lineup now.”

Kemp has blistered the ball so far. Before Tuesday’s game, Kemp led the National League in batting average (.487), home runs (six), runs batted in (16) and hits (19).

He was selected National League player of the week for the second consecutive week. He also won the award the last week of the 2011 season, so he became the first player to do it for three consecutive weeks.

“I forgot that I got it the last week of the season,” Kemp said. “I didn’t know until someone told me on Twitter.”

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It looks like the New York Yankees are getting closer and closer to completing a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates.  There apparently are three other teams involved although one of them is on Burnetts no trade list.  Joel Sherman is speculating that Cleveland may be one of the teams involved and that the trade talks could involve Travis Hafner.  The Yankees had asked for Garrett Jones from Pittsburgh one of their top outfield prospects who will probably be starting for them.  The Pirates have rebuffed that but it looks like the Yankees will take a couple of lesser prospects if Pittsburgh eats  more of the money.  It is looking like Pittsburgh is the likely trade partner.  I would guess that Pittsburgh will end up eating somewhere between 13-15 million of the 33 million left on his contract.  The question that I am trying to answer here is what happens when they do trade Burnett.
The Yankees will have six starters for five spots.  They have CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Hiroki Kuroda and M…

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