How Moncada compares to top middle-infield prospects | MLB.com

Jim Callis grades out the next big thing from Cuba.

Massarotti: How The 2015 Red Sox Have Become Most Expensive Club In Team History « CBS Boston

Tony Massarotti finally writes something somewhat interesting.

Jackie Robinson West stripped of Little League World Series wins | FOX Sports

Little League International has stripped Jackie Robinson West of the national title that the Chicago team won last summer after an investigation revealed it had falsified boundaries to field ineligible players.

The 2015 Mets: 40-WAR scenario - Mets Blog - ESPN New York

What do the Mets need to do to win next year?

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #7 — Buzzie Bavasi

Former GM of the Dodgers, Padres, and Angels.

IN PURSUIT OF PENNANTS #8 — Harry Dalton

GM of the Orioles, Angels and Brewers.

Baseball’s All-Star Game coming to Marlins Park in 2017

The 2017 All-Star Game will be played at Marlins Park.

Officials are expected to announce within the week that Miami has been awarded the Midsummer Classic for the first time, multiple sources with knowledge of the agreement confirmed Tuesday to the Miami Herald.

Marlins and Major League Baseball officials refused to comment.

The awarding of the 2017 event will mark the end of a long and bumpy road to bring the All-Star Game to South Florida.
The Marlins tried — and failed — in their bid ...

Baseball Prospectus | The Lineup Card: Nine Predictions for Alex Rodriguez’ 2015 Season

A-Rod, A-Rod, A-Rod! It’s always about A-Rod!

Rangers continue to get good health news | FOX Sports

Reports on the Rangers walking wounded.

ESPN: Barkley rips Rockets GM, use of stats

Barkley, of course, has long experience in not winning championships.

The Naismith Hall of Famer and TNT analyst then disavowed the widespread use of [advanced stats] in sports, saying its proponents were “a bunch of guys who have never played the game, and they never got the girls in high school.” [...] “They say that same crap in baseball, and they put these little lightweight teams together and they never win,” Barkley said. “They’re always competitive to a certain degree and they don’t ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-11-2015

Harrisburg Star-Independent, February 11, 1915:

Manager Bill Donovan, of the New York American League baseball team, was unsuccessful yesterday in his attempt to sign Hugh High and Walter Pipp, members of the Detroit club. Each player asked Donovan for a higher salary than he was willing to offer.
...
President Navin, of the Detroit club, said he is willing to release the two players to New York provided they and Donovan agree on terms.

So I guess they’re saying Wally Pipp was being…a headache. ...Read More...

Sickels: New York Yankees Top 20 Prospects for 2015

1) Luis Severino, RHP, Grade B+/Borderline A-
2) Aaron Judge, OF, Grade B+/Borderline A-
3) Greg Bird, 1B, Grade B+/Borderline B
4) Rob Refsnyder, 2B, Grade B
5) Gary Sanchez, C, Grade B
6) Jacob Lindgren, LHP, Grade B
7) Ian Clarkin, LHP, Grade B/Borderline B-
8) Luis Torrens, C, Grade B-/Borderline B
9) Miguel Andujar, 3B, Grade B-
10) Jorge Mateo, SS, Grade B-

Schoenfield: Ranking the teams: 24 through 19

Can the Yankees compete with the large market teams?

Due for a better year: Rodriguez? CC Sabathia? Carlos Beltran? Take your old, injured veteran and project better numbers. And then go buy a lottery ticket.

Due for a worse year: Did Miller turn the corner in 2014? After averaging 5.3 walks per nine innings over his career, he lowered that to 2.5 while striking out a dominant 14.9 per nine. The Yankees forked over a lot of money to get the big lefty and now he and Betances could make for ...

A-Rod To Home-Run King Barry Bonds: ‘I Want To Take Your Record’

Alex Rodriguez, in preparation for the upcoming season, worked out with legendary slugger Barry Bonds in January at the Future Prospects Baseball facility in San Rafael, California.

“He was funny,” Bonds told the San Francisco Chronicle. “He said, ‘I want to take your record.’ I said, ‘That’s OK. If that’s what you want to do, we’ve got a lot of work to do.’ I was excited he wanted to do it.”

Baseball executives don’t like Max Scherzer’s deferred money deal

I wonder what Bobby Bonilla thinks.

The contract is for seven-years and $210 million. But as Buster notes, a huge amount of deferred money in involved. It stretches over the next 14 years and includes a $50 million signing bonus. For luxury tax purposes the contract is considered to be a $191.4 million deal based on present value, with an annual salary for such purposes determined to be $28.69 million.

Why this bugs other teams is a mystery. In response to other folks on Twitter, Olney cites ...

Baseball Prospectus: Top 101 Prospects of 2015

Their top ten:

1. Byron Buxton, OF, Minnesota Twins
2. Addison Russell, SS, Chicago Cubs
3. Carlos Correa, SS, Houston Astros
4. Francisco Lindor, SS, Cleveland Indians
5. Kris Bryant, 3B, Chicago Cubs
6. Lucas Giolito, RHP, Washington Nationals
7. Corey Seager, SS, Los Angeles Dodgers
8. Dylan Bundy, RHP, Baltimore Orioles
9. Noah Syndergaard, RHP, New York Mets
10. Julio Urias, LHP, Los Angeles Dodgers

IS JAPAN’S PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL LEAGUE UNFAIR?

Maybe its time to say Domi Arigato and bring in Umpire Roboto.

Last Friday, Giants Ryan Vogelsong and Casey McGehee—while highly appreciative of their time in Japan and the things they learned while playing there—both independently referenced preferential treatment for homegrown stars in Nippon Professional Baseball.

From the other side of the plate, McGehee said that “you end up striking out looking a lot because there were a lot of times that if the catcher caught it, you were sitting ...

Washington Post: Appeal To Reverse Antitrust Rule Is A Desperate Swing For The Fences

A look at San Jose’s appeal to the Supreme Court, touching on the history of MLB’s anti-trust exemption, as well as the baseball background of some of the current Justices:

Justice Sonia Sotomayor is famously a Yankees fan — “You can’t grow up in the South Bronx without knowing about baseball,” she once said — who has thrown out the first pitch at a game and had the team bring the World Series trophy to her Supreme Court chambers. For her Christmas present this past year, Sotomayor’s ...

Rare Shoeless Joe Jackson autograph photo may bring $100,000

Sharon Bowen thought her late husband was a bit crazy for buying a scrapbook filled with black and white photos of Cleveland ballplayers from the early 1900s — but not anymore. It turns out that book held what may be the only autographed photo of Shoeless Joe Jackson, the Holy Grail of baseball signatures.

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 2-10-2015

Harrisburg Telegraph, February 10, 1915:

Curtis Guild, former ambassador to Russia, declared in a recent address that America was vitally dependent upon Russia, as the hides of Siberian ponies were used in the manufacture of baseballs.

The makers of the Spalding, Reach and Victor balls, which are used, respectively, in the National, the American and the Federal League, assert vehemently that they use nothing but American horsehide. They state further that all the materials used in the ...

Next move may be as important as last ones for Padres, Preller | FOX Sports

“If one of these (trades) doesn’t work, we’ll make another one because that’s what we do,” Beane said at the Athletics’ FanFest. “We’re not going to wait around.”
Those should be words to live by for Preller, the Padres’ frenzied first-year GM. Because as much as I love what Preller has done – the sheer energy and audacity of it – his extreme roster makeover still could flop.

THE TOP 10 MLB LINEUPS FOR 2015

2. Blue Jays: Were Dalton Pompey more established, Michael Saunders and Justin Smoak more reliable and second base not such a worry, I’d strongly consider the Blue Jays for the top spot on this list. Alas, those are, of course, all big questions.

Still, there is a lot to like about a lineup that begins with Jose Reyes, Russell Martin, Jose Bautista, Josh Donaldson and Edwin Encarnacion. Those are five steady on-base presences and a middle of the order that can straight-up mash.

There are big ...

Commish: Don’t surmise PED use

Asked what he would tell the Hall of Fame about how it should handle the PED era, Manfred replied: “The only piece of advice that I’m comfortable giving is that I think that everyone should keep in mind the difference between players who tested positive and were disciplined on the one hand, and players where somebody has surmised that they did something on the other. And I think, based on what you read in the media, sometimes those lines get blurred. And I think it gets really important to ...

SBJ: After 4 years, MLB seals the Fan Cave

The post-Selig era begins in earnest.

MLB is shutting down the Fan Cave, its much-acclaimed 4-year-old social media hub in New York City, representing an early sign of the unification of business operations under new Commissioner Rob Manfred.

The move, led by Bob Bowman, president of business and media, is an attempt to consolidate all of baseball’s social media activities under MLB Advanced Media and the MLB Network. MLBAM had its own active social media agenda separate from the Fan Cave, ...

WaPo: Meet the startup in a trademark war with the Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs

Calling all BBTF IP lawyers to litigate WalletHub vs MLB.

Evolution Finance has been locked in a trademark dispute with lawyers representing the Washington Nationals and Chicago Cubs for two years after Major League Baseball, on behalf of the teams, opposed their attempt to trademark the white-and-green logo.

The league asserts that the WalletHub logo bears a strong resemblance to Ws trademarked by the two teams, and that granting Evolution Finance rights to use the mark without restrictions ...

Schoenfield: Ranking the teams: 30 through 25

Due for a better year: Domonic Brown gets what is maybe his final chance to prove himself as a big league regular. An All-Star in 2013 when he hit 27 home runs, he fell apart in 2014 with a .235/.285/.349 line. There’s still some talent here, but how much?

Due for a worse year: Ruben Amaro Jr.

I’m just the messenger: Everyone has been predicting the decline of the Phillies for a few years and Amaro finally admitted that a rebuilding was in order. He’s been asking for a ransom for Hamels, ...

OT: Soccer January 2015

Better late than never. A few of this month’s interesting games:

Feb 10: Spurs vs Liverpool, Bournemouth vs Derby (top 2 teams in the table)
Feb 11: Chelsea vs Everton, Soton vs West Ham, Partick Thistle vs Celtic
Feb 14: FA Cup Quarters
Feb 15: FA Cup Quarters
Feb 17: Bayern vs PSG
Feb 18: Schalke vs Real Madrid
Feb 19: Spurs vs Fiorentina
Feb 22: Spurs vs West Ham, Liverpool vs Soton
Feb 24: Man City vs Barca, Juventus vs Dortmund
Feb 25: Leverkusen vs Atletico, Arsenal vs Monaco
Feb 26: ...

Julio Franco, 56, joins semi-pro team in Japan as player-manager

It has now been eight years since Julio Franco last played in MLB, but his playing days are still not over. The 56-year-old Franco went 6-for-27 (.222) in seven games with the independent Fort Worth Cats last season, and now he’s heading to Japan to continue playing. According to a report, Franco has signed with the Ishikawa Million Stars, a semi-pro team in Japan.

He made his MLB debut in 1982.

Souhan: Koskie has found his niche after a career in baseball | Star Tribune

In case you have been wondering what Corey Koskie has been up to…

School of Roch: Orioles who need to get defensive

Showalter is getting defensive about the Orioles in 2015.