Japan Times: NPB squads start spring training

Baseball season is finally here!

The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles, who last season won their first Japan Series in the franchise’s ninth year of existence, started spring training Saturday in Kumejima, Okinawa Prefecture, in preparation for the start of the regular season on March 28.

The Eagles and seven other teams got down to work in Okinawa, while four clubs, including the Yomiuri Giants who are aiming for their third consecutive Central League pennant, opened camp in Miyazaki ...

Tracy McGrady the Pitcher

Former NBA star guard Tracy McGrady is looking to start a career as a professional baseball player.

MLB has greater parity than NFL

So that’s the exception, you say? The Same Teams Win Every Year in baseball, you say? Really? Actually, baseball hasn’t had a season in which more than half of its playoff teams repeated since 2005. The NFL is working on a streak of five straight seasons in which at least half of its playoff teams were repeaters. Who knew!

Clearly, the NFL needs to get rid of the salary cap so it can have as much parity as baseball.

Royals Re-Sign Bruce Chen

The Royals will bring back free agent swingman Bruce Chen after agreeing to terms on a one-year, $4.25MM deal that includes a $5.5MM mutual option for 2015. The 36-year-old lefty, a client of the Boras Corporation, will earn $3.25MM in 2014 and is also promised a $1MM buyout on the option. He can also make an additional $1.25MM in performance bonuses.

Ian Chappell says Twenty20 will become a poor impersonation of baseball

I have no idea what any of this means…guess I should have read Greg Shaw’s Bomp! Records liner notes better.

Former Australia captain Ian Chappell feels that Twenty20 cricket has made the game more batsmen-centric and more needs to be done to maintain a balance between the bat and the ball. According to him, if this continues it could lead to the demise of the sport.

Chappell in his column in the Daily Telegraph feels the organisers are putting more emphasis on big hitting and bringing ...

Ivan Rodriguez Welcomes Cuba in the Caribbean Baseball Series

Screw Carlton Fisk…Ivan Rodriguez is the “flannel Pudge”!

The legendary catcher Ivan Rodriguez today welcomed Cuba to the Caribbean Baseball Series and said the team of his country, the Indios de Mayagüez, is able to give fight.

In an aside with Cuban media in Lidotel hotel in this city, Pudge (as is known worldwide the “boricua” catcher) said that Cuba deserves to be at events like this, and others that may arise from now on. It is a pleasure that is participating, he added.

Rodriguez ...

OT: NBA February 2014

In total, 14 former Lakers are under contract with other teams—more if training camp invites and traded draft picks are included:
Charlotte Bobcats: Ramon Sessions, Josh McRoberts, Jannero Pargo and Chris Douglas-Roberts (training camp invite)
Cleveland Cavaliers: Earl Clark
Clippers: Matt Barnes, Antawn Jamison
Houston Rockets: Dwight Howard, Patrick Beverley (drafted 42nd overall in 2009, traded immediately to the Miami Heat)
Indiana Pacers: Andrew Bynum
Miami Heat: Toney Douglas (drafted ...

OTP - Feb 2014: Politics remains a hurdle for immigration reform

Yet Obama might find his best-chance legislative compromise in an issue that lately has seemed to be on life support: an overhaul of the nation’s immigration laws.

Curiously, immigration was an issue the president barely mentioned in this year’s speech. Maybe he does not want to interfere with those Republicans who actually agree with him on the need to bring the nation’s millions of undocumented workers out of the shadows.

Texas Rangers take a chance on Daniel Bard

Right-hander Daniel Bard, a dominant set-up reliever with Boston in 2010-11, signed a minor-league contract with the Texas Rangers on Friday.

Bard will not get on a mound until early in the season, general manager Jon Daniels said. Bard underwent thoracic outlet surgery in early January.

Bard’s career has been on a downward spiral since the Red Sox, with Bobby Valentine as manager, put him into the rotation in 2012. In the last two years with the Red Sox, Bard was 5-6 with a 6.27 ERA and ...

Cubs agree to terms with Jason Hammel on 1-year, $6 million deal

Exciting times in Wrigleyville….

CBSSports.com’s Jon Heyman confirms that the Cubs have agreed to a deal with right-hander Jason Hammel. Heyman adds that the one-year contract will pay Hammel $6 million for 2014 with the opportunity to make another $1 million in incentives.

Hammel, 31, pitched to a 4.97 ERA (85 ERA+) and 2.00 K/BB ratio in 139 1/3 innings for the Orioles last season. Of his 26 appearances, 23 were starts. He missed more than a month because of an elbow strain. For his career, ...

Joe Ortiz breaks foot after being hit by a motorcycle

Er, um, it was a pickup basketball game.

Lefthanded reliever Joe Ortiz has, according to the beat guys on Twitter, suffered a broken foot after being hit by a motorcycle in Venezuela.  He has had surgery, and will be out for about three months, which eliminates him from consideration for the Opening Day roster.

Ortiz was not likely to be in the major league pen to start the season, with Neal Cotts in place, Robbie Ross likely to stay in the bullpen, and Michael Kirkman out of options, but we ...

Berardino: Strikeouts at an all-time high, but why?

Because Joe Campbell started it all!

“We’ve all seen it,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan says. “There’s too many strikeouts, and quite a few of them are looking, which is even more alarming to me.”

... Particularly galling to Ryan and other old-school baseball people is the refusal of most modern players to change their approach once they get to two strikes. Either non-sluggers will continue to swing their hardest regardless of situation or they will take a borderline pitch for ...

Castrovince: Platooning and position-sharing here to stay

“Stay out of this, Elias. This ain’t your show!”

Platooning is increasingly in vogue in this era of pitching prominence and diminished offensive returns. As we sit here today, more than half of MLB’s 30 clubs have some sort of timeshare on the table at one or, in many cases, multiple positions. And the Oakland A’s and manager Bob Melvin—referred to by one player as the “King of Platoons” last season—are not alone in employing the practice.

“You’re never going to have, more often than not, a ...

Chuck Schumer speeds up Masahiro Tanaka paperwork for Yankees

Shotgun Schumer goes the other way…

And since the Japanese ace probably has enough adjustments to make in a new league and a new country without worrying about his visa application, the club called New York Senator Chuck Schumer to see if Sen. Schumer could help make sure the paperwork was done properly.

“My office works tirelessly to help constituents every single day, but it’s not often you get a call from a constituent like the New York Yankees,” Schumer said. “You see, the Yankees called ...

Variety: Kurt Russell Open to Steroid Use in Baseball

Escape From Reality: Starring Snake Plesac

While promoting his new documentary “The Battered Bastards of Baseball” (pictured above), Kurt Russell dropped by the Variety Studio and gave an impassioned take on the use of steroids in modern baseball. Russell, who played minor league baseball and was the son of actor-turned-baseball owner Bing Russell, also the subject of “Battered Bastards,” believes Major League Baseball is no longer in the steroids era, adding that steroids still have ...

The Hardball Times: So you want to be a beat writer

Ken Davidoff, a former beat writer and now the national columnist for the New York Post, once had a dust-up with Paul O’Neill — the reporter admits he could have given the player a better chance to respond in full to a piece he was writing — and the player was upset. O’Neill said their relationship was “done” and encouraged other players not to talk to Davidoff. “He relented after about a month, and we’ve gotten along fine since,” Davidoff says. “You’ll have to grow a thick ...

Ruddick: Michael Young: A poor man’s Derek Jeter

A GIF basket, if you will.

It’s a foregone conclusion that New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter will call Cooperstown his home five years after the day he steps away from baseball.

But you don’t hear the same thing when you mention longtime Texas Rangers infielder Michael Young.

And I’m not exactly sure why.

...Jeter has 3,000 hits and was the leader of the more storied teams in all of sports. I get the hullabaloo when it comes to him. He’s been crammed down our throats enough we all ...

Rob Neyer joining Fox Sports

Congrats to Rob.

Multiple sources have informed AA that Neyer is heading to Fox Sports, following in the footsteps of other prominent web-based hires like Jimmy Traina (SI) and Erik Malinowski (Buzzfeed).

Additionally, according to a source familiar with the situation, Neyer will be contributing to a variety of platforms - mostly on the internet but also television appearances on Fox Sports 1.

Mets secure $250M loan refinancing

New York Mets owner Fred Wilpon and family, who faced a massive $250 million loan against the team coming due in the next few months, have successfully arranged for it to be refinanced…

Nationals’ Matt Williams: Instant Replay Will Be Interesting

This is not going to start well.

When Matt Williams was recently asked about MLB’s use of instant replay for the 2014 season, a smile immediately flashed across his face.

As a first-time manager for the Washington Nationals, Williams will at least be on even ground when it comes to that new component of the game.

“I’m not the rookie, anymore,” Williams said, referring to how all managers will be dealing with the new rule for the first time. “Everybody is now in my boat. So, it’s going to be ...

Charitybuzz: Watch a Chicago Cubs Game With Team President Theo Epstein in his Suite

Of all the ball parks, in all the towns, in all the world…

This is the year!

You and 3 very lucky Cubs fan will spend a couple of innings with team President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein for a 2014 Chicago Cubs regular season home game in Theo’s Baseball Operations Suite, including food and drinks. You will also visit the TV broadcast booth to meet WGN sportscaster Len Kasper. The remainder of the game will be watched from 4 premium seats.

Donated By: Theo Epstein and Len Kasper

Jack Morris talks about what he sees as Twins’ biggest issues this season & the HOF

Jack Morris: “Your pitcher is the guy that can lead the charge and have to shut down other team, ironically talk to Paul Molitor who’s going to be on the bench with Ron Gardenhire this year and Paul and I played together in ‘93 asked about his role, biggest role is to keep guys positive, young guys tend to start thinking too much and negative thoughts especially when they don’t have success and we know baseball is a marathon and not a sprint so he thinks challenge for him to reinforce ...

Primer Dugout (and link of the day) 1-31-2014

New York Evening World, January 31, 1914:

Fred Clarke, Pittsburgh manager, who patented a diamond tarpaulin a few years ago, has a new idea. It’s a warming-up bat.

Clarke’s new bat will be about the same length as the regulation war club, but it will be about three times as thick and three times as heavy. It’s designed to do away with the necessity of a player swinging two, three or four ordinary bats just before it’s his turn to face the pitcher.

A fine idea, though (much to Vince Coleman’s ...

Motorsport: C. J. Wilson pitches racing as often as possible

My STP, my girl and me.

Knowing where his bread is buttered, Wilson hasn’t spent as much time with racing as he would like, but he realizes he’ll have plenty of opportunity once his playing days are over with. Wilson’s contract, like that of other high-paid stars, has clauses that preclude participation in so-called dangerous endeavors, such as racing, ice hockey and other contact sports. “I am not going to drive something that is not safe,” Wilson said while at the Rolex24. “I ...

1973: Jerry Lewis Gets a Hit as an Astro

“Jerry Lewis played four innings at first base for the Astros”...and then gave way to Sammy Petrillo.

Another Walter Mitty moment came in the Astrodome in late July 1972, when Jerry Lewis started at first base for the Houston Astros in an exhibition game against the Detroit Tigers. Although I was never a fan of his humor, I was amazed at how well he played defense; he even got a hit off Tiger pitcher Mike Strahler. It was reported that he arrived at a party later that night still wearing his ...

Michael Young is retiring

The Mighty Hannibal dies and Mighty No Young retires on the same day? Life ain’t fair!

Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com reports that Michael Young has decided to retire at age 37 rather than accept an offer from, among other teams, the Dodgers.

Young played 14 seasons in the majors, the first 13 with the Rangers and last year split between the Phillies and Dodgers. He hit an even .300 with 185 homers and a .787 OPS, although his production away from Texas’ hitter-friendly ballpark was ...

Livingston: Omar Vizquel and baseball’s summer song

Don Omar presenta…

Omar—it was always his first name, not “Vizquel” to fans—was talking over the weekend about being inducted into the Indians’ Hall of Fame in the summer. It shouldn’t stop there. He belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame more than anyone else on the great 1990s Tribe teams.

Even then, as great a player as he was, he was a better ambassador for the game. Because he so clearly was having fun, he let us share in it. I put him on the short list of the most memorable players ...

MLB: Levine sees health as Yankees’ priority

The microtomographic three-dimensional X-ray results are a lie!

With the start of Spring Training just a couple of weeks away, the Yankees are not finished with the open market, although the big spending for this year may be over, said one of the team’s top executives.

“I think for major free agents, we’re done,” club president Randy Levine told MLB.com during Wednesday night’s outdoor NHL game at Yankee Stadium, a 2-1 Rangers win over the Islanders. “But we’re always trying to improve the ...

Bob Uecker to Reduce Broadcast Schedule in 2014

Bob announced on the local radio today he will announce home games and select away games in 2014.

Davidi: Kinsler To Jays Scuttled By No-Trade Clause

Shi Davidi dropped something of a bombshell on us, and it’s one requires some more (relatively) immediate examination. According to his latest for Sportsnet, he reported that, in addition to the one for Brett Anderson we’d already heard about, the Jays had a deal fall apart that would have landed them Ian Kinsler, who was then with the Texas Rangers, but has since been moved to Detroit.

Or… “fall apart” isn’t quite the right terminology. He writes:

  “A potential deal was ...