Heyward Chooses Cubs over Cardinals

Two times the St. Louis Cardinals have gone shopping on the free agent aisle for the two highest profile players available, and two times Mozeliak andCo. have come up empty. Losing to the Chicago Cubs, no less. We’re only two months into the offseason, and already the Cubs have claimed Ben Zobrist, John Lackey, and Heyward,…

Dark Horse Teams Poised for Big Moves

Every offseason, it never fails. The baseball pundits all come out in droves to predict the landing spots of the top free agents, and some unknown, “mystery team” crashes the party. Robinson Cano a Mariner? Josh Donaldson and David Price both shipped to the harmless and docile Toronto Blue Jays? The Padres, Marlins, and Angels…

Time to Convert Trevor Rosenthal to a Starter

It was a span of 24 hours, two breezy afternoons at Wrigley, 54 fast outs, and Cardinals season met an abrupt end. A 100 win season completely washed away. In the post-postseason media day in St. Louis earlier this week, rather than wrap a bow around what was probably the greatest regular season in Cardinals…

MLB Franchise Players (100-90)

Here is my list of the top 100 franchise players in Major League Baseball. The word franchise is important; this isn’t a list of the 100 best players in baseball, or even of the 100 best players five years from now. These are the players listed in order of “if all 30 teams held a league wide draft, in what order would all the players be picked”? As a result, there will be a mix of extremely young and talented players with the seasoned veterans. Along with being really good at baseball, it is perhaps most important that the top picks in this draft show exemplary leadership skills.

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Revisiting the 5 Worst Offseason Signings

Please remember that WAR (wins above replacement) is a counting stat and not a percentage. Melky Cabrera-5 years, $42 Million 2014 (Blue Jays): .301 avg, 16 HR, 81 R, .351 OBP,  2.4 WAR 2015 (White Sox): .272 avg, 8 HR, 57 R, .313 OBP, -0.2 WAR It’s amazing how some players can get huge contracts…

5 Worst Offseason Signings (so far)

5. Chicago White Sox Sign Melky Cabrera for 3 years, $42 million. In the White Sox’s wild offseason, this is the one contract most likely to be second guessed down the road. Since 2010, Cabrera has put together two terrible season, two outrageously good seasons, and one average season. He’s dealt with back injuries, and…

Is Jason Heyward a Fit in St. Louis?

Well, the Cardinals won’t be getting Giancarlo Stanton, but they could still end up with a different NL East right fielder, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The Braves are in shopping mode this week at the GM winter meetings, reportedly engaging in trade talks involving Evan Gattis, Justin Upton, Tommy La Stella, and Jason…

Farhan Zaidi the New GM of the Dodgers

Here’s a great Farhan Zaidi video on MLB Tonight. Zaidi has a bachelor’s degree from MIT and a doctorate from California Berkeley in Economics. Zaidi joins former Rays GM Andrew Friedman (President of Baseball Operations), in the Dodger front office. The Dodgers now have the brains to match Owner Magic Johnson’s energy.

The Braves’ Busy Offseason

The Atlanta Braves figure to be the most intriguing study of the offseason for many reasons; for one, they seem to have shifted the entire direction of the organization, hiring a new General Manager, plus giving the rest of the organization down the line a general shake up. Also (more importantly) the Braves were downright…

Analyzing Some of Baseball’s Breakout Stars Part I

Michael Brantley (.324/.384/.904), 17 home runs Of all the players on this list, few have enjoyed the kind of career year that Michael Brantley is having. The slash line is excellent, but his numbers go far deeper than that. According to Fangraphs, Brantley has contributed about 35 runs to the Indians’ offense, behind only 2…