Will the Real James Loney Please Stand Up

post from LADodgerTalk.com - Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Vin Scully, Andre Ethier and the Dodgers on 29 January 2012 11:01:27 PM. © LADodgerTalk.com - Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Vin Scully, Andre Ethier and the Dodgers

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Astros CAREavan

post from Love My Team on 29 January 2012 10:00:27 PM. © Love My Team

February 1-10, Astros players, alumni, coaches and front office staff are hitting the road to [...]

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Chicago CubsPrince FielderOrville Hodge

post from Corner Lots Baseball on 29 January 2012 05:03:19 PM. © Corner Lots Baseball

Former Milwaukee Brewer first baseman is now a Detroit Tiger. He rarely misses a game during the regular season, and even though he is stocky built and doesn't win many record plays at first base, his bat is seriously something to reckon with. Good luck Prince Fielder.

Meanwhile, as the Cubs rebuild their 2012 roster with a bunch of AAA players, I'm not sure it will be enough to cheer die hard Cub fans. Traditionally, and I've been a Cub fan for over 30 years, everything looks good on paper but doesn't always match up in their performance on the field. May be that's why baseball fans don't see them in the World Series. And what about Prince Fielder? Did they overlook him and his bat as a good offensive move for the Cub team?

When Orville Hodge, the unknown baseball player (http://amzn.to/ktuge9), joined the Cincinnati Redlegs, he was overlooked and kept the bench warm thought out most of the season. Then one day, in a do or die situation, he became a hero among baseball fans everywhere.

Surprises!!! I hope this is a year of surprises with the Chicago Cubs. And who knows, perhaps they will be 2012 World Series champions. Surely, Wrigley Field along with all of Chicago will go crazy.

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Plugging along

post from Oriole Post - Baltimore Orioles Analysis & News; The World of Baseball and Beyond on 29 January 2012 05:01:04 PM. © Oriole Post - Baltimore Orioles Analysis & News; The World of Baseball and Beyond

The Baltimore Orioles continue to plug along this offseason making tiny moves that, while solid, divide the fanbase. Some feel that the Orioles are making specific targeted moves, like an engineer replacing a key cog or spring to make a glorious machine operational again; others feel that the team is rearranging the deck charis on the Titanic, on Alderaan and the Death Star is approaching.

The Orioles recently signed journeyman bat Wilson Betemit. Betemit's nine season career has taken him to eight different teams. Betemit resurrected his career last year spending time in Kansas city and Detroit. In almost 100 games and 350 ABs between the two teams he put up a .343 OBP and a .795 OPS. The Orioles are considering him the primary DH going into 2012. Betemit most certainly does not have the power numbers one would expect the DH to have but I don't feel that the Orioles need to worry about power numbers.

According to NBC Sports' Hardball talk, the Orioles' lineup is very intriguing. To them, the Birds have a very realistic chance at having eight players in the starting nine hit 20 or more homers. If that is the case then Betemit's primary job as DH is to maintain his high OBP, which is the one basic offensive statistic in which the Orioles were well-below league average last year.

The Betemit signing is a point to the engineering metaphor I mentioned earlier. This is the type of move that Billy Beane would have made a decade ago. Betemit's contract is for two years, with a third year option at a very affordable $3.25 million. If Betemit's option triggers the whole thing could cost the Orioles six million dollars. This is a good deal.

The Orioles are still linked to free-agent journeyman starter Edwin Jackson. Jackson is supposedly listening to offers from many teams and the Orioles may or may not have made him a specific multi-year offer. The Orioles' rumored offer is for either four guaranteed years or for three and an option. Jackson seems to be deciding between taking the multi-year deal or taking a one-year contract from the Boston Red Sox. For someone like Jackson, who has more frequent flier miles than he has career wins, the thought of a solid multi-year contract must be comforting but that means playing for a team that will most likely be on the short-end of the stick for a long time. On the other hand you could continue your rambling-man ways and play for one year in New York or Boston knowing there is a good chance you could either be traded or dropped after one year yet again.

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READER POLL: Which Rocky Movie Is Your Favorite

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 29 January 2012 04:30:39 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

READER POLL: Which Rocky Movie Is Your Favorite?? I have always been a fan of the ‘Rocky’ franchise, while admitting that I really have not cared too much for the last two installments. Still, the films fairly represent the periods … Continue reading →

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Miami Marlins Ink Austin Kearns

post from Marlin Maniac on 29 January 2012 01:50:21 PM. © Marlin Maniac

On January 25th, the Miami Marlins signed veteran outfielder Austin Kearns to a minor-league deal. While the deal may not blow anyone away, Kearns add’s to the already deep outfield rotation. With Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison already penciled in as starters, center field will most likely be between Emilio Bonifacio and Chris Coghlan, unless the fish can ink Yoennis Cespedes. This leave’s Bryan Petersen, Scott Cousins, Coghlan (assuming Bonifacio wins the job), Aaron Rowand, and Austin Kearns to compete for a roster spot. Without any doubt, we at least know competition this spring will be closely observed. … [visit site to read more]

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Andre Dawson 2005 Topps Finest BLACK #d to 99

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 29 January 2012 01:03:21 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

Andre Dawson 2005 Topps Finest – BLACK – #d to 99 I keep pecking away at this set, bit by bit. So far, my collection of Andre Dawson baseball cards from this 2005 Topps Finest set is at seven cards. … Continue reading →

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Should the Royals Go After Edwin Jackson

post from Royals Review on 29 January 2012 12:01:53 PM. © Royals Review

Yesterday Joe Sheehan wrote in his newsletter (which I recommend subscribing to) that the Royals should go after Edwin Jackson. Sheehan is and has been a Jackson advocate, pointing out that over the last three years, he's been very effective. For whatever reason, he's the rare example of the demand for a player not having a recency bias.

Since being traded to the Tigers, Jackson has made 96 starts, posted a 108 ERA+ and struck out 7.1 per nine. Next season will be his age 28 season, so he still has some upside.

As Sheehan points out, there aren't many teams left for Jackson to sign with and the Royals should be in that group.

The weakest link on the Royals is a starting rotation that, while improved, is loaded with back-rotation types like Bruce Chen and Luke Hochevar. The Royals don't need starts; they need a starting pitcher, and if signing Jackson means Danny Duffy goes back to Triple-A or Luis Mendoza starts the year as a long man, neither of those is that bad relative to the three- or four-win upgrade Jackson represents over those two and the other in-house options. Adding Jackson makes managing the staff easier, thanks to his reliability, and because Jackson is 28 and improving, he even brings some upside. The Royals don't catch the Tigers by signing Jackson. However, the move would close the gap between the teams and make it more likely that an upset would happen. It also starts to position the team for 2013, which should be their year to win.

It's hard to know just what exactly the market for Jackson now is. Sheehan threw out Buerhle's contract as a possible comp -- 4 years $58 million -- which is as good as guess as any. The Red Sox are still out there as possible rivals, the most likely big market team that should be interested. According to internet rumors, Jackson has multiple three-year offers before him. Could the patented Dayton Moore extra year be enough to sign Jackson?

Poll

Should the Royals offer Edwin Jackson a 4-year $58 million dollar contract?

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Sunday Rockpile: Renck asks who's next on the
long term commitment list

FILE - In this June 3, 2011, file photo, Colorado Rockies center fielder Dexter Fowler (24) catches a fly ball hit by San Francisco Giants' Eli Whiteside in the sixth inning of a baseball game in San Francisco. The Rockies agreed to terms on Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, with speedy outfielder Fowler on a one-year deal to avoid arbitration. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

Troy Renck argues that Jhoulys Chacin might be next in line among Rockies for a multi-season extension, following the pattern set by the team in locking up other young arbitration eligible players. Chacin's not a bad choice, and I'd probably tend to agree given that the one other likely option for this type of contract would be Dexter Fowler, and the chances of him signing a multi-season pact before free agency diminish significantly with Scott Boras as an agent. While you can go ahead and click on the link to read more about Chacin's situation (O'Dowd says it's not going to happen just yet) this got me to thinking about how likely that it would be that Fowler would be open to such an extension and willing to buck the Boras trend and advice ala Carlos Gonzalez last winter.

First of all, the background is that Fowler's set to reach free agency in advance of the 2016 season. 2016 is distant enough that even with Boras as an agent, there is a decent chance that Fowler signs a three year pact next winter to give the Rockies some cost certainty with the center fielder through his arbitration years. Fowler would have to produce above his last two seasons' production in 2012 obviously to make this happen, but at that point it's a matter of how much a stretch it would be to add a season or two to the contract. Given that Fowler will be 30 at the time of his current projected entry into the open market, it already might be a stretch as he'd want to maximize that first free agency contract, and it might be undesirable for the Rockies anyway to lock a declining player too deep into their fourth decade. That said, with Gonzalez in tow until 2017, I would think the Rockies might want to try to keep Fowler around at least through the same period.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the Rockies push for a three year contract plus a fourth year, fairly lucrative option should Fowler have a strong 2012.

Renck also talks about a humidor in Colorado Springs, which apparently isn't going to happen this upcoming season, but needs to fairly soon if the Rockies want to have the Sky Sox as anything more than an extended bench. Developmentally for the big league club, the place remains mostly useless in its current state.

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The Players Who Have Hit 5th Most Often Since
1919

Last week, I delved into the history of the 6th spot in the batting order, finding the players who had hit there the most often in their careers. This week, I give the 5th spot the same treatment.I used Baseball-Reference's Play Index to find the players[...]

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http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2012/1/29/2754747/players-hit-5th-most-often-sin
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