These aren't your Athletics of a decade ago, when their division champion teams were loaded with stars like Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Eric Chavez, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, and Tim Hudson. Only one member of the 2013 A's was as much as a four win player, and only three others joined him in being a […]

It's not all gravy for the Oakland Athletics. Yeah, they've won two straight AL West championships, but I look at this team and I see a few question marks. Billy Beane has always been great at picking guys off the scrap heap and making the most of their abilities, but this Oakland club isn't just […]

The Oakland Athletics had a busy offseason, mainly spent upgrading their bullpen. Billy Beane has never been one to throw around large amounts of salary, but he did that this winter when he traded for Jim Johnson and signed both Scott Kazmir and Eric O'Flaherty to two-year, multi-million deals. But the A's aren't flawless, as […]

In 2012, the A's needed to scrape and claw to win the AL West. They held sole possession of first place for just one day all season – the final day of the year, when they completed a sweep of the Rangers at O.co Coliseum. Oakland's 2013 run wasn't nearly as dramatic – they spent […]

Hey Braves? This whole contract extension business is getting out of hand. The latest young member of their roster to sign a long-term extension with the club is shortstop Andrelton Simmons, who will make

Go ahead and pull Homer Bailey's name off of the free agent market for next winter – he's reportedly signed a six-year extension with the Cincinnati Reds worth $105 million. The right-hander will turn 28 in May, and was the seventh-overall pick in the 2004 MLB Draft. Bailey has come into his own during his […]

The Baltimore Orioles finally made a splash this offseason, agreeing to a four-year contract with former Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez for a reported

Today, I've touched on some of Houston's brightest and most important young stars – Jose Altuve, Jason Castro, Dexter Fowler, and Jarred Cosart have all had numerous words typed about them by me today. Typically when discussing the four horsemen of each club, we talk about the four players that will have the most significant […]

Three key questions for the Astros…three key questions for a team that is essentially one giant question mark. It's great that the Astros appear to be moving forward with their plan and aren't wavering in the face of criticism, but they still have a ways to go. However, that doesn't mean there aren't some players […]

How do you identify weaknesses for a team that lost 111 games the prior season? Well, the Houston Astros obviously have plenty of weaknesses. But in reality, the team isn't going to compete for much of anything in 2014, so how viable are these weaknesses? Does it matter if the team's starting pitching stinks, when […]