The National League, unlike its counterpart, has had a really strong crop of ROY candidates over the last two seasons. In 2010, Jason Heyward and Buster Posey dueled for the award while leading their teams to the playoffs, with Posey winning both the award and the World Championship. Last year, a pair of Braves sat […]

Roy Halladay pitched really good in 2011, as he did in 2010 when he won the NL Cy Young award. Unfortunately for Halladay, Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw was just a little bit better, and Kershaw took home his first career award. These two are the odds on favorites to win in 2012, but as usual, […]

Last season, Ryan Braun won the NL MVP award, barely edging out Matt Kemp of the Dodgers. Many people, including the staff of this site, thought the award was Kemp’s to lose. Alas, it wasn’t to be after Braun’s Brewers won the NL Central. Things could be a little different this year, with Braun’s season […]

Last season, the American League rookie crop was…well….kinda weak. The award ended up being won by pitcher Jeremy Hellickson of the Rays, due in part to his 2.95 ERA and 13 wins. His overall peripherals weren’t overly impressive (117 strikeouts, 72 walks, and 21 homers in 189 innings), but the conventional stats won him the […]

ESPN is reporting that Boston Red Sox closer Andrew Bailey has a thumb injury that may require surgery after a second opinion. The exact injury hasn’t been revealed, but we do know that it occured on Bailey’s right (throwing) hand. Bailey will likely be out a substantial period of time after the surgery, and Boston […]

Last season, Justin Verlander destroyed all competition in the race for the AL Cy Young, and won the award unanimously after a dominant season. Maybe someone else should have at least gotten one vote, but you really couldn’t argue against Verlander without sounding a little bit silly. He’s looking to repeat in 2012. Favorites: Justin […]

The field for all of the awards this season is wide open. Over the next two days, I’m going to look at some of the top contenders for each of the three major awards in both leagues. Right now: the AL MVP award. Last season, Justin Verlander won the AL MVP (as well as the […]

Rank Team LR Why? 1. 2 Why they deserve it: Two-time defending AL Champs bring back full offense and have added Darvish and Feliz to their rotation. Why they don’t deserve it: They lost their best starter in CJ Wilson, Joe Nathan wasn’t great last year, questions about Feliz’s stamina are cropping up and they […]

The MLB has suspended Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez five games for his plunking of former teammate Troy Tulowitzki of the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. Following the beanball, which hit the Rockies star in the elbow, benches cleared for both teams, but no blows were thrown. X-rays on Tulowitzki’s elbow were negative. Jimenez and […]

In this article in the Washington Post, Nationals outfielder Jayson Werth talks about how his 2011 season will hopefully just be “a fart in the wind” as he’s made changes to his swing going into 2012. While reading the article, Werth mentioned how the issue in Werth’s swing, which caused him to struggle against left-handed […]

You’ve voted for the last two weeks, and finally, a champion has been crowned. The winner of TOC’s first ever Baseball Movie March Madness tournament is… MAJOR LEAGUE! Major League crushed Bull Durham in the final, winning 75% of the overall vote. Major League definitely earned this victory, playing in the tough classics bracket and […]

John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle is reporting on Twitter that the Giants will sign starter Matt Cain to a contract extension before Opening Day, and the deal is rumored to be in the area of five years, $110 million. Cain doesn’t turn 28 until the end of the season, and was eligible for free […]

The Cincinnati Reds are reportedly extremely close to signing first baseman Joey Votto to an extension that could cost the team upwards of $200 million, reports Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors.  I can only assume the deal would be similarly structed to the nine year, $214 million contract signed by Prince Fielder this offseason […]

As I’m looking at the predictions being churned out by the TOC staffers (which will be released in a comprehensive post on Wednesday), and the picks of analysts and writers all around the internet, one key thing is coming to mind: there isn’t a consensus for the best team in baseball. Our staff predictions thusfar […]