The 2011 season seemed like the typical New York Yankees season. They won an AL-high 97 games and the AL East division crown….and then lost to the Tigers in five games in the ALDS. The Yankees are mainly an older team, and they didn’t get much younger this offseason….with one notable exception. Yankees on TOCEnd […]

From my Marlins season preview earlier today… Burning QuestionThe Marlins clearly have the talent to win the NL East this year. But will the team’s chemistry hold up and enable them to reach the lofty goals they’ve set for themselves this offseason? There are a lot of huge personalities in the Miami Marlins clubhouse, and […]

From today’s Red Sox season preview… Burning QuestionWill the back-end of Boston’s rotation be adequate enough to hang on in the AL East? This would be a fantastic rotation with Matsuzaka and Lackey filling the final two slots, but based on the crop of starter vying for the four and five positions right now, things […]

Today’s Bad Spring Training Decision of the Day is less of a decision and more of a cautionary tale.  According to some sort of blend of real reporting and mere speculation, Buster Olney believes that the LA Dodgers might start the season with a pitching staff of not 11, not 12 but 13 pitchers. The […]

New ballpark, new colors, new name, new manager, new attitude. The Miami Marlins went into the 2012 offseason with a mission: to improve their team dramatically and becomes a World Series contender in 2012. Sure enough, they brought in marquee free agents and increased the hype level around their team so much that many people […]

It was a trying season for the Boston Red Sox in 2011. They started off slow in April, played awesome from May-August, and completely collapsed in September, blowing the wild card on the final day of the season after a late-game rally at the hands of the Baltimore Orioles. The Red Sox did a lot […]

From my Braves season preview earlier today… Burning QuestionWill Jason Heyward be able to reclaim his 2010 form and carry the team to a playoff berth, or were his struggles in 2011 the signs of a bigger problem? Personally, I think he’ll be fine in 2012 because of the shoulder that plagued him in 2011, […]

An 89-win season in 2011 wasn’t good enough for the Braves, as a collapse in September prevented them from making the playoffs. Because the team didn’t exactly fail miserably during the season, general manager Frank Wren didn’t feel the need to retool the team too much. The only starting position player that departed the team […]

Taken from my Orioles preview earlier today… Burning QuestionCan Baltimore’s rotation give the team a league average performance? The Orioles starters had a 5.39 ERA last year, which helped deep six their solid team OPS of .729. Baltimore also had some terrible defense, most of which came at the hands of Reynolds over at third […]

2011 was another year of “more of the same” for the Baltimore Orioles. It was the team’s 14th straight season under .500, and fifth straight under 70 wins. That futility has led to six straight top ten picks in the June draft, giving the team such players as superstar catcher Matt Wieters, enigmatic starter Brian […]

As news surfaces that the Yankees will be cutting payroll now and in the future, many teams may be interesting following the business models set by smaller market teams.  The Tampa Bay Rays are the best example of operating under a smaller payroll but ensuring prolonged success at the major league level.  It begins with […]

Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopolous was apparently at the Phillies-Orioles game yesterday. and left the game once Phillies starter Joe Blanton left the game. Naturally, this has fans going crazy that the Phillies and Blue Jays could be talking about Philadelphia’s fifth starter. But does a trade for Blanton make sense for the […]