The Mariners fancy themselves contenders, but part of the reason they're being met with skepticism (other than the fact that we've seen this kind of optimism before, only to have expectations blown up by June) is that there are more than a few questions still surrounding this team. We'll do our best to narrow it […]

The Orioles finally spent some money in free agency, inking pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez to a four-year, $48 million deal on Monday. It's the first time Baltimore has given a four-year contract to a free agent since catcher Ramon Hernandez agreed to a 27.6 million contract in 2006. And it's the biggest offer the O's have […]

The Mariners are desperate. They haven't had a winning season since 2009, haven't been to the playoffs since 2001 and the past four seasons have been four of the of the 10 lowest-scoring seasons in franchise history. This offseason has seen a damning report about their front office surface and a spending spree that seems […]

Last offseason, the Seattle Mariners were looking to upgrade what was an anemic offense in 2012. They moved the fences in at Safeco Field, added a bunch of 1B/DH-type sluggers, and proceeded to finish in 4th place with a terrible offense for the fourth straight year. At least the addition of the Houston Astros to […]

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 […]

For the Houston Astros, there's nowhere to go but up. In each of the last three seasons, Houston's loss total has increased, bottoming out at 111 a year ago. Those three years were the worst three in team history, marking the only three times that the Astros have ever lost 100 games in a season. […]

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Ryan Dempster is

The Atlanta Braves made another move towards locking up their young core of players, signing The Best Closer On The Planet Craig Kimbrel to a four-year,

The Atlanta Braves are such a well-crafted, well-balanced team that picking just four players crucial to their 2014 success isn't easy. Two offensive starters were absolutely awful in 2013, and the Braves still coasted. Both top set-up man blew out their elbows, and Atlanta didn't flinch. Only three starters made 30 starts, and it wasn't […]