A bad trade can haunt a general manager for life. I say this while assessing the positions in which St. Louis Cardinals GM John Mozeliak and Texas Rangers GM Jon Daniels find themselves. Mind you, it’s an enviable position; each GM is blessed to have one of the game’s top prospects -- outfielder Oscar Taveras (Cardinals) and shortstop Jurickson Profar (Rangers).
Baseball is witnessing the most competitive balance in more than two decades. As a result, general managers of contending teams already are preparing and targeting potential trade partners for the July 31 trade deadline.
Among this year’s crop of top prospects, some of the bigger, more well-known names are starting the season in the minor leagues. By now Oscar Taveras, Wil Myers and Jurickson Profar are no longer anonymous farmhands but familiar names.
Potential and upside, even track record, can carry a career only so far. At some point, a player has to put up or shut up. Baseball is a results-oriented industry and if the production isn't there, neither are you.
With Friday’s news of right-hander Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers agreeing to a record-setting contract, the drama of whether baseball’s best pitcher would see free agency in two years came to an end.
Spring training performances and statistics can be very misleading. Often major league hitters are facing minor league pitchers, or sometimes major league pitchers are simply working on refining a certain pitch and get hammered.
If the following scenario sounds keenly familiar to Texas Rangers fans, it should. A veteran player realizes he must move to another position to make room for a young budding star, despite making the All-Star team and earning a Gold Glove the prior season.
How does a veteran pitcher post a 16-3 record last season and not have a job just two weeks away from Opening Day? Such is the plight of right-hander Kyle Lohse. The Scott Boras client remains jobless and the market for him is razor thin.
The good news for the Los Angeles Dodgers is that Zack Greinke’s elbow ligaments and tendons are fine. The bad news is Greinke himself doesn’t know when he’ll be able to pitch again. The right-hander has been dealing with inflammation in his pitching elbow and was given an injection of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) to settle down the elbow.
MESA, Ariz. -- It’s telling that the Chicago Cubs leapt 10 places in ESPN.com’s Future Power Rankings, jumping from 16th to sixth in only one season. Both the major-league club and farm system saw significant additions, but that won’t stop another last-place finish.
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