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In a move that has caught the eyes of American League playoff contenders, the surprising Baltimore Orioles have called up their 19 year old pitching phenom Dylan Bundy just in time for their matchup with the Seattle Mariners this evening. Bundy was selected with the No. 4 overall pick in the 2011 draft and has showed flashes of dominance in the minor leagues since his arrival in the Orioles system. MLB.com recently re-ranked their list of top 100 prospects and Bundy found his name as the top pitching prospect in all of baseball and No. 2 overall. This exciting season for the 2012 Orioles has been led by 14 extra inning victories, timely hitting, and a dominant bullpen. The Orioles [...]

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• Category: Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Angels, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays
• Tagged as David Price, Dylan Bundy, Manny Machado, Tom Verducci

Chicago Cubs’ shortstop Starlin Castro became the latest pre-arbitration/arbitration eligible player to receive a contract extension, with the finalization of his seven-year $60 million dollar contract on Tuesday. Castro’s contract is the third major contract of its type for the 2012 season, with the first two going to Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates’ centerfielder, and Adam Jones, Baltimore Orioles’ centerfielder. Castro, Jones, and McCutchen are the core players for their respective teams and three of the top young players in baseball.  Below are some interesting numbers to look at in respect to each contract and the player themselves. Guaranteed Years: Castro  7, Jones  6, McCutchen 6 Arbitration Years Bought: Castro  4, Jones  1, McCutchen 1 Guaranteed Millions: Castro $60, Jones $85.5, McCutchen $51.5 Player Age: Castro  22, Jones  27, McCutchen 25 2011 Precontract Stats: Castro 10 HR/66 RBI/.307 BA/.773 OPS/22 SB/-8.7 UZR, Jones 25 HR/83 RBI/.280 [...]

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• Category: Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Miami Marlins, Pittsburgh Pirates, Teams
• Tagged as Adam Jones, Andrew McCutchen, arbitration, contract, Dan Duquette, Giancarlo Stanton, Peter Angelos, pre-arbitration, Starlin Castro

The chase for the elusive defensive and offensive star catcher is a constant issue for most teams. Usually a GM doesn’t have a choice and elects to take the defensive back stop. This offseason there will be some interesting options on the table. The first name that jumps off this list is Mike Napoli. He has a reputation of being a poor defensive backstop. Mike Scioscia, a good defensive catcher in his own day, had the option of holding onto Napoli when he was with the Angels back in 2010. Scioscia cited Napoli’s durability and injury history as a main source for choosing to go a different direction. There is no argument that when healthy Napoli is a top tier [...]

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• Category: Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Free Agents, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners, Toronto Blue Jays
• Tagged as A.J. Pierzynski, Brian McCann, Carlos Ruiz, Chris Iannetta, David Ross, Humberto Quintero, Jeff Mathis, Miguel Olivo, Mike Napoli, Ronny Paulino, Russell Martin, Wil Nieves, Yorvit Torrealba

The 2013 third base free agent class has some potential compared some of the other infield positions. David Wright’s contract option will be picked up without question. Chipper Jones has been adamant that he will retire at the end of the season. I don’t see him going back on this and if he did he would never sign anywhere other than Atlanta. Kevin Youkilis on the other hand is intriguing. He is having a subpar season hitting only .239 in 301 at bats. He had a falling out with Bobby Valentine and the Red Sox earlier in the season prompting Kenny Williams of the White Sox to swoop in and scoop him up. His numbers have improved some with the [...]

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• Category: Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Free Agents, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Phillies
• Tagged as Brandon Inge, Chipper Jones, David Wright, Geoff Blum, Kevin Kouzmanoff, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Machado, Mark Reynolds, Miguel Cairo, Placido Polanco, Scott Rolen, Todd Fraizer

Previously, I took a look at the top 25 position players under the age of 25 currently in the major leagues. Since I compiled that list, the highly-rated Justin Smoak of the Texas Rangers has received the call to the big leagues, where he joins Jason Heyward and Ike Davis as the next wave of sluggers in the game. Today, I want to take a look at the top 25 pitchers under 25 that are currently in the big leagues. Currently, their is an exciting crop of young pitchers in the game with the list to soon see the likes of Stephen Strasburg, Drew Storen, and Aroldis Chapman. With apologies to those pitchers, let’s take a look at the list [...]

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• Category: Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams, Texas Rangers
• Tagged as Aroldis Chapman, Brett Anderson, Brian Matusz, Chris Perez, Chris Volstad, Clayton Kershaw, Dan Haren, Daniel Bard, David Price, Drew Storen, Felix Hernandez, Franklin Morales, Homer Bailey, Ike Davis, Jaime Garcia, Jair Jurrjens, Jason Heyward, Jenrry Mejia, Jhoulys Chacin, Joba Chamberlain, Johnny Cueto, Josh Johnson, Justin Smoak, Kerry Wood, Mark DeRosa, Mat Latos, Mike Leake, Neftali Feliz, Phil Hughes, Rick Porcello, roy halladay, Ryan Perry, Stephen Strasburg, Tommy Hanson, Wade Davis, Xavier Nady, Yovani Gallardo

There are rumblings of an alarming trend that could mean a fiscal nightmare among many MLB teams this coming year. There have been several teams in the last week who have set the record for all time low attendance.

• 3 Comments
• Category: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, New York Yankees, Rumors, Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals
• Tagged as attendance

Baseball is like no other sport in terms of its fans embracing their favorite teams young talent making an impact in the big leagues. Already in this brief season, Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves and Ike Davis of the New York Mets have sent their teams fans into a frenzy over their successful debuts. Later this year, we should see even more highly anticipated debuts as such names as Stephen Strasburg, Aroldis Chapman, Justin Smoak, and Starlin Castro are expected to make the jump to the big leagues. I am just like most baseball fans and love to see young talent succeed in the big leagues and with that I decided to compile a list of the top 25 [...]

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• Category: Arizona Diamondbacks, Atlanta Braves, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams, Texas Rangers, Washington Nationals
• Tagged as Adam Jones, Alcides Escobar, Andrew McCutchen, Aroldis Chapman, Asdrubal Cabrera, Austin Jackson, Billy Butler, Cameron Maybin, Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Coghlan, Chris Davis, Colby Rasmus, Cristian Guzman, Curtis Granderson, Delmon Young, Dexter Fowler, Elvis Andrus, Evan Longoria, Everth Cabrera, Gordon Beckham, Ian Desmond, Ike Davis, Jason Heyward, Jay Bruce, Julio Borbon, Justin Smoak, Justin Upton, Kyle Blanks, Matt Wieters, Pablo Sandoval, Reid Brignac, Sean Rodriguez, Starlin Castro, Stephen Strasburg, Tyler Colvin

At 7:10 p.m. ET, my rookie baseball crush gets his first pitching start of 2010, and his name isn’t Stephen Strasburg, Ardolis Chapman, Wade Davis, or Mat Latos. Maybe it’s because I own him in two keeper fantasy leagues or because we both have a random “z” in our last name, regardless, I vote Brian Matusz, LHP Baltimore Orioles, as the rookie pitcher to watch in 2010. The sample size of 44.2 major league innings is small, but Matusz posted a respectable 4.63 ERA, 4.08 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching), and 2.71 K/BB in 2009. He fine-tuned his performance during the 2010 spring training with a 2.59 ERA and 7 K/BB through 24.1 innings. I don’t put a lot of stock in spring training [...]

• 2 Comments
• Category: Baltimore Orioles, Fantasy, Teams
• Tagged as Ardolis Chapman, Brian Matusz, Mat Latos, Mike Mussina, Stephen Strasburg

After a brief hiatus, it is time to take a look at the next part of our fantasy preview series and focus on some potential sleepers for the upcoming season. Every year fantasy owners are on the lookout for players that have the element of surprise and often times those players are found in the late rounds of your draft. This year there is no shortage of players from each league that have the potential to surprise and reward fantasy owners for drafting them. Here is a look at some sleeper candidates in the American League for 2010. Brandon Wood (3B) Los Angeles Angels – The former first round pick of the Angels in 2003, is finally ready to receive [...]

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• Category: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Los Angeles Angels, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams, Texas Rangers
• Tagged as Austin Jackson, Brandon Wood, Brian Matusz, Chone Figgins, Clay Buchholz, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Curtis Granderson, David Price, Francisco Liriano, Johnny Damon, Julio Borbon, Kendry Morales, Rajai Davis

Welcome to draft day. It has come to that all important time of selecting a second basemen. Chase Utley was gone in the first round and now you are wondering who you should invest in to stay competitive in your league. Which guy will give you that slight edge? Should you look for more power? Speed? High batting average? There are too many choices! Well don’t worry we have you covered. Our analysts have the information you need to make an informed decision. Bryce Carlson (Brian Roberts) – In the fantasy baseball second base market, Brian Roberts is a performance enhancing choice… no pun intended.  First of all, Roberts is a workhorse.  He has averaged 157 games for the last three seasons.  You don’t [...]

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• Category: Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Fantasy, Philadelphia Phillies, Teams, Texas Rangers
• Tagged as Aaron Hill, Alex Rodriguez, Alfonso Soriano, brandon phillips, Brian Roberts, Chase Utley, Derek Jeter, Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, Miguel Tejada, Nomar Garciaparra, Robinson Cano, Steve Buechele