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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 2013 free agent outfielders’ class is more robust then many of the other positions this coming offseason. With stars like Josh Hamilton, Curtis Granderson and Michael Bourn potentially becoming available there will be a plethora of options and skill sets to choose from as general manager. Josh Hamilton is the cream of the crop. When healthy Hamilton’s offensive production is second to none. He has hit .292 with 35 home runs and 111 RBI in just 120 games so far this season. The biggest knock against Hamilton is that he cannot stay healthy. At 120 games played he is getting close to his career average of games played per season. He is currently making $13.75 million in 2012 and [...]

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• Category: Atlanta Braves, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Free Agents, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers
• Tagged as Angel Pagan, B.J. Upton, Carlos Lee, Curtis Granderson, Delmon Young, Ichiro Suzuki, Josh Hamilton, Luke Scott, Marlon Byrd, Matt Diaz, Melky Cabrera, Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, Reggie Willits, Ryan Spilborghs, Shane Victorino, Torii Hunter

The free agent class of 2013 looks to be a little light in the first base department. Last season saw big names like Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder on the market. Those teams looking to upgrade at the number three position will have to do so from within the organization or through trade. The list of free agent first basemen below have contracts that expire and/or have six years of major league baseball service required to become free agents prior to the 2013 season. * – player whose currently have an option for the 2013 season. Travis Hafner * Adam LaRoche * Ty Wigginton * Carlos Lee James Loney Aubrey Huff *

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• Category: Cleveland Indians, Free Agents, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants
• Tagged as Aubrey Huff, Carlos Lee, James Loney, Travis Hafner, Ty Wiggington

June 8th, 2010 is a date that baseball fans should circle on their calenders and remember for a long time as a pair of phenoms are set to make their major league debuts this evening. Stephen Strasburg (RHP) of the Washington Nationals and Mike Stanton (OF) of the Florida Marlins are both set to make their highly anticipated debuts for their respective clubs this evening. Both men come with much fanfare as they currently are viewed as the consensus top pitching and hitting prospects in all of baseball. Last June, the Nationals selected Strasburg with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 draft where he was viewed by many as the best amateur pitcher of all-time with a fastball [...]

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• Category: Detroit Tigers, Miami Marlins, Teams, Washington Nationals
• Tagged as Jason Heyward, Mark Prior, miguel cabrera, Mike Stanton, Stephen Strasburg

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

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

If you are hoping to land the Florida Marlin’s Hanley Ramirez as your fantasy league shortstop, you better have one of the top three picks in your league or be willing to pay the steep price he will command in an auction league.  There are several great shortstop options to choose from after Hanley, but the question is “who is second best at shortstop?”  Four amateurgm.com analysts give their thoughts on this fantasy question for the critically important position of shortstop and discuss Derek Jeter, Jose Reyes, Jimmy Rollins, and Troy Tulowitzki. Scott Oleniczak (Derek Jeter) – 10-time all-star shortstop Derek Jeter is this generation’s “Iron Horse.” Jeter is showing no signs of slowing down playing an average of 153 games over [...]

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• Category: Colorado Rockies, Fantasy, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Teams
• Tagged as Alex Rodriguez, ARod, David Wright, Derek Jeter, Hanley Ramirez, Jason Bay, Jimmy Rollins, Jose Reyes, Troy Tulowitzki

After taking a look at the bounceback candidates in the AL last week, it’s time to take a look at the NL, where some quality names are in line for bounceback seasons in 2010. Brandon Webb (RHP) Arizona Diamondbacks – The former 2006 NL Cy Young winner made only one appearance last season after experiencing shoulder pain during his Opening Day start. After a few months of rest and rehab, Webb finally decided to undergo arthroscopic right shoulder surgery last August, which ended his season. In his last full season in 2008, Webb almost added his second NL Cy Young Award as he finished the season with a 22-7 record to go along with a 3.30 ERA in 226.2 IP. [...]

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• Category: Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago Cubs, Fantasy, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets, Teams
• Tagged as Brandon Webb, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Carlos Zambrano, Corey Hart, Dan Haren, David Wright, Jason Bay, Jose Reyes, Ricky Nolasco

The National League prides themselves on on being more defense oriented. Where pitching and fielding are more highly regarded then with their DH/pound you into submission younger siblings in the AL. The NL East has plethora of different management strategies. The Mets spend money like it is going out of style and the Marlins are such tight wads that both MLB brass and the MLBPA forced them to loosen up the purse strings in the coming seasons. So who is doing it right? Which team has spent their money wisely on their pitching and which ones are just using their dollars as kindling? Philadelphia Phillies: Historically the Phillies are one of the least successful organizations in baseball with dubious honor [...]

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• Category: Atlanta Braves, Fantasy, Free Agents, Miami Marlins, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Teams, Washington Nationals
• Tagged as Anibal Sanchez, Chien-Ming Wang, Chris Volstad, Cole Hamels, Derek Lowe, Fernando Nieve, Garrett Mock, Greg Maddux, Hisanori Takahashi, J.A. Happ, J.D. Martin, Jair Jurrjens, Jamie Moyer, Jason Marquis, Joe Blanton, Johan Santana, John Lannan, John Maine, Jon Niese, Jordan Zimmermann, Josh Johnson, Kenshin Kawakami, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, Phil Neikro, Ricky Nolasco, roy halladay, Scott Olsen, Sean West, Steven Strasburg, Tim Hudson, Tommy Hanson, Warren Spahn

“Well to all teams that didn’t make the playoffs, the Yankees have set the precedent on how to bounce back and win the World Series… Spend $500 million on the best Free Agents available…. Wait.. Your team cant do that???  Sorry, thanks for playing.” I found this post the other day as I was browsing through the 2009 World Series stories at MLB.com.  It instantly got me thinking, do MLB general managers really buy teams or is this some ticked off Pirates fan?  Could this possibly be a disgruntled New York Mets fan that isn’t happy because his team didn’t buy the “right” players?  Can teams and championships simply be bought by just shelling out enough money, with a nice [...]

• 6 Comments
• Category: Free Agents, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh Pirates, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams
• Tagged as Bud Selig