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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

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 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

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

Whether you like him or hate him, I think we can all agree that the Yankee’s Alex Rodriguez is the best third basemen in baseball. I think we can also agree that Rodriguez is going in the top 5 picks in most fantasy drafts. If you are planning on drafting a third basemen in the first several rounds of the draft, you do have some options (and I recommend that you do, as it is a fairly weak position this year). Four amateurgm.com analysts break down who they feel is the 2nd best fantasy option below. Andrew Swanson (Evan Longoria) – Evan Longoria is one of the best third basemen around. In just two major league seasons Longoria has averaged 30 HR, [...]

• 6 Comments
• Category: Arizona Diamondbacks, Fantasy, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Teams, Washington Nationals
• Tagged as Alex Rodriguez, Aramis Ramirez, ARod, Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford, David Wright, Derek Jeter, Erin Andrews, Evan Longoria, Mark Reynolds, Pablo Sandoval, Ryan Zimmerman

There was a collective sigh of relief from the Minnesota Twins and their fan base as they signed MVP and All-Star catcher Joe Mauer to an 8 year $184 million dollar contract with a full no-trade clause. The deal covers the 2011-18 seasons and is the fourth largest — both in total value and average salary — in major league history. Mauer has won three AL batting titles, two Gold Gloves, and an MVP award. Mauer was going into the final year of his current contract. He will make $12.5 million this year in the final season of a $33 million, four-year deal and will earn $23 million in each of the following eight seasons under the extension. The only [...]

• 2 Comments
• Category: Boston Red Sox, Minnesota Twins, New York Yankees, Teams
• Tagged as Alex Rodriguez, Joe Mauer, Roger Clemens, Victor Martinez

Respected ESPN baseball insider Buster Olney created quite a buzz in the Phillies and Cardinals’ camps this past weekend. Olney reported his sources were telling him that the Philadelphia Phillies were having internal discussions about a blockbuster trade of Ryan Howard (1B) for Albert Pujols (1B). While Olney said the Phillies were not prepared to approach the Cardinals with the proposal, the mere thought of these internal discussions being reported has raised some eyebrows in both camps. Phillies GM Ruben Amaro was adamant that these discussions have not taken place and questioned who Olney was getting his information from. When questioned by reporters on the topic, both Pujols and Howard didn’t put much stock into the rumor and expected to [...]

• 1 Comment
• Category: Fantasy, Free Agents, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Rumors, St. Louis Cardinals, Teams, Toronto Blue Jays
• Tagged as Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Buster Olney, Matt Holliday, roy halladay, Ruben Amaro, Ryan Howard

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 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