Besides the Nationals signing Adam Kennedy and maybe the Giants signing Todd Wellemeyer, it seems like the “big” signings are drying up. There are certainly still some solid players left on the market, like Jermaine Dye, Johnny Damon and Carlos Delgado, but the “big” signings aren’t happening at the rate they were earlier in the [...]

There have been lots of moves these past few days. Big names have been signed here and there—for example, Melvin Mora went to the Rockies, Kevin Gregg went to the Blue Jays and Erik Bedard went back to the Mariners. And Yorvit Torrealba went to the Padres, and Adam Kennedy went to the Nationals. And [...]

Hey, did you hear? The Reds signed Orlando Cabrera, the Rockies signed Melvin Mora, and the Mariners signed Ryan Garko. I heard…and so did everyone else. Let’s take a look at the signings that fell under the radar.
The one that I really like is the Nationals’ signing of Kevin Mench. Though he hasn’t played in [...]

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve turned this “Under the Radar” series into a regular occurrence. Anyway, onto the news.
The Cubs signed Xavier Nady, the Phillies signed Jose Contreras, and the Nationals signed Miguel Batista. Fascinating. With the bigger signings out of the way, let’s focus on the smaller, more interesting and intriguing moves.
First off, the [...]

Big names have been moving all over the place recently. Jim Thome signed with the Twins, Ben Sheets signed with the Athletics, and Rick Ankiel signed with the Royals. Ah, but who cares. Here’s the real important stuff.
One of the most interesting moves of this past week involved a guy who hasn’t even played since [...]

Over the last couple of days, the baseball world has seen some notable transactions. Miguel Tejada signed with the Orioles. Joel Pineiro signed with the Angels. In keeping with my previous installment of this article “series,” if that’s what you want to call it, those are not the types of transactions—the big, headline grabbing ones—I’m [...]

These past few days have produced quite a slew of interesting—although not entirely notable—baseball moves. We all heard about Felix Hernandez signing a mega-contract with the Mariners and Josh Johnson signing with the Marlins, but those aren’t the kind of moves I’m talking about. I’m talking about some of the smaller moves that may have [...]

A few years ago, I sent this questionnaire through the mail to Hall of Fame second baseman Bobby Doerr. This is one of the best (of only a few, granted) questionnaires that I have ever received, because he is a Hall of Famer.
There’s not too much here, but I thought you would enjoy reading what [...]

One of the most exciting things about the baseball season is seeing which players can reach those big milestones, the ones that can almost guarantee a spot in Cooperstown—or at least, an indelible spot in our memories. 300 wins. 500 home runs. 3,000 hits.  Those types of milestones.
So, which big milestones are going to be [...]

Most have not heard of Don Minnick. That makes sense; he spent only two games in the big leagues, in 1957 with the Washington Senators. It was in the minors where he shined the most—in 1955, he went 20-4 with a 2.78 while with the Single-A Reading Indians, and in 1957 he was 17-6 while [...]

I know, I know. Steroids and baseball, baseball and steroids. They seem to go hand in hand now, and you can’t go a week without hearing a breaking news story about some baseball player testing positive. To some sports fans, this steroids thing is getting old—they’re tired of hearing about steroids all the time. And [...]

If you haven’t even been following baseball this year, you may still have heard about the incredible lack of luck the New York Mets have been experiencing this year. It is a lack of luck mostly brought on by injuries, although there have been some rather unlucky single plays that have contributed to the overall [...]

The New York Mets have traded Ryan Church to  the Atlanta Braves for Jeff Francoeur, and the Mariners have traded Yuniesky Betancourt to the Royals for a couple minor leaguers. Who got the better of the deals? Let’s see…

It is redundant to say that the big leagues have produced many baseball stars. Just look at the Hall of Fame, look at the statistical leaderboards. Those players, both current and retired, fit the definition of “star,” in this sense. True too, is the fact that the minor leagues have produced many stars. However, these [...]

I’ve done batters and starting pitchers so far in my series of articles on Hall of Fame snubs – but I have yet to do any relief pitchers. Relievers often get shortchanged when it comes to Hall of Fame discussion, because they are often considered less important or less skilled parts of a team. Of [...]

So far, all the players featured in my The Outside Looking In series have been batters. I will change that now, and feature a pitcher – Billy Pierce.

How often does a player lead the league in more categories than an average Hall of Famer and finish in the top ten in more categories than an average Hall of Famer but not get elected to the Hall of Fame himself? Among non-pitchers eligible for the Hall of Fame, it has happened eight times. [...]

In an era of big boppers like Jimmy Foxx and Mel Ott, guys like Stan Hack could have easily fallen through the cracks. Unfortunately.

Quick! Think of five guys who have been rejected from the Hall of Fame time and time again, although they’re more than deserving of induction. Who’d you think of? I bet your list included at least one of the following: Bert Blyleven, Ron Santo, Tommy John, Jack Morris or Jim Rice (oh, that’s right, they [...]

Autograph collecting is a fun and exciting hobby that can be relatively inexpensive. The following are some dos and don’ts of the hobby.

February 13, 2009:
It was reported by TSN.ca that utility-man Ramon Martinez had signed a minor-league deal with the New York Mets. A .264 career hitter, he appeared in seven games for the Mets in 2008, hitting .250 in 16 at-bats. Prior to playing with the Mets, he played for the San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, [...]