The Chicago Cubs are suffering through a disappointing stretch, marred by a struggling offense, inconsistent middle and backend relief, and questionable leadership at the hands of Tom Ricketts, Theo Epstein. The starting rotation and ever-patient northside faithful have been the sole glimmers of hope for the young, yet telling season. With a little over two months remaining before the trade deadline, the Cu ...

On Wednesday night, Joe Girardi batted David Phelps eighth in the lineup ahead of rookie Austin Romine. The part I have never seen the Yankees do in any World Series game or interleague matchup was the pitcher batting ahead of the catcher. Of course, it's not unprecedented, and that drew the ire of some critics. Tony LaRussa made a living on batting the pitcher eighth and many felt Girardi's move was a desp ...

The Pittsburgh Pirates pitching staff, to put it one way, is running on fossil fuels. Before long, the whole party's going to crash. The Pirates are currently 10-9 despite playing one of the most challenging early-season schedules in baseball. They're fourth in the Majors in staff ERA and second in batting average against, just good enough to float an offense that still ranks 20th or worse in every meaningf ...

Some teams don't like to admit that they're re-building. The New York Mets, for instance, dealt R.A. Dickey a month after he won the Cy Young award in exchange for prospects that likely won't make a difference for several years. Yet the term "re-building" will never leave the lips of the organization's owners or front office, as they either have a delusional take on reality, or a crippling fear of any publi ...

With the ever rising cost of offense, more and more teams are looking to platoons as low-cost, high-reward options. The platoon is hardly a new managerial tool, but it seems as though there are more teams using the stat-heavy angle to leverage player's stronger sides to enhance the team's production--while also saving a penny or two in the process. Below is an in-depth, projected list of National League org ...

With the ever rising cost of offense, more and more teams are looking to platoons as a low-cost, high-reward alternative. Even though penny-pinching organizations like the Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays have long been using the platoon, now even bigger market teams--like the Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, and Boston Red Sox--are beginning to join the fray. Below is an in-depth, projected list of th ...

The Miami Marlins have caught a lot of flack this offseason, and deservingly so. Just one off season after opening a new stadium mostly financed by taxpayers, the Marlins have trimmed nearly $80 million off of what was a nine digit payroll and is now down to around $30 million dollars on the active 25 man roster. Giancarlo Stanton appears to be the lone relevant man standing. But the Houston Astros have flo ...

ESPN's Keith Law recently released his list of the best farm systems in Major League Baseball (paywall), a list paced by the St. Louis Cardinals, Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays. Ever the rebuilding franchise, the Pittsburgh Pirates ranked seventh on Law's list of 30 teams (for those who aren't paying ESPN for their service, like the author, PiratesProspects had the tip on the ranking). Such an assessmen ...

It won't be easy, but it's time for the Yankees to move on. Thank you for 2009, and for being a good teammate on the field, and for that magical season where you hit a home run what felt like every single day so you could opt out and then cost the Yankees the worst contract in sports history. When it comes to Alex Rodriguez, you take the good with the bad. I took multiple years of him being the last out in ...

There has been a lot of big splashes this off-season. The Dodgers signed Zack Greinke to a six-year, $147 million deal. The Angels inked Josh Hamilton to a $125 million contract. Heck, even Jeremy Guthrie turned 91.0 IP of 1.30 ERA+, 3.16 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 2.95 K/BB baseball into a three-year, $25 million shocker. And barring injury or incredible levels of ineffectiveness, these players will most certainl ...

In the wake of the Michael Morse trade sweepstakes, the New York Yankees are entering the second half of January without a right-handed hitting outfielder or DH. There aren't many Free Agents left who can satisfy New York's  need to replace Nick Swisher, Raul Ibanez and Russell Martin's power (Ichiro and a full season of Gardner are sure to recoup some of the value lost, but not the power), so the trade mar ...

The majority of the top free-agent pitchers are now off the market. In terms of starters, Zack Greinke signed with the Dodgers, Anibal Sanchez with the Tigers, Edwin Jackson with the Cubs, and Dan Haren with the Nationals. As for relievers, Mariano Rivera is predictably back with the Yankees, Jonathan Broxton re-signed with the Reds, and Rafael Soriano recently inked with the Nationals. So unless pitching-h ...

When it came to older infielders this off-season, both the free-agent market and team's interest were flush. In fact, all of Marco Scutaro, Jeff Keppinger, and Maicer Izturis received surprising three-year, multi-million dollar contracts. There's nothing wrong with any of those players, per-say, but how about if there was a younger, superior player available instead? How about if this player was still avail ...

After two World Series titles raised the expectations of the Boston Red Sox and their wunderkind GM Theo Epstein, the Red Sox Way, as it's sometimes called, abandoned its steady approach to organizational depth in favor of win-now, Yankees-style spending. Those win-now contracts currently reside on the L.A. Dodgers' ledger. Similarly, Epstein now resides in Chicago. The free agent binge contracts handed to ...