His 4.78 ERA might look bruising. His 4.1 BB/9 is above the league-average. And he's already surrendered the same amount of home runs in 26.3 innings this season as he did in 44.3 innings last season. Yet, Shawn Kelley is still one of the New York Yankees most dominant relievers. The Yankees quietly acquired Kelley from the Seattle Mariners this past offseason in exchange for minor league outfielder Abraham ...

The Oakland Athletics have been cultivating quality, homegrown pitchers since the late-1990s. The likes of Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Rich Harden, Joe Blanton, Huston Street, Trevor Cahill, Brett Anderson, and Andrew Bailey have all come up through the farm system. Heck, even Jason Isringhausen, Dan Haren, and Gio Gonzalez--though not original Athletics--have too found solace as young acquisitions ...

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 ...

Promoting a Major League-ready prospect seems like a logical move for any organization looking to win. Yet, even the most consistently solid organizations are faced with a few hurdles that prevent the obvious from happening. Below is a list of five top prospects who could easily help their respective teams now, but are still projected to start 2013 in the Minors. Wil Myers was involved in one of the biggest ...

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 ...

The Cleveland Indians made a surprise splash on the free-agent market, inking speedy outfielder Michael Bourn to a four-year, $48MM deal (with a $12MM vesting option). While most organizations had been turned off by Bourn's rejected-qualifying offer status, since the Indians' first round pick is protected, the team only has to surrender a competitive-balance pick. Yet, even though the Indians retained their ...

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 ...

Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics have long been known for acquiring undervalued players. Some recent examples of this are Chris Young (11.7 WAR, 103 OPS+ from 2010-12), John Jaso (6.1 WAR, 115 OPS+ from 2010-12), and Brandon Moss (1.9 WAR, 160 OPS+ in 2012). They're also equally known for selling high on replaceable assets, like, for instance, trading Andrew Bailey (7.04 ERA, 63 ERA+ in 2012) for Josh ...

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 ...

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 ...

Bruce Rondon is considered the favorite to become the Tigers closer After closing for the Detroit Tigers for the past three seasons, Jose Valverde was granted his free-agency. The pitcher's departure--perhaps not to-be-missed by fans who watched him under perform in the playoffs (16.20 ERA and 2.40 WHIP in 1.6 IP)--has left the team without a seasoned closer. Yet, even though Valverde's 3.00 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, ...

Is it possible the Braves could re-sign Michael Bourn? Going into the off-season there were nine players who declined their qualifying offers--thus forcing any prospective team without a protected first-round pick to surrender their draft choice as compensation. Of those nine players, two re-signed with their former teams (David Ortiz and Hiroki Kuroda), two signed with teams with low-seed picks (Josh Hamil ...

Arizona has five starting-caliber outfielders There have been a lot of rumors surrounding the Arizona Diamondbacks and their outfield depth. Especially now with the recent, [extremely] surprising signing of Cody Ross, the Snakes legitimately have five starting-caliber outfielders. While a case could be made for trading any one of Justin Upton, Adam Eaton, Jason Kubel, or Gerardo Parra, one must seriously co ...