Joe Mauer didn't need to win the American League Most Valuable Player award on Monday to justify his historic season, just as he doesn't need that particular piece of hardware to reaffirm his status as the best catcher in baseball. But this latest honor is especially appropriate because it serves as a reminder that no player in baseball is more valuable to his town, his team or his franchise than the 26-year-old hometown hero with the perfectly manicured sideburns and the perfectly pleasant personality.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have some things going for them. They may be one of the two least valuable teams in baseball, they may play in the sport's fifth-smallest market, and they may endure all the woes that come with holding the record for most consecutive losing seasons in a major American sport, but they don't spend a lot, and like all other low-end ball clubs they have the help of rich cousins.
The Chicago White Sox are talking to veteran shortstop Omar Vizquel about a contract and a deal is expected in the coming days, sources confirm.
Free agency is finally here, less than a week before Thanksgiving. And the signings may not come so quick, either.
It's baseball awards time, which means it's also time for my own 2009 awards, starting with the Least Valuable Player (and American League fans, it's not who you think it is.) Following those are the Anti Cy Young Award (the Les Sweetland) and the not-so-great Manager of the Year Award (the John McCloskey). Enjoy.
The news that Los Angeles Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt are divorcing came with a bitter kick: Team chairman Frank's first move against his soon-to-be-ex was to fire her from her job as the Dodgers' chief executive.
The Diamondbacks announced that they acquired Aaron Heilman in a trade with the Cubs on Thursday in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers.
The Yankees recently called the Blue Jays to express interest in superstar pitcher Roy Halladay. And while the Yankees made the very same call last summer with no hope of acquiring Halladay, this time they have a real reason to believe they may actually have a legitimate chance to make a blockbuster trade.
The Rising Stars game a couple weeks ago in the Arizona Fall League featured plenty of young talent, but it wasn't the prospect showcase that it could have been. Several of the truly elite players in the AFL this fall didn't play, including Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg (out with a mild neck strain), Braves outfielder Jason Heyward (gluteus muscle strain) and Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton (back pain). In fact, Heyward and Stanton were sent home from the AFL in October, but it doesn't significantly affect their blue-chip status.
Inside the no-frills Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport for Major League Baseball's General Manager meeting, there were signs of tough times ahead for ballplayers. While agent Scott Boras -- who represents Matt Holliday, Johnny Damon and about a dozen other free agents -- went on the other night about how revenues spiked by nearly 600 percent from 1990 to 2009, he was standing in a lobby that was decorated sometime in the '80s, a sharp contrast to the opulence of past GM events.
Joe Mauer didn't need to win the American League Most Valuable Player award on Monday to justify his historic season, just as he doesn't need that particular piece of hardware to reaffirm his status as the best catcher in baseball. But this latest honor is especially appropriate because it serves as a reminder that no player in baseball is more valuable to his town, his team or his franchise than the 26-year-old hometown hero with the perfectly manicured sideburns and the perfectly pleasant personality.
The Pittsburgh Pirates have some things going for them. They may be one of the two least valuable teams in baseball, they may play in the sport's fifth-smallest market, and they may endure all the woes that come with holding the record for most consecutive losing seasons in a major American sport, but they don't spend a lot, and like all other low-end ball clubs they have the help of rich cousins.
The Chicago White Sox are talking to veteran shortstop Omar Vizquel about a contract and a deal is expected in the coming days, sources confirm.
Free agency is finally here, less than a week before Thanksgiving. And the signings may not come so quick, either.
It's baseball awards time, which means it's also time for my own 2009 awards, starting with the Least Valuable Player (and American League fans, it's not who you think it is.) Following those are the Anti Cy Young Award (the Les Sweetland) and the not-so-great Manager of the Year Award (the John McCloskey). Enjoy.
The news that Los Angeles Dodgers owners Frank and Jamie McCourt are divorcing came with a bitter kick: Team chairman Frank's first move against his soon-to-be-ex was to fire her from her job as the Dodgers' chief executive.
The Diamondbacks announced that they acquired Aaron Heilman in a trade with the Cubs on Thursday in exchange for a pair of minor leaguers.
The Yankees recently called the Blue Jays to express interest in superstar pitcher Roy Halladay. And while the Yankees made the very same call last summer with no hope of acquiring Halladay, this time they have a real reason to believe they may actually have a legitimate chance to make a blockbuster trade.
The Rising Stars game a couple weeks ago in the Arizona Fall League featured plenty of young talent, but it wasn't the prospect showcase that it could have been. Several of the truly elite players in the AFL this fall didn't play, including Nationals right-hander Stephen Strasburg (out with a mild neck strain), Braves outfielder Jason Heyward (gluteus muscle strain) and Marlins outfielder Mike Stanton (back pain). In fact, Heyward and Stanton were sent home from the AFL in October, but it doesn't significantly affect their blue-chip status.
Inside the no-frills Hilton Chicago O'Hare Airport for Major League Baseball's General Manager meeting, there were signs of tough times ahead for ballplayers. While agent Scott Boras -- who represents Matt Holliday, Johnny Damon and about a dozen other free agents -- went on the other night about how revenues spiked by nearly 600 percent from 1990 to 2009, he was standing in a lobby that was decorated sometime in the '80s, a sharp contrast to the opulence of past GM events.
The late, great ink-stained orator Mike Royko was the wise-guy voice of Chicago on myriad matters large and small, pitch-perfect in articulating his city's sensibilities and proudly unwavering in his disdain for all things New York.
CHICAGO -- Jim Riggleman, the Nationals' interim manager for the second half of the 2009 season, will be elevated to the permanent managing job, SI.com has learned.
CHICAGO -- Beyond the "Big Three" free agents (Matt Holliday, John Lackey and Jason Bay), there's still some decent action going on here at the GM meetings. And if there's a fourth coveted free agent, it just might be versatile leadoff man Chone Figgins, who is drawing interest from some unexpected sources.
CHICAGO -- The Cubs are trying hard to dump the perennially malcontented Milton Bradley here at the GM meetings, as it isn't just manager Lou Piniella who didn't connect with him in his season here. Apparently, several key members of the team -- including Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Zambrano -- barely speak to Bradley.
Breaking down each team in the AL East heading into the offseason. Teams are listed in order of 2009 finish. Check out the other division previews here:
Breaking down each team in the AL West heading into the offseason. Teams are listed in order of 2009 finish. Check out the other division previews here:
Breaking down each team in the NL East heading into the offseason. Teams are listed in order of 2009 finish. Check out the other division previews here:
CHICAGO -- The Mariners are expected to receive many calls of inquiry regarding superstar pitcher Felix Hernandez, but Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik made more clear than ever their intention not to trade King Felix.
It's 1988. What a slice of time in Los Angeles!
CHICAGO -- No team is going to spend or presumably improve via free agency like the Yankees did last winter, when they doled out $423.5 million to three star players alone. Post-parade, and as the GM meetings get underway here on Monday, the only conclusion that can be drawn is that the Yankees spent wisely. But with the Yankees far less needy this winter and this year's free-agent list less star-studded -- Matt Holliday, Jason Bay and John Lackey are the only in-their-prime players who can reasonably aim for $100 million deals and the only ones even sure to crack $50 million -- no team is expected to try to duplicate such a spending spree. Nor would one even be possible this time around.
The remarkable thing about baseball in the 21st century is that there really is no break in the action any longer. On the first day after the World Series ended, we had one trade, one near-trade, and the news that one of the top potential free agents, Bobby Abreu, would not be reaching the market. So even as the Yankees celebrate with a parade and the Phillies pack up a season two wins short of their goal, both front offices are looking ahead to 2010 and the decisions that will have to be made to get the teams back to the World Series.
Before the 2007 season, Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had T-shirts made up that read "Mission 27." It was just one more piece of motivation for a franchise that defines itself by a singular annual goal -- winning the World Series -- and a reminder that anything less than achieving that goal is a failure.
You're either with them -- or you hate them. That sums up the way baseball fans feel about the New York Yankees. And that's also why the team, which clinched its 27th World Series on Wednesday night, is the Goldman Sachs of American sports.
The following is a screed about the Yankees' payroll. If you are a Yankees fan uninterested in a screed about the payroll, don't read it. You won't enjoy it. Go out, buy a championship T-shirt, reminisce about this great team, enjoy the victory. I'm telling you: Don't read it.
NEW YORK -- The aroma that one perceived, as one walked off the field and inside toward the home clubhouse in the moments after the Yankees had won their 27th World Series on Wednesday night, was strong. It was one part expensive perfume, and one part expensive champagne, and it was unmistakable. It was Eau de WAG.
The New York Yankees, who became World Series champs for the 27th time Wednesday night, logged the highest payroll in baseball for the 2009 season. This time, they definitely got what they paid for.
NEW YORK -- The unique Yankees foursome of Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada probably didn't need to win one more World Series together to prove anything. But they did, anyway. And they did it 13 years after their first one together. No other foursome can say that.
NEW YORK -- The Yankees clubhouse reeked of champagne, it smelled the way you might imagine Don Ho's living room used to smell. Well, this is what you get when you win a World Series. Here Mariano Rivera stood in the doorway waiting for family. There Mark Teixeira wore goggles and talked about how God led him to the right team. Over there two Yankees players prepared to double-team Johnny Damon with a champagne attack. The sound was laughter and happy souts and the popping of champagne corks.
NEW YORK -- The Yankees christened the first season in their new ballpark the same way they opened their old stadium in 1923: with a World Series championship.
Most of his teammates were not even in the showers and Pedro Martinez was already out the clubhouse door, hustled by a handler through the basement of Yankee Stadium, stopped only when he had to wait for an elevator up to the parking lot. As Martinez spoke -- "I'm extremely proud," he said. "I had fun and enjoyed it. I don't regret anything" -- a Yankee fan chanted softly in the background, "Who's your daddy? Who's your daddy?" No matter what he did, or where he went, Martinez could not escape it.
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