MLB Editorials Articles - Page 225

The Nolan Arenado era in Colorado might be nearing its end. Arenado has been the subject of trade rumors for the better part of the 2019-20 season, but things exploded on Monday night when the All-Star third basemen voiced his displeasure and “disrespect” coming from the Rockies organization just a few hours after general manager […]

Derek Jeter is headed to the Baseball Hall of Fame. The lifetime New York Yankees captain was one of the most iconic players in baseball for nearly two decades, and this summer he will be forever immortalized in Cooperstown alongside other legends of the game. Jeter provided baseball fans with some of the most indelible […]

A look into how the American League is set up came out recently. For the National League, a good amount of the teams have a ton of strong prospects in their system, but only six of the top 20 prospects are on NL teams. With the San Diego Padres leading the pack in terms of […]

Over the past three seasons, the Houston Astros have been the best team in baseball. They are the only club to have won 100 games all three years, they made it to two World Series and won one championship. That is one heck of a resume. But now it’s obviously tainted. I don’t think I […]

As the American League fell in the 2019 World Series, teams all across the league were already planning ahead for the 2020 season and beyond. Each has developed a minor-league system of players, many of which have been biding their time as off-the-radar prospects just looking for a shot in the big show. On the […]

The Atlanta Braves were one of the busiest teams in the first few months of the MLB offseason. Atlanta immediately solidified their bullpen by signing former San Francisco Giants closer Will Smith and re-signing middle reliever Chris Martin. They also replaced the retired Brian McCann by signing former New York Mets and Tampa Bay Rays […]

The Minnesota Twins pulled a fast one on the rest of the MLB on Tuesday night when they signed free-agent third baseman Josh Donaldson. Minnesota was thought to be out on Donaldson, with writers like Dan Hayes of The Athletic suggesting the Twins were pivoting to the trade market. Instead, the franchise doled out what […]

The 2019 MLB regular season produced a ton of high-octane results from teams that were making strong cases for a postseason appearance. And even for the teams that struggled throughout the season, they still all had one thing in common. Rookies that debuted in 2019 or had their status as rookies carry over from the […]

Reflection is a great way for anyone to get a look at what they have done in the past and see how they have changed going forward into the future. Whether for good or for bad, MLB teams have had one full regular season (plus the playoffs for some) to reflect on the moves that […]

The class of free agents that were free to choose their next teams in the offseason between the 2018 and 2019 MLB seasons was far and away one of the best crops of players that we had seen in a very long time. Heavy at the top with a large grouping of superstars looking to […]

Both small and large market teams love to cash in on their players early on in their careers, helping keep the costs low and the player control fruitful. But for MLB teams across the board, the move of extending their best prospects – even before they play a single inning on the MLB level – […]

By extending two core pieces of their youth movement, the Chicago White Sox are betting on the promise and upside of two of the best prospects to have been in the MLB in a long time, in Eloy Jimenez and Luis Robert. And while the team’s determination to field a competitive team this season, their […]

While pitchers become the hottest commodities during the winter months for all MLB franchises, position players become just as important during the off months. And while pitchers can become harder to acquire due to their higher price tags and beefier trade packages, position players seem to be the easier grouping of players to deal with, […]

As the cream of the crop for MLB free agents have pretty much all found their teams for the 2020 regular season and beyond, the focus for teams now shifts towards upgrading through the means of the trade market. While the highest amount of movement in terms of trades occurs at the trade deadline, which […]

With all of the reported rumors circulating around the availability of Milwaukee Brewers’ star closer Josh Hader, for a small-market franchise, it is smart for them to at least look into what type of value the All-Star hurler could get this team. Money runs all professional sports, and that is very, very true in the […]

$188.9 million has been added to the payroll of the Chicago White Sox for the next four years, on top of their existing financial commitments – this team is ready to compete for a berth in the postseason. Yasmani Grandal – 4 years, $73 million Dallas Keuchel – 3 years, $55.5 million Gio Gonzalez – […]

For the Toronto Blue Jays, their penchant response to talks of what type of team they are going to be in 2020 have been centralized around building up their core, attempting to become a fringe competitor, but realizing that 2021 or even 2022 may be more in the cards. But with Hyun-Jin Ryu having just […]

There currently are 12 new players on the 40-man roster for the Milwaukee Brewers, signaling a major turnover only one year removed from winning a spot in the Wild Card round of the National League playoffs. While President of Baseball Operations David Stearns seems to always be relying on analytics and statistics to build his […]

The New England Patriots can put a bow on their 11th straight AFC East division title with a win over the Buffalo Bills on Saturday, but it might not be so easy. While the Patriots are 11-3, the feisty Bills are 10-4 in their own right, and it’s rare that New England is actually threatened […]

Ichiro Suzuki. Hideo Nomo. Shohei Ohtani. Daisuke Matsuzaka. Masahiro Tanaka. Yu Darvish. Kwang-Hyun Kim. Jae-Hwan Kim. Yoshitomo Tsutsugo. Shun Yamaguchi. Ryosuke Kikuchi. Wei-Yin Chen. Tzu-Wei Lin. Jen-Ho Tseng. Wei-Chung Wang. These are just a few names of players that were either born in or played in the MLB from the countries of Japan, South Korea, […]

With the Los Angeles Angels having made one major splash in free agency with the signing of Anthony Rendon, their failed pursuit of a second, Gerrit Cole and Madison Bumgarner, has made them look a different direction. According to Jon Morosi, the Angels are highly motivated to make a move to upgrade their starting pitching, […]

Free agency can put players in a weird bind, setting them up to struggle to find the right place for them to continue their MLB careers. But for third baseman Josh Donaldson, he has been on a voyage full of hills and valleys throughout his professional career. Donaldson currently finds himself a free agent after […]

As the free agency period moves along, there are a few big names still available on the market, looking for the right team to make them an offer they cannot refuse. With the winter of 2019-20 looking a lot better financially for most players than the offseason of 2018, starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu is seeing […]

The Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians pulled off the first blockbuster of the MLB offseason on Sunday, as the Indians agreed to send two-time American League Cy Young winner Corey Kluber to the Rangers in exchange for outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. and hard-throwing reliever Emmanuel Clase: OF Delino DeShields Jr. and RHP Emmanuel Clase heading […]

With the centerpiece of the franchise re-signing for what seems to be his final contract before retiring, the Los Angeles Angels have to be happy. They made it through countless years of struggling, stinking, and middling performances, and were still able to retain their best player, Mike Trout, for the long haul. But with the […]

The New York Yankees won the Gerrit Cole sweepstakes, agreeing with the ace right-hander on a massive nine-year, $324 million deal on Tuesday night. The contract shattered the record for pitchers, as Stephen Strasburg had previously broken the record this past Monday when he inked a seven-year, $245 million pact to remain with the Washington […]

With the Milwaukee Brewers looking to be cutting salary this offseason, their roster only has 10 returning players on it from its 25-man roster that they ended the 2019 season with. On top of that, President of Baseball Operations David Stearns has doubled down on that sentiment, all while wanting to keep the franchise competitive […]

With reports floating around everywhere that the Chicago Cubs are going to be one of the most active teams on the trade and player movement fronts this offseason, the question must be asked – why? Why are the Cubs, who just finished in third place in the National League Central division, fired incumbent manager Joe […]

Filled with tons of talent across all levels of the minor leagues, the American League should produce a ton of talented candidates for the 2020 AL Rookie of the Year award for this upcoming season. With a bunch of struggling teams looking to graduate top-flight prospects as they look to speed up the rebuild or […]

Seven-time All-Star, 346 saves, and 898 strikeouts does not seem to grow on trees anymore for MLB teams around the league. With the Chicago Cubs being lucky enough to have that one tree in their orchard in Craig Kimbrel, their back of bullpen worries should all be alleviated, even with how he performed in 2019. […]

What does a team that has everything but still cannot get out of its own way in the playoffs need? Why more talent, of course! The Los Angeles Dodgers, who look to be resembling the Houston Rockets and the Dallas Cowboys in terms of their yearly penchant of making it to the playoffs after a […]

With manager Mike Shildt winning the National League Manager of the Year in 2019, Paul Goldschmidt earning his keep in the first year of his big-time contract extension, and the team as a whole exceeding expectations on its way to winning the NL Central divisional crown, the St. Louis Cardinals put together a pretty darn […]

How hard is it to replicate a World Series appearance and victory the following season? Just ask the 2019 Boston Red Sox, who went from being the best team in the league one season to completely having the bottom fall out from itself the next. A 24-game difference is what sets the 2018 version of […]

Welcome to what could become one of the best – or worst – teams that the New York Mets have put together in the past decade. Depending on what type of team decides to show up on the diamond each and every game, depending on their luck of missing serious injuries (looking directly at you, […]

As the New York Yankees go into free agency looking to make high-priced additions yet again just like every single year, is there an upgrade out there that would constitute a better use of their time? More importantly, could they decide to use the trade market to their advantage and save a little bit of […]

The Atlanta Braves were the early aggressors in MLB Free Agency, signing former San Francisco Giants closer Will Smith to a three-year, $40 million contract. Shortly thereafter, general manager Alex Anthopoulos re-signed middle reliever Chris Martin, whom he acquired from the Texas Rangers at the July trade deadline. In a matter of days, the Braves […]

The Houston Astros have been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately. As if the seven-game loss at the hands of the Washington Nationals in World Series were not crushing enough, the Astros are totally enveloped in a sign-stealing scandal that threatens the integrity of the sport. Not to mention, they have their […]

The Washington Nationals overcame all the odds to win the 2019 World Series. Their reward for one of the most historic runs in MLB history? Potentially losing two of their best players and franchise mainstays. General manager Mike Rizzo has his work cut out for him as he prepares to make the necessary moves to […]

For the second time in three years, the New York Yankees were defeated by the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series. As was the case in 2017, the Yankees had to rely on extensive work from their bullpen arms due to a sheer lack of depth in the rotation. Eventually, the usage wore […]