It appears the first player from the 2009 draft to make his major league debut will not be Stephen Strasburg after all. Mike Leake looks like he will be named Cincinnati’s fifth starter to start the season. According to Rob Neyer, Leake would become the first pitcher since Darren Dreifort in 1994 to skip the […]

Hey, whaddaya know? Studes didn’t change the locks after I left last November! Red Sox 9, Yankees 7:  The Yankees were supposed to have a great bullpen. The Red Sox weren’t supposed to have enough offense because of all that run prevention they had imported. Well, The best-laid schemes o’ mice an ‘men gang aft […]

As a follow-on to last week’s Paintomatics for starting pitchers, here’s a sampling of relievers. Hopefully we’ll find a way to make Paintomatics available during the 2010 season. Thanks everyone for the great comments and suggestions you sent, by the way. YOU KNOW WHAT I’M GOING TO THROW AND YOU STILL CAN’T HIT IT YOU […]

David Laurila is probably my favorite baseball interviewer. If you’ve been around me for very long, you’ve probably heard me say that. He posted another good interview with Buck Showalter yesterday at Baseball Prospectus. It’s worth reading the whole interview, but Showalter’s response to the first question got me thinking. Or rather, it touched a […]

This has been a rough stretch for fans of baseball in the 1970s. First, we learned of the death of former big league right-hander Jim Bibby. Then came the news that ex-Dodger Willie Davis had been found dead in his southern California home. And now, on Friday, former Orioles left-hander Mike Cuellar lost his battle […]

THT Forecasts have just been updated. You will now find won/loss projections for pitchers (based on a neutral offense), as well as saves projections as contributed by our depth chart editors. Dan Haren and Tim Lincecum project to lead the MLB in wins with 16 (remember, this doesn’t mean that the eventual league leader will […]

I stumbled across this gem of a box score and had to share: http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1927/B08050WS11927.htm This is one where I’d really love to have the play-by-play. The thing that makes it odd is this: in the ten-run fourth inning for the Senators, Bennie Tate, pinch-hitting for Firpo Marberry, walked and was replaced at first by Lefty […]

This is an early favorite for the most important Sabermetric article of the year. Simmons is easily the most popular sports columnist in America, and it’s great to see him back to being the voice of the fan.

According to MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan, the Texas Rangers have signed Scott Feldman to a contract extension that takes the 27 year-old right-hander up to free agency and gives the club a chance to keep him one year beyond that. Arbitration-eligible for the first time this winter, Feldman will make $2.425 million in 2010, $4.4 million […]

Happy April fool’s day, everybody. If some prankster gets you feeling down, just remember to smile, and it will all be better. -This one is no laughing matter. Diamond Hoggers tried to get some kind of interview/Q&A going with the Reds’ Jay Bruce, and were firmly denied. I have no idea why a team would […]