Monthly Articles: April 2009

I have to say this has to be one of the most interesting Aprils we’ve had in Major League Baseball in quite some time. * Many of the projected superpowers have had trouble getting things going. * Many projected patsies have been contending, or even leading their divisions. * We have two new stadiums in…

Just in case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been more than a little bit rough on the Cleveland Indians lately. This apparently prompted a note from one of the regular readers of this blog. He wondered if I was going a little over the top in my criticism of the Indians organization due to my possibly…

In 1999 D. Wayne Lukas sent Charismatic to the Grade II Coolmore Lexington Stakes after Charismatic had failed miserably two weeks before in the Santa Anita Derby. Lukas knew that he needed to get Charismatic enough graded earnings to get into the Kentucky Derby. The rest is history. Charismatic won the Lexington, got into the…

Sometimes it’s simply better to be lucky than good. That’s an important factor when analyzing pitchers. Isolate those who have been catching some good breaks, and it’s likely to garner an edge in determining hurlers who are likely to start heading in the other direction once their luck starts to turn. Back in the not…

Pardon the rant, but if there’s one thing that drives me nuts, it’s when teams with obvious needs refuse to promote high-end prospects who are absolutely ready and deserving of an opportunity to prove themselves in the show. I completely understand that in many cases, the reluctance to promote a player is strictly business. The…

Two top prospects are likely to get into big league action this week. Phil Hughes is tearing it up in Scranton-Wilkes Barre and with the “injury” to Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees need another starting pitcher. Ian Kennedy has been equally impressive so far at AAA, but Hughes is the prospect with the much higher ceiling….

Just in case you haven’t heard, “Moneyball” is about to become a feature film. The book, authored by Michael Lewis, created quite a stir when it was published, with plenty of hot debate and widely varying opinions, not only about the book, but also about the concept itself. The book focused on Oakland A’s GM…

My only top baseball play won easily on Wednesday as good things continue to happen on the diamond. To cash-in with my winning picks, click here. The Florida Marlins still own the best record in baseball, but another surprise entry is now hot on their heels. That would be the Toronto Blue Jays, who pulled…

It’s possible we may be seeing a new entry as the worst franchise in any professional sport. The Washington Nationals are pretty amazing right now. Not only have they been phenomenally inept in the early going, the comedy of errors at the organizational level are absolutely Clipperesque. Basically, this outfit is baseball’s version of “The…

You know it’s going well when you’re winning games you should have lost. I had the Marlins on the runline both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, they rallied to tie the game against the Nationals in the ninth inning and then tossed up a three-spot in the 11th inning to cover. On Sunday, they trailed…