Dontrelle Willis retired on Monday at the age of 30, bringing to an end one of the most baffling baseball careers of the past decade. The day before, Mark Prior, nursing an oblique strain, threw a bullpen session for the Pawtucket Red Sox. He hadn't pitched in a game since June 21, when he scuffled through an inning of …

Look at that tall left-handed man up there. Does he look happy to you? Or does he look like an irritated guest of that cartoon bird?

The pitchers who wow us these days don't remind us of anything familiar. Most of MLB's sharpest aces—Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver, Roy Halladay, Clayton Kershaw, and C.C. Sabathia—were first-round picks, blessed with a freakish ability to throw much harder than their competitors, and groomed for many years by the…

Ruben Amaro is a ninja—except when his email blasts on free agency signings find their way into the wrong hands. A reader forwards along this missive, purportedly from Ruben Amaro to the front office announcing that the Phillies are signing Dontrelle Willis to a one-year deal pending a physical. Because our reader has…

So I guess The D-Train doesn't have it all figured it out. There were signs of promise, but after a couple of horrendous starts—8 walks in 3.2 IP on Sunday—Willis is back on the DL (head case).

Dontrelle Willis won a game yesterday. And his pitching was more than adequate! So has he finally got over his case of the Greinkes or is this just a momentary blip on the mine cart ride to oblivion?

That marriage ... (sips imaginary glass of bourbon) ... it's a tough racket. Just two weeks after getting married, Marlins pitcher (and awfully likable fellow) Dontrelle Willis has already discovered something about the institution: It'll drive you to drink. At 4 a.m. this morning in South Beach, Willis was arrested on …