mlb Page 88 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Here's A Fun Activity To Do While Your Team Doesn't Sign Dallas Keuchel Or Craig Kimbrel
When Sunday, June 2, turns to Monday, June 3, the 30 Major League Baseball teams that declined to sign 2015 American League Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel and seven-time All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel as free agents last winter will simultaneously lose their last and best remaining excuse for n...
One Of The NL's Best Sluggers Isn't On The All-Star Ballot
Brand-new Cincinnati Red Derek Dietrich is smashing the hell out of the baseball in the early part of the season, quickly going from Marlins Castoff On Minor League Contract to elite pinch-hitting threat to must-start infielder in just a few weeks. After his titanic three-dinger performance against ...
Can Sports Show The Way To Smarter Voting?
Electoral reform is coming to America. This year in MLB, a simple first-past-the-post voting system will no longer determine all-star starters. Fans will instead select three finalists in a Primary Round and then vote from among those finalists on a single Election Day....
The Mighty Josh Bell Just Keeps Smashing Monster Dingers
A loyal reader reached out this morning with a fantastic question:...
Reds Announcer Suggests Ozzie Albies Doesn't Know The Difference Between $35 Million And $85 Million
The Braves became the target of many people’s ire earlier this month when they signed Ozzie Albies to a seven-year, $35 million contract extension that will, if Albies turns into the kind of player he looks destined to become, go down as one of the most appallingly team-friendly contracts in basebal...
Let's Remember Some Guys: Topps "Big" Baseball Card Guys
I would like to begin this edition of Let’s Remember Some Guys by noting that I was right. Not about the many decisions I made as a youth and young man that led me to remember not just who Tom Brunansky and Juan Nieves are in 2019 but even/also a few things about what kind of baseball players they w...
Why Are Mets Fans Mets Fans?
The freezing rain that was forecast for later in the day of the Queens Baseball Convention never really materialized. It was still unpleasant out, but this was winter in New York City. It was at least near to the end of the worst part of winter—before pitchers and catchers were even obliged to get t...
MLB Presents A Championship Belt To The Team That Keeps Salaries Lowest In Arbitration
An agent mentioned The Belt to me once, and I thought he was joking. This is not me doing that thing where reporters try to downplay someone else’s scoop by letting you know they already knew a thing, even though they didn’t report it, which makes them completely useless. This is me trying to convey...
And Now It's The Baseball Season
Even if you are someone who cares about the sport a great deal, there is more ebb than flow to the average baseball season. There are moments and milestones over the course of the year that are authentically exciting, but it’s the nature of the season that every one of them is followed by a long lan...
MLB Advanced Media Made Billions For Baseball, Chewed Up Its Employees, And Spit Them Out
On the second Tuesday of February, at 3:00 in the afternoon, around 40 employees of MLB Advanced Media—one arm of MLB’s media empire, which also includes MLB.com, MLB Network and MLB Productions—nervously filed into a conference room at MLBAM’s office in Manhattan’s Chelsea Market. They had been liv...
The One Ingredient Missing From This Disgusting Hot Dog Is <i>Sports Illustrated</i>'s Integrity
Sports Illustrated may no longer be the revered repository for serious, well-composed, compelling sports writing and photography it once was during the glory days of yore, but that doesn’t mean the shop is no longer an innovator. Careful readers of the publication’s print and online offerings have i...
“Financial success has come uncoupled from baseball success. Five franchises have payrolls that are not even halfway to the $206 million luxury tax limit—minor-league teams charging major-league prices, and collecting major-league revenues.” Go and read Tommy Craggs on baseball’s busted economics, y...
The Phillies Knew Their Fans Wanted Bryce Harper Over Manny Machado
The Phillies eventually got their man in Bryce Harper, even if it took all damn winter, but they were always favored to get someone, given that principal owner John Middleton perhaps unwisely admitted the team’s willingness to spend “stupid” money. What was in dispute was whether their primary targe...
ESPN Isn't Even Pretending To Care About Conflicts Of Interest Anymore
The Mets announced today that ESPN baseball broadcaster Jessica Mendoza will be joining the team’s front office as an advisor while she continues to work for the network. Right after that, ESPN announced that Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia will be joining ESPN as a baseball analyst while he continues t...
ESPN Isn't Even Pretending To Care About Conflicts Of Interest Anymore
The Mets announced today that ESPN baseball broadcaster Jessica Mendoza will be joining the team’s front office as an advisor while she continues to work for the network. Right after that, ESPN announced that Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia will be joining ESPN as a baseball analyst while he continues t...
The Bryce Harper Sweepstakes Made Dummies Of Us All
The last time we saw Bryce Harper’s name linked to the Philadelphia Phillies, we were told he hated Philadelphia, the shambolic organization, and especially manager Gabe Kapler, who is supposed to be as mad as a brush....
The Bryce Harper Sweepstakes Made Dummies Of Us All
The last time we saw Bryce Harper’s name linked to the Philadelphia Phillies, we were told he hated Philadelphia, the shambolic organization, and especially manager Gabe Kapler, who is supposed to be as mad as a brush....
These Were Bryce Harper's Other Offers
Bryce Harper is a Phillie, finally. It was a long, drawn-out process that turned fans insane and made reporters stupid. But the seeming interminability of it all ultimately served Harper’s purposes: It wasn’t until this last week that the Phillies offered record money or a 13-year contract. Harper a...
These Were Bryce Harper's Other Offers
Bryce Harper is a Phillie, finally. It was a long, drawn-out process that turned fans insane and made reporters stupid. But the seeming interminability of it all ultimately served Harper’s purposes: It wasn’t until this last week that the Phillies offered record money or a 13-year contract. Harper a...
Why Is Baseball's Biggest Drama So Damned Boring?
Bryce Harper has been “about to sign” with the Philadelphia Phillies for two weeks now, including one weekend when Andy MacPhail, the team’s chief baseball brain, said the Phillies were good with what they had and weren’t looking to add much in firepower or the payroll to fuel it....