MVN: Most Valuable Network

The Next Bartolo Colon

By Tim Daloisio | November 21, 2008 | Fire Brand of the American League

Could Pedro and the Red Sox reunite? - flickr (ac4lt)

From the likes of Wade Miller and Kyle Snyder to Bartolo Colon the Red Sox have often found value, or potential value in signing a veteran pitcher looking to right the ship after injury or at the end of their line to a one year deal and have them fill spots at the back of the rotation.

That type of insurance policy combined with an influx of youth at the tail end of your rotation has been invaluable in recent years where the Red Sox have needed their fair share of spot starts. I can remember more Julian Tavarez starts than I care to!

While the top of the rotation certainly is full of horses (Beckett, Lester, Matsuzaka) and Wakefield and the young guns (Buchholz, Bowden, Masterson) provide a solid tail, injury is unpredictable. The 2008 New York Yankees are a great proof to the theorem that you can't have enough starting pitching.

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Winter League Results - 11.20.08

By Joe Aiello | November 21, 2008 | View from the Bleachers

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Phillies Trade a 5 Dollar Bill for 6 Dollar Bills

By Justin "BabyFace" Harris | November 21, 2008 | Passion and Pride

Well, the old cliche is a 5 dollar bill for 5 one dollar bills, but I'm one of the few who actually thinks the Phils came out on the winning end here.The Phillies, Thursday afternoon, traded Greg Golson and his potential "tools" for John Mayberry Jr. and his one extremely developed tool. Anyone who had been holding their breath for Golson to get a good chunk of playing time with the Phils can breathe now. Golson never truly panned out, thus not living up to his first round expectations.Mayberry is also a first round pick, but he also never got the expectations that Golson received. Golson was supposed to be the next "5-Tool" star, Mayberry was just supposed to be a "power guy". While no one really believes Golson will ever live up to his billing, some believe Mayberry has the ability to hit 30-35 HRs in the Majors....

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NEWSFLASH: Rangers Roster Moves Galore

By Joey Matschulat | November 21, 2008 | Baseball Time in Arlington

Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience.According to MLB.com's T.R. Sullivan, the Texas Rangers have purchased the contracts of right-handers John Bannister, Willie Eyre and Omar Poveda, as well as that of infielder Jose Vallejo, and have added all four players to their now-full 40-man roster.Right-handers Wes Littleton and Kameron Loe have been designated for assignment, though the latter transaction was little more than a formality given that Loe is ostensibly Japan-bound.The addition of Bannister is a bit surprising, but defensible (his control and velocity both measurably improved as the 2008 season dragged on), and we already talked about the Latin American duo of Poveda and Vallejo at length this morning. I'm not quite sure what the organization sees (or thinks it sees) in Eyre, who doesn't really amount to much more than a guy you can stash at the...

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NEWSFLASH: John Mayberry Jr. Traded To Phillies

By Joey Matschulat | November 21, 2008 | Baseball Time in Arlington

Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience.Happy trails, Junior Mayberry.Multiple local media sources, including Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, are reporting tonight that the Texas Rangers have completed a swap of disappointing first-round picks with the Philadelphia Phillies, shipping minor league outfielder John Mayberry (Jr.) to the City of Brotherly Love in exchange for the Phillies' 2004 first-round pick, outfielder Greg Golson.With less than six hours to go until tonight's 11:00 p.m. 40-man roster finalization deadline, it would at first glance appear that this deal was made with the intention of giving Texas some wiggle room, but not so much: Golson's contract was purchased by Philadelphia on September 1st, and he'll be directly placed on the Rangers' 40-man roster, so there's no relief for Texas in that area. We already know more or less everything there is to...

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NEWSFLASH: Loe Headed To Japan

By Joey Matschulat | November 21, 2008 | Baseball Time in Arlington

Reminder: Baseball Time in Arlington has moved! Please update your bookmarks to www.bbtia.com at your earliest convenience.During Major League Baseball's now-legendary June 2002 First-Year Player Draft (which, in due time, produced many prominent current big leaguers, including B.J. Upton, Zach Greinke, Prince Fielder, Joe Saunders, Scott Kazmir, Nick Swisher, Cole Hamels, and Matt Cain, among others), the Texas Rangers drafted a grand total of 50 amateur players.Fronting the Rangers' ultimately disastrous draft class that summer was University of South Carolina shortstop Drew Meyer, selected 10th overall by then-scouting director Grady Fuson and appraised by the organization as a premium defensive middle infielder with superb athleticism and raw tools who could eventually comprise half of a double-play combo with then-franchise shortstop Alex Rodriguez, or perhaps even make the successful full-time transition to center field.Meyer's bat unfortunately failed to develop into anything remotely resembling competent, and his seven-year run with the organization...

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Boom, Outta Here (Episode 2): KG's flop garners suspension; Obama hates on BCS; Lions excited about losing

By Staff Report | November 20, 2008 | MVN Outsider

MVN's first original sports talk television show "Boom, Outta Here" unleashes its second episode with criticism of the NBA's discipline for Kevin Garnett after an errant slap to Andrew Bogut's face. Discussion moves to President-elect Barack Obama's campaign for a college football playoff system and an important question: Is it more likely the Detroit Lions go winless or the Tennessee Titans run the table? Hosts Pat McSweeney and Brandon Rosage also give props to American League MVP Dustin Pedroia and lobby for his Red Sox to offer a deal before his head blows up, and finish with pessimism about Mark Cuban's future as a sports owner....

Read more  |  3 Comments  |  Tags: Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Lions, Kevin Garnett, Mark Cuban, MLB, NBA, NFL, Tennessee Titans, video

Where could Mark Teixeira land?

By Evan | November 20, 2008 | MVN Outsider

ccho

As Thanksgiving approaches with the winter meetings not too far behind, Mark Teixeira is getting closer and closer to figuring out what ballpark he will call home next year.There has not been a ton of chatter surrounding Teixeira, but everyone knows the two big players for 'Tex' are the Los Angeles Angels and New York Yankees. There are, however, a couple other teams in the mix. Here's a ranking of who is most likely to get Teixeira...1. New York YankeesThe New York Yankees are going all out this winter, economy be damned. With the Yankees set to move into a new stadium that will send their revenue through the roof, they will continue to lead the field for a very, very long time in dollars spent.The acquisition of Nick Swisher seems to have tempered most people's expectations that the Yankees will chase Tex, but I don't believe it for a...

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In search of Dodgers fans (a case for Joe Beimel?)

By Alan Smodic | November 19, 2008 | MVN Outsider

Joe Beimel shows off his tattoo - Malingering/flickr.com

...because I need your help on this one. I, like mostly anyone else who will be reading this, go through the news each day and like to sort through the "hot stove" reports that every media outlet has. Today, I ran across this little bit that caught me by surprise. It's a report written by Jason Beck, who covers the Detroit Tigers at MLB.com. In it, the agent for left-handed reliever Joe Beimel claims that at least six different teams have interest in the journeyman pitcher. "Across the board, things are starting to pick up some," agent Joe Sroba said Wednesday. "That's to be expected [after the signings]."Sroba estimated that at least a half-dozen teams have had talks with him on Beimel, including the Tigers. He would not confirm whether he has received an offer from any, nor would he speculate whether Beimel could sign soon. Still, it was clear...

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Recapping the Hawaii Winter Baseball League

By Brian Joseph | November 18, 2008 | MVN Outsider

Over the years, the Hawaii Winter Baseball League has featured many young players who saw their dreams come true and find their way to the Major League.  This year's HWB featured another group of four teams filled with the future young stars of baseball -- both Major League and Japanese Professional -- and capped off with a showdown between the Waikiki BeachBoys (19-17) and the West Oahu CaneFires (19-14) in the Championship game. In that game, the BeachBoys beat the CanFires 5-1 behind excellent pitching performances from Mitsuo Yoshikawa (Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters) -- 5 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 5 K -- and Steven Richard (Seattle Mariners) -- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 K.  Offensively, the team was led by Buster Posey (San Francisco Giants, pictured, photo by Icon SMI) who went 2-for-3 with a three-run homer in the seventh. In addition to the Championship game, the league...

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Could the S.F. Giants win the division in 2009?

By Evan | November 17, 2008 | MVN Outsider

The San Francisco Giants haven't been relevant since 2002 except for it's mercurial slugger, Barry Bonds.They could be relevant again in 2009.Yes, the Giants lost 90 games last year, but they were only 12 games back of the division winning Los Angeles Dodgers. Compare that to the 75-86 Oakland Athletics, which finished 24.5 games back. With a couple tweaks here and there, the Giants could win the division in 2009, and it's not as far fetched an idea as you may think it.The Giants have two young, dominant pitchers heading up their staff in 2008 Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum and his sidekick, Matt Cain. Two other young players in Jonathan Sanchez and Noah Lowry also offer promise, but Barry Zito remains the laughingstock of baseball. If Zito can ever get it together, this is one deep rotation. If not, they can still compete with the best of them.2008...

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Should the Yankees Hire Sabathia?

By EJ Fagan | November 15, 2008 | MVN Outsider

Yesterday, I posted a report that the Yankees offered 6 years, 140-142 million to C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia is basically asking for Santana money (6 years, 137 million) with interest. Is he worth it? I say yes.The Yankees have a lot of money to spend. The Yankees could have 40 million dollars budgeted for this off-season, and made a pretty frugal move by picking up Nick Swisher. You can figure that with their new stadium, the Yankees expect The first knock against Sabathia that I can tell is the number of innings which he has pitched over the past 2 years. Few pitches in recent years have managed 240+ innings for two years in a row. The Brewers pushed Sabathia very hard in their playoff run, and it started to wear on him toward the end of the year.I am not especially concerned about Sabathia's injury situation. As a GM, I'd...

Read more  |  2 Comments  |  Tags: CC Sabathia, Hot Stove, MLB, New York Yankees

MVN Awards: NL MVP - Albert Pujols

By Alan Smodic | November 15, 2008 | MVN Outsider

todonitido/flickr.com

This selection shouldn't come as any surprise.St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols continues to put together one of the best careers we've ever seen in Major League Baseball. He's become Mr. Consistency at the big league level, producing at least .300/30/100 in each of his eight seasons. And only once, last year, did he not score 100 runs -- he scored 99.In his career, Pujols has finished in the top 10 of MVP voting each year:2001 - Fourth2002 - Second2003 - Second2004 - Third2005 - First2006 - Second2007 - NinthIt's getting to the point with Pujols that when MVP talk begins, you almost either A) forget about him, because each year he quietly puts up his numbers (like A-rod) or B) you want to consider other people simply because you want others to have a shot instead of always Pujols (kind of like A-rod there,too).But the 2008 season was...

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Hot Stove Dishes - November 14, 2008

By Brian Joseph | November 14, 2008 | MVN Outsider

The latest buzz served up from baseball's Hot Stove League.  Ten of the hottest stories, moves and rumors from the past week: Yankees out to buy back in to playoffs, offer Sabathia record deal The New York Yankees are tired of missing the playoffs.  The one-year absence has driven them to offer CC Sabathia a six-year, $140-million contract to bring his talent to the Bronx.  The Brewers want to keep Sabathia but can they afford the price of competing with the Yankees in the free agent market.  Better yet, can anyone? Padres go one way with offering Peavy, Braves go the other At some point in the past seven days there was buzz that the Braves and Padres were very close to a deal that would send Padres ace Jake Peavy to Atlanta.  After an entire offseason of talks, the Braves announced that they were calling off their pursuit of...

Read more  |  Discuss  |  Tags: Atlanta Braves, BBWAA, CC Sabathia, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Dayan Viciedo, Hot Stove, Jake Peavy, Kerry Wood, Kevin Gregg, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manager, Manny Ramirez, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB, New York Yankees, San Diego Padres, Scott Boras, Trevor Hoffman