Top News:
Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com:
Cooperstown calls for Alomar, Blyleven — NEW YORK — Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday as part of the Class of 2011, ending a year of anxiety and trepidation for the pair of stellar players. — Alomar was named on 90 percent …
Discussion:
Diamond Hoggers, The Good Phight, The Mighty Quinn Media Machine, Bless You Boys, YFSF and Let's Go Tribe!
RELATED:
Chris Jaffe / Hardball Times:
Me vs. reality: 2011 Cooperstown — Well, the results for the BBWAA vote for the Hall of Fame just came out. Congratulations to Roberto Alomar and Rich Lederer, er, I mean - congrats to Alomar and Bert Blyleven. They're the newest Hall of Famers. — This means something extra special …
Discussion:
HardballTalk and Red Reporter
Michael Silverman / Boston Herald:
Blyleven, Alomar elected to Hall of Fame — + Recent Articles + Recent Blog Entries + Email — The Baseball Hall of Fame just opened its doors to Bert Blyleven and Robbie Alomar. — The durable Blyleven, whose 3,701 strikeouts are the fifth-highest total for any pitcher and 60 shutouts are ninth-most …
Discussion:
Boston Globe and Lookout Landing
Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Cubs take lead in Garza derby — The Cubs appear to have moved past the Texas Rangers and into the driver's seat in efforts to acquire Tampa Bay Rays 15-game winner Matt Garza — a potential move that could put the Cubs back into the National League Central title conversation for 2011.
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Thomas Boswell / Washington Post:
Adam LaRoche signing shows Washington Nationals now know nothing is free — Nothing is free. Billionaires aren't exempt. As the Washington Nationals' owners are now learning, in baseball there is even a steep price to be paid for the money you didn't spend in the past.
Adam Kilgore / Nationals Journal:
Nationals agree to terms with Adam LaRoche
Nationals agree to terms with Adam LaRoche
Discussion:
D.C. Sports Bog, MASNsports.com, Federal Baseball, The Goessling Game and Yahoo! Sports
Jon Heyman / Sports Illustrated:
LaRoche inks 2-year deal with Nationals
T.R. Sullivan / MLB.com:
Rangers land Beltre with six-year deal — ARLINGTON — The Rangers have called a news conference for Wednesday afternoon to officially announce the signing of free-agent third baseman Adrian Beltre. — Beltre, a two-time American League Gold Glove Award winner who was an All-Star …
Discussion:
Boston Globe and Over the Monster
RELATED:
Evan Grant / Dallas Morning News:
Michael Young to work out at first base and other important stuff from Adrian Beltre press conference — ARLINGTON - During Wednesday's afternoon's press conference to announce that Adrian Beltre had agreed to a six-year, $96 million deal with the Rangers, manager Ron Washington referred to the new third baseman as a “defensive whiz.”
Discussion:
MLB Rumors
Jon Paul Morosi / Fox Sports:
Sources: Rangers to sign Beltre for $96M
Sources: Rangers to sign Beltre for $96M
Discussion:
Lone Star Ball and baseballmusings.com
Jeff Wilson / Dallas Morning News:
Free-agent 3B Adrian Beltre and Rangers agree to multi-year deal
Free-agent 3B Adrian Beltre and Rangers agree to multi-year deal
Discussion:
Red Sox Monster and Boston Globe
Sports Illustrated:
Palmeiro on Hall of Fame snub: ‘I feel like the forgotten man’ … Rafael Palmeiro is one of four players to have 3,000 hits and 500 home runs in his career, but Wednesday, those elite accomplishments couldn't get him even close to the Hall of Fame. — In his first year on the ballot …
Discussion:
HardballTalk and Fanhouse MLB Blog
RELATED:
Sports Illustrated:
Tom Verducci>INSIDE BASEBALL
Tom Verducci>INSIDE BASEBALL
Discussion:
USA Today, HardballTalk and The Crawfish Boxes
Marc Topkin / St. Petersburg Times:
Complications make Baseball Hall of Fame voting less fun than it used to be
A.J. Perez / Fanhouse MLB Blog:
Rafael Palmeiro Could be Telling Truth, Says Former Congressman
Rafael Palmeiro Could be Telling Truth, Says Former Congressman
Discussion:
HardballTalk and Boston Dirt Dogs
Michael O'Keeffe / NY Daily News:
Fraud charges for Victor Baez after he allegedly lies about ages of players from Dominican Republic — An influential baseball scout who was arrested in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday allegedly gave new identities to his players to make them appear younger - and therefore more appealing …
Discussion:
HardballTalk
RELATED:
Michael S. Schmidt / New York Times:
Selig Is Said to Be Unsatisfied With Union's Stance on Boras
Selig Is Said to Be Unsatisfied With Union's Stance on Boras
Discussion:
HardballTalk and IT IS HIGH!
Joe Strauss / St. Louis Post-Dispatch:
Cardinals open talks with Pujols — The Cardinals have wasted little time addressing their most pressing New Year's resolution: tying up Albert Pujols. — Negotiations between the club and Pujols' agent, Dan Lozano, resumed this week and have taken on a “positive” tone, according to several sources familiar with the process.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors and Fanhouse MLB Blog
Jim Caple / ESPN:
HOF voters need to open their eyes — I have a message for BBWAA members who continue to withhold votes from players who used, or are suspected of using, performance enhancers: Get off your @#*& high horse. — Hey, I get that you think steroid use is really, really bad. Or at least, that this is your view now.
Discussion:
TYU, Baseball Crank and HardballTalk
Jack Moore / FanGraphs Baseball:
Jays Realize Return on Arbitration Offers — Two months ago, the Blue Jays traded for Miguel Olivo just to decline his option and offer him arbitration. Along with John Buck, Jason Frasor, Scott Downs, and Kevin Gregg, Olivo was just one of the group of players with which Alex Anthopolous …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com
Baseball America:
Cincinnati Reds Top 10 Prospects — Baseball America's Top 10 Prospects lists are based on projections of a player's long-term worth after discussions with scouting and player-development personnel. All players who haven't exceeded the major league rookie standards of 130 at-bats or 50 innings pitched …
Discussion:
redsminorleagues.com, Better Off Red and Cincinnati Reds
J-Doug / Beyond the Box Score:
Benefit of the Doubt: The Cruel Umpire — In last week's episode of Benefit of the Doubt, I put my own spin on the interesting phenomena of the “compassionate umpire.” Essentially, as the count becomes more favorable to the hitter, the strike zone grows and the zone advantage increases.
Discussion:
THE BOOK