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 …
RELATED:
Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:
Is The Hall of Fame Too Small? — Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame this afternoon, becoming the 234th and 235th players so honored. — Others were left on the sidelines, however. Jeff Bagwell, the Astros slugger who according …
Discussion:
baseballmusings.com, Associated Press, Mariners blog, OMGreds, Tedquarters and New York Times
Associated Press:
Roberto Alomar, Bert Blyleven in Hall — NEW YORK — Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven have been elected to baseball's Hall of Fame. — Alomar and Blyleven were chosen Wednesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America after narrow misses last year. — Blyleven — Alomar
Discussion:
Halos Heaven, Faith and Fear in Flushing, MLB Daily Dish and River Avenue Blues
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:
Lookout Landing and Boston Globe
Baseball Hall of Fame:
Alomar, Blyleven Elected to the Hall of Fame
Alomar, Blyleven Elected to the Hall of Fame
Discussion:
Baseball-Reference Blog
AaronGleeman.com:
Bert Blyleven, Hall of Famer
Bert Blyleven, Hall of Famer
Discussion:
Lone Star Ball, Minor League Ball and True Blue LA
Chris Jaffe / Hardball Times:
Me vs. reality: 2011 Cooperstown
Me vs. reality: 2011 Cooperstown
Discussion:
HardballTalk and Red Reporter
Kuiperfan / Joe Posnanski:
The Hall of Fame Recap — Bert Blyleven ranks fifth all time in strikeouts (3,701) and ninth in shutouts (60). (AP) — Well, for the most part, Hall of Fame day went as expected. Roberto Alomar didn't just go into the Hall of Fame, he received 90% of the vote, a higher percentage than Jackie Robinson …
Discussion:
Baseball Analysts, Crashburn Alley, Sports Illustrated and BBTF's Baseball Primer …
RELATED:
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
John Romano / St. Petersburg Times:
Fred McGriff at a disadvantage with Hall of Fame voters because …
Fred McGriff at a disadvantage with Hall of Fame voters because …
Discussion:
New York Times, Bats and ESPN
Marc Topkin / St. Petersburg Times:
Complications make Baseball Hall of Fame voting less fun than it used to be
Complications make Baseball Hall of Fame voting less fun than it used to be
Discussion:
Beyond the Box Score
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:
Over the Monster and Boston Globe
RELATED:
Ian Browne / MLB.com:
Boston adds to catching depth with waiver claim — BOSTON — Thirteen months ago, the Red Sox thought they were about to trade for catching prospect Max Ramirez, only to have it fall through when Mike Lowell — the player who was supposed to go to the Rangers — failed his physical.
Discussion:
Yahoo! Sports
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.
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Gordon Wittenmyer / Chicago Sun Times:
Cubs take lead in Garza derby
Cubs take lead in Garza derby
Discussion:
Chicago Breaking Sports
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:
Baseball America and 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!
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
RELATED:
Jon Paul Morosi / Fox Sports:
Sources: Rangers to sign Beltre for $96M
Sources: Rangers to sign Beltre for $96M
Discussion:
sox1fan.com, Lone Star Ball, Lookout Landing and baseballmusings.com
Marty Noble / MLB.com:
Franco disappointed by lack of Hall support — NEW YORK — After he had taken the first couple of hundred flights in his 21-year big league career, John Franco understood what little control he had over at least one critical factor in his life. He put it into words Wednesday evening.
Discussion:
Can't Stop The Bleeding
Susan Slusser / San Francisco Chronicle:
eric chavez — Ex-A's infielder to hold workouts — Eric Chavez will work out for the Dodgers on Jan. 20, the longtime A's third baseman told The Chronicle, and his agent said that Chavez will hold private workouts this month for two American League teams (not the A's) as well.
Discussion:
MLB Rumors, ESPN and HardballTalk
Chad Jennings / The LoHud Yankees Blog:
Yankees claim RHP Brian Schlitter — The Yankees have claimed right-hander Brian Schlitter off waivers from the Cubs. — Schlitter is a 25 year old who pitched out of the Cubs bullpen seven times last year. He spent most of the season with Triple-A Iowa, going 2-1 with 13 saves and a 3.15 ERA …
Discussion:
BronxBanterBlog.com, It's About The Money and The Sommer Frieze
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