The National League The Kevin Towers Jim McLennan of AZ Snake Pit: "What is it with Stephen Drew and odd-numbered years? 2006, 2008, 2010: OPS+ of 117, 109, 113. The intervening seasons: 71, 92 and an injury-shortened 93." The Frank Wren Talking Chop: "Entering the 2011 season, Atlanta's acquisition of Dan Uggla from the Marlins looked to be exactly what the team needed; Uggla was the right-handed power bat the Braves didn't have in 2010. After all, Uggla was coming off a career year that saw him hit .285 with 33 home runs and 105 RBI." The Theo Epstein The Chicago Tribune: "The Kansas City Royals reportedly have interest in Carlos Zambrano if new Chicago Cubs baseball boss Theo Epstein is looking to unload the controversial pitcher." The Walt Jocketty Mark Sheldon of MLB.com: "No Reds prospect's callup was more anticipated in 2011 than when catcher Devin Mesoraco was summoned to the big leagues for the first time. Given a good, long look behind the plate in September, Mesoraco demonstrated he wasn't yet a finished product. But the 23-year-old certainly did not disappoint, either." The Dan O'Dowd Troy E. Renck of The Denver Post: "Adding a starting pitcher remains a top priority for the Rockies, leading them to discuss trades internally and express interest in free agents Kevin Millwood, Rich Harden and Bruce Chen." The Michael Hill Clark Spencer of The Miami Herald: "By bringing in pitcher Mark Buehrle for a sales pitch and tour of their new ballpark on Tuesday, the Marlins continued to work briskly in their bid to reel in a top free agent -- or two. The 32-year-old left-hander became the latest free agent linked to the Marlins, who are going full-throttle in their quest to add sizzle to their roster." The Ed Wade Zachary Levine of The Houston Chronicle: "Even as he revels in the memory of his Cardinals winning the World Series, a memory fresher than some still-potable cartons of milk at just 12 days young, Lance Berkman still considers himself a Houstonian." The Ned Colletti Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.: "We know the Dodgers will have a new owner at some point relatively soon, but perhaps not soon enough to help create a team this offseason. Tim Brown at Yahoo! Sports wonders whether McCourt is motivated enough to sign MVP candidate Matt Kemp to an extension beyond his final year before free agency." The Doug Melvin Adam McCalvy of MLBlogs.com: "Barring a move by hitting coach Dale Sveum, who remains a candidate for the Cubs' and Red Sox's managerial vacancies, the Brewers' coaching staff will return intact for 2012, general manager Doug Melvin said Tuesday." The Sandy Alderson Kristie Ackert of The New York Daily News: "As Jose Reyes is reported to be talking and visiting with other teams, reality is hitting David Wright. The two teammates who came up through the minors together and were touted as the future of the Mets may not have a future with the team much longer." The Ruben Amaro Jr. David Murphy of The Philadelphia Daily News: "Domonic Brown has enough of a life that he probably is not sitting at home reading High Cheese and wondering how, exactly, we've reached a point where we don't even mention his name when talking about the Phillies' situation in left field." The Neal Huntington Charlie Wilmouth of Bucs Dugout: "Pirates Interested In Yoenis Cespedes Yes, the guy from the promotional video, who is a big-time talent out of Cuba. The Pirates have attended workouts hosted by Cespedes' agent. Cespedes is an outfielder. He's 26 and could have an immediate impact for whoever signs him." The John Mozeliak Viva El Birdos: "More than any player Tony La Russa was the St. Louis Cardinals. The cliches of his tenure -- playing a hard nine, taking the season one game at a time, making winning plays -- came to define the Cardinals as an organization. The Cardinal Way became cross-pollinated with the La Russa Way. The future Hall-of-Fame manager's fingerprints could be found on personnel machinations as well as in-game tactics." The Josh Byrnes Gaslamp Ball: "We've had many conversations with many a person about what the new Padres uniforms are going to look like. They are going to be unveiled this week! We've seen all the same rumors at this point and it's probably good to round up where we're at with some ODDS!" The Brian Sabean Grant Brisbee of SB Nation: "The Giants traded away Jonathan Sanchez in an attempt to get more offense. The corollary to that move, though, is that they're forced to invite Barry Zito back into the rotation." The Mike Rizzo Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post: "The Nationals, of course, have a need in center field. Their public declaration that they're searching hard for a center fielder shows they don't consider Rick Ankiel a proper candidate after he started 84 games there this season." The American League The Dan Duquette Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun: "With the hiring of Dan Duquette on Sunday, I thought it would be appropriate to list all of the Orioles' top executive in franchise history. These aren't necessarily the general managers -- there have been some funky titles over the years. But these are the top front office employees since the team came from St. Louis in 1954." The Ben Cherington Alex Speier of WEEI.com: "The Boston Red Sox today announced that prices for all ticket categories available to the public for the 2012 regular season at Fenway Park will be held at 2011 levels. This marks the second time in four years the team has held ticket prices as the Red Sox also froze prices across the board for the 2009 season." The Kenny Williams Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Tribune: "This is Mark Buehrle's first time exploring free agency, and he's starting to enjoy the perks of other teams courting him." The Chris Antonetti Sporting News: "Boston already has interviewed Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum and Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin, and it plans to interview Cleveland Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. on Wednesday." The Dave Dombrowski Jason Beck of MLB.com: "The question was innocent enough. Justin Verlander was asked how long it took him in the quiet days after the season ended to appreciate his 2011 season. The answer was classic Verlander, whose offseasons are anything but rest and relaxation. "I start working out next week, man," Verlander said." The Dayton Moore Will McDonald of Royals Review: "We'll never know what the Royals initially wanted to do with Lorenzo Cain in 2011. Perhaps what ended up transpiring -- a year in AAA while a veteran stopgap played CF in KC -- was truly optimal, perhaps it was just what ended up happening. The Royals signed Melky Cabrera on December 10, 2010, and nine days later they acquired Cain in the Greinke trade." The Jerry DiPoto Halos Heaven: "The romance of a return of Cuban revolutionary Kendrys Morales at 1B blinds the reality of the hardworking peasant who rose from the field to hit 30 bombs with a broken foot, but here is Mark Trumbo listed as the second option at 1B for the Angels. But at least Trumbo takes a second bow as stand-in Designated Hitter backing up Konstantin Chernenko aka Bobby Abreu." The Terry Smith Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune: "Terry Ryan, back in charge as the Twins general manager, wants his team to return to the days of when the little details mattered." The Brian Cashman Moshe Mandel of River Ave Blues: "When the Yankees signed Alex Rodriguez to a ten-year contract following the 2007 season, one of the points often raised in his favor was his durability. Alex had played in at least 146 games and batted at least 638 times in every season but one from 1996 through 2007." The Billy Beane Athletics Nation: "Five of the top six outfielders are no longer with the team, and the sixth is a backup outfielder with knee problems. Conor Jackson was traded to Boston in August to help them with the playoffs (ha). Crisp, DeJesus, Willingham, and Matsui are free agents, and none of the four are expected to resign with the A's. Of the remaining three outside of the top six, one is a prospect, one is a 26-year-old career minor leaguer, and one is a utility infielder." The Jack Zduriencik Nate Cohn of Pro Ball NW: "Felix Hernandez is one of the best pitchers in baseball, but after reading a few columns emphasizing Felix's multi-year consistency, I decided to investigate a little further and feel compelled to raise a few contrary numbers underlying the results." The Andrew Friedman DRB.com: "At first blush, the Giants and Royals swap of Melky Cabrera and Jonathon Sanchez seemed like a slam dunk for the Royals to me which scared me about the potential market for Wade Davis. Before digging in to the numbers, I thought about Sanchez as the guy with electric stuff whose results often belied his abilities. Similarly, Cabrera in my eyes was the former top prospect whose poor approach (and seeming conditioning, work ethic, defense, etc. issues) failed him." The Jon Daniels Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News: "Fannie C. Washington, mother of manager Ron Washington, died Sunday at the age of 90 after a lengthy illness. She will be memorialized Friday in New Orleans." The Alex Anthopoulos Tom Dakers of Blue Bird Banter: "After a 2010 season (his first with the Jays) that saw Brandon Morrow stay in the rotation for the full season, for the first time in him major league career, we were all looking forward to 2011. In 2010 Morrow started slowly but finished great. In the first half of the season he had a 4.86 ERA, in the second half it was 3.69, so we all thought that he would have a better season this year."
The National League The Kevin Towers Jim McLennan of AZ Snake Pit: "What is it with Stephen Drew and odd-numbered years? 2006, 2008, 2010: OPS+ of 117, 109, 113. The intervening seasons: 71, 92 and an injury-shortened 93." The Frank Wren Talking Chop: "Entering the 2011 season, Atlanta's acquisition of Dan Uggla from the Marlins looked to be exactly what the team needed; Uggla was the right-handed power bat the Braves didn't have in 2010. After all, Uggla was coming off a career year that saw him hit .285 with 33 home runs and 105 RBI." The Theo Epstein The Chicago Tribune: "The Kansas City Royals reportedly have interest in Carlos Zambrano if new Chicago Cubs baseball boss Theo Epstein is looking to unload the controversial pitcher." The Walt Jocketty Mark Sheldon of MLB.com: "No Reds prospect's callup was more anticipated in 2011 than when catcher Devin Mesoraco was summoned to the big leagues for the first time. Given a good, long look behind the plate in September, Mesoraco demonstrated he wasn't yet a finished product. But the 23-year-old certainly did not disappoint, either." The Dan O'Dowd Troy E. Renck of The Denver Post: "Adding a starting pitcher remains a top priority for the Rockies, leading them to discuss trades internally and express interest in free agents Kevin Millwood, Rich Harden and Bruce Chen." The Michael Hill Clark Spencer of The Miami Herald: "By bringing in pitcher Mark Buehrle for a sales pitch and tour of their new ballpark on Tuesday, the Marlins continued to work briskly in their bid to reel in a top free agent -- or two. The 32-year-old left-hander became the latest free agent linked to the Marlins, who are going full-throttle in their quest to add sizzle to their roster." The Ed Wade Zachary Levine of The Houston Chronicle: "Even as he revels in the memory of his Cardinals winning the World Series, a memory fresher than some still-potable cartons of milk at just 12 days young, Lance Berkman still considers himself a Houstonian." The Ned Colletti Eric Stephen of True Blue L.A.: "We know the Dodgers will have a new owner at some point relatively soon, but perhaps not soon enough to help create a team this offseason. Tim Brown at Yahoo! Sports wonders whether McCourt is motivated enough to sign MVP candidate Matt Kemp to an extension beyond his final year before free agency." The Doug Melvin Adam McCalvy of MLBlogs.com: "Barring a move by hitting coach Dale Sveum, who remains a candidate for the Cubs' and Red Sox's managerial vacancies, the Brewers' coaching staff will return intact for 2012, general manager Doug Melvin said Tuesday." The Sandy Alderson Kristie Ackert of The New York Daily News: "As Jose Reyes is reported to be talking and visiting with other teams, reality is hitting David Wright. The two teammates who came up through the minors together and were touted as the future of the Mets may not have a future with the team much longer." The Ruben Amaro Jr. David Murphy of The Philadelphia Daily News: "Domonic Brown has enough of a life that he probably is not sitting at home reading High Cheese and wondering how, exactly, we've reached a point where we don't even mention his name when talking about the Phillies' situation in left field." The Neal Huntington Charlie Wilmouth of Bucs Dugout: "Pirates Interested In Yoenis Cespedes Yes, the guy from the promotional video, who is a big-time talent out of Cuba. The Pirates have attended workouts hosted by Cespedes' agent. Cespedes is an outfielder. He's 26 and could have an immediate impact for whoever signs him." The John Mozeliak Viva El Birdos: "More than any player Tony La Russa was the St. Louis Cardinals. The cliches of his tenure -- playing a hard nine, taking the season one game at a time, making winning plays -- came to define the Cardinals as an organization. The Cardinal Way became cross-pollinated with the La Russa Way. The future Hall-of-Fame manager's fingerprints could be found on personnel machinations as well as in-game tactics." The Josh Byrnes Gaslamp Ball: "We've had many conversations with many a person about what the new Padres uniforms are going to look like. They are going to be unveiled this week! We've seen all the same rumors at this point and it's probably good to round up where we're at with some ODDS!" The Brian Sabean Grant Brisbee of SB Nation: "The Giants traded away Jonathan Sanchez in an attempt to get more offense. The corollary to that move, though, is that they're forced to invite Barry Zito back into the rotation." The Mike Rizzo Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post: "The Nationals, of course, have a need in center field. Their public declaration that they're searching hard for a center fielder shows they don't consider Rick Ankiel a proper candidate after he started 84 games there this season." The American League The Dan Duquette Dan Connolly of The Baltimore Sun: "With the hiring of Dan Duquette on Sunday, I thought it would be appropriate to list all of the Orioles' top executive in franchise history. These aren't necessarily the general managers -- there have been some funky titles over the years. But these are the top front office employees since the team came from St. Louis in 1954." The Ben Cherington Alex Speier of WEEI.com: "The Boston Red Sox today announced that prices for all ticket categories available to the public for the 2012 regular season at Fenway Park will be held at 2011 levels. This marks the second time in four years the team has held ticket prices as the Red Sox also froze prices across the board for the 2009 season." The Kenny Williams Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Tribune: "This is Mark Buehrle's first time exploring free agency, and he's starting to enjoy the perks of other teams courting him." The Chris Antonetti Sporting News: "Boston already has interviewed Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum and Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin, and it plans to interview Cleveland Indians bench coach Sandy Alomar Jr. on Wednesday." The Dave Dombrowski Jason Beck of MLB.com: "The question was innocent enough. Justin Verlander was asked how long it took him in the quiet days after the season ended to appreciate his 2011 season. The answer was classic Verlander, whose offseasons are anything but rest and relaxation. "I start working out next week, man," Verlander said." The Dayton Moore Will McDonald of Royals Review: "We'll never know what the Royals initially wanted to do with Lorenzo Cain in 2011. Perhaps what ended up transpiring -- a year in AAA while a veteran stopgap played CF in KC -- was truly optimal, perhaps it was just what ended up happening. The Royals signed Melky Cabrera on December 10, 2010, and nine days later they acquired Cain in the Greinke trade." The Jerry DiPoto Halos Heaven: "The romance of a return of Cuban revolutionary Kendrys Morales at 1B blinds the reality of the hardworking peasant who rose from the field to hit 30 bombs with a broken foot, but here is Mark Trumbo listed as the second option at 1B for the Angels. But at least Trumbo takes a second bow as stand-in Designated Hitter backing up Konstantin Chernenko aka Bobby Abreu." The Terry Smith Jim Souhan of The Star Tribune: "Terry Ryan, back in charge as the Twins general manager, wants his team to return to the days of when the little details mattered." The Brian Cashman Moshe Mandel of River Ave Blues: "When the Yankees signed Alex Rodriguez to a ten-year contract following the 2007 season, one of the points often raised in his favor was his durability. Alex had played in at least 146 games and batted at least 638 times in every season but one from 1996 through 2007." The Billy Beane Athletics Nation: "Five of the top six outfielders are no longer with the team, and the sixth is a backup outfielder with knee problems. Conor Jackson was traded to Boston in August to help them with the playoffs (ha). Crisp, DeJesus, Willingham, and Matsui are free agents, and none of the four are expected to resign with the A's. Of the remaining three outside of the top six, one is a prospect, one is a 26-year-old career minor leaguer, and one is a utility infielder." The Jack Zduriencik Nate Cohn of Pro Ball NW: "Felix Hernandez is one of the best pitchers in baseball, but after reading a few columns emphasizing Felix's multi-year consistency, I decided to investigate a little further and feel compelled to raise a few contrary numbers underlying the results." The Andrew Friedman DRB.com: "At first blush, the Giants and Royals swap of Melky Cabrera and Jonathon Sanchez seemed like a slam dunk for the Royals to me which scared me about the potential market for Wade Davis. Before digging in to the numbers, I thought about Sanchez as the guy with electric stuff whose results often belied his abilities. Similarly, Cabrera in my eyes was the former top prospect whose poor approach (and seeming conditioning, work ethic, defense, etc. issues) failed him." The Jon Daniels Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News: "Fannie C. Washington, mother of manager Ron Washington, died Sunday at the age of 90 after a lengthy illness. She will be memorialized Friday in New Orleans." The Alex Anthopoulos Tom Dakers of Blue Bird Banter: "After a 2010 season (his first with the Jays) that saw Brandon Morrow stay in the rotation for the full season, for the first time in him major league career, we were all looking forward to 2011. In 2010 Morrow started slowly but finished great. In the first half of the season he had a 4.86 ERA, in the second half it was 3.69, so we all thought that he would have a better season this year."
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