Baseball

According to a number of reports, the Chicago Cubs have dealt Jake Fox and Aaron Miles to the Oakland A's for reliever Jeff Gray and minor-leaguers Ronny Morla and Matt Spencer.

Gray, 28, appeared in 24 games last season, where he had a 3.76 ERA. He had a 1.29 WHIP as well.

 
The Phillies have taken care of the hole left at third base by Pedro Feliz after the team declined to pick up his option for 2010.

Philadelphia signed Placido Polanco, who played second base for the Detroit Tigers over the past four plus seasons, to an $18 million, three-year contract earlier today. It is his second tenure with Philly (Polanco played for the Phillies from 2002 into 2005).

It appears the Toronto Blue Jays have two options for Roy Halladay and the 2010 season. Get a deal done before Spring Training ends or face the consequences of losing their ace pitcher to free agency.

According to Jeff Berry, one of Halladay’s representatives, if Halladay reports to Spring Training, all bets are off.

“One thing is certain—once Roy reports to Spring Training as a member of the Blue Jays, from that point forward he will not approve or even discuss any potential trade scenario,”

This article was originally posted at:

http://www.bringingheat.com/2009/12/the-risky-3.html

These three guys perfectly exemplify the idea of high risk and high reward in Major League Baseball. The following players all have the ability and track record to be completely dominant starting pitchers. Weighed against them, however, are their individual injury histories. It seems that they are consistently battling the disabled list almost as often as they’re battling to get opposing hitters out…

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What if? It is a question asked much too often among sports fans. This time, however, it is legitimate.

The Minnesota Twins were a very talented, balanced, and well-coached team last season. So, what if Francisco Liriano had even a semi-productive '09 season? Would they have made the World Series or possibly even won it? I think so.

With the MLB trade rumors in full force, I've been taking a break from the college newspaper reporting scene, but have concocted a masterful idea.

We're right in the thick of Major League Baseball's free agency period. Already John Grabow has stolen a heavy contract from the Cubs, Billy Wagner will join his third National League East team in Atlanta, and Placido Polanco rejoins the Phillies after a stint in Detroit, Cleveland, and Tampa, as well as the White Sox and Royals have already swapped some contracts Now comes the fun part.

The young offseason has come to quite a start for the Atlanta Braves.

With Braves closers Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano hitting the market, Frank Wren looked like he would have quite a task on his hand to secure the back of the 'pen.

Nope.

Within a couple of days after teams made their decisions on arbitration-eligible players, the Braves General Manager succeeded in his task to complete the bullpen.

Here is the Braves' four main men in relieving next year:

Peter Moylan: 2.84 ERA

Eric O'Flaherty: 3.04 ERA

Takashi Saito: 2.43 ERA

Year: 1970

Record: 79-83

Win Percentage: .488

Win Percentage Change: -68

Run Differential: -65

Pythagorean Record: 74-88

AL Finish: 7th of 12

Manager: Mayo Smith