Baseball

It’s going to be a busy offseason for the Houston Astros franchise.

With reorganization and revamping on the hearts and minds of team owners and managers, the true tasks lie ahead.

Free agency, of course, is just a part of that process, as a handful of Houston Astros players have now officially filed.

Those names include: Jose Valverde, Miguel Tejada, LaTroy Hawkins, Jason Michaels, and Darin Erstad (Doug Brocail has also filed for free agency with the Astros declining his 2010 option and both Mike Hampton and Aaron Boone recently filed for arbitration).

Sports Satire by Christopher C. Wuensch

Months after a November photo revealed a drastic difference in Sammy Sosa’s now-lighter skin tone, the infamous Chicago Cubs slugger admits attempts to “desaparezca fuera de vista.”

Translation: disappear out of sight.

Twitter. 

By this point you’ve formed some sort of opinion on the micro-blogging site. And that opinion is usually in one of two camps and only in one of two camps.

Camp No. 1: I hate Twitter. I don’t know why anyone would want to know what I’m doing all the time. It’s so stupid, I’m not surprised it’s popular in America. 

Camp No. 2: I simply cannot live without Twitter. It integrates perfectly into my life and is bountiful in its usefulness. Best invention of all time.  

One question, hundreds of answers. Which Brave had the greatest offensive season at his position?

Major League baseball has been asking fans this same question in an effort to choose each team's best ever collection of stars. They are calling it MLB 9s.

Here I have separated the contenders from the pretenders in an effort to pick my dream Atlanta Braves lineup. Have your say by commenting below or by voting on the MLB site here .

Early rumors flying out of the winter GM meetings in Chicago are all over the board concerning free agents, trades, and declining profits. But the most consistent noise on Monday was surrounding Chicago Cubs outfielder Milton Bradley.

Bradley? Consistent noise? Really?

The Hot Stove features one rumor being reported by a number of sources and it appears to have some legs to it. Three teams would be involved, with three players changing uniforms.

Much in the same fashion that CC Sabathia was the top pitching prize last winter, John Lackey will find himself in that position this winter. Lackey may find more suitors than Sabathia did, but he won't command nearly the same contract the big lefty did.

Last week, Rob Neyer challenged someone to find out just how many championships Mariano Rivera has been worth.

In a game where image is heavily compared to the past, the minute intricacies, and similarities are visible throughout all parts of the game.

The history of Word Series winning-shares is limited with the amount of information out there, but courtesy of the Baseball Digest archives, we can get a better understanding;

Less than a week after the New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies in six games to win their 27th World Championship, the Hot Stove League has begun in earnest.

Even before the general managers meeting in Chicago on Nov. 10-11, trades have been made in the fresh offseason.

The Pirates and the Rays made a deal on Nov. 3, with Tampa Bay sending second baseman Akinori Iwamura to Pittsburgh for reliever Jesse Chavez. Two days later, the Marlins traded outfielder Jeremy Hermida to Boston for left-hander Hunter Jones.