Baseball

Veteran third baseman Mark DeRosa, the subject of trade rumors for weeks, will be departing Cleveland for St. Louis, after less than a year with the Indians.

DeRosa was hitting .270 with 13 home runs and 50 RBI in 71 games. In exchange, the Indians will receive relief pitcher Chris Perez and a player to be named later, likely a highly-rated prospect. Perez has made 29 appearances this season, with a 4.18 ERA and 30 strikeouts

Saturday was June 27th. At the end of the day, the Chicago Cubs were tied for third place in the National League's Central division with the Cincinnati Reds, trailing the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals by three-and-a-half games.

Saturday also marked 179 days since Cubs General Manager Jim Hendry traded the most versatile, and arguably the most valuable, player from last season's team to the Cleveland Indians. Mark DeRosa was dealt to the Tribe for a couple of minor league pitchers.

Every season, there are free agents who are expected to be superstars for the team they sign with.

Then there are those free agents who are less publicized, but still are able to make a significant impact on their new team. Here are some of the top underrated free agent signings of 2009.

Orlando Hudson/Los Angeles Dodgers

In the state of today's economy in relation to baseball, many teams cannot afford to spend the endless dollars that the Yankees and other teams continue to throw at players.

However, in this decade and actually this century the Yankees have only won one World Series, which was the actual year 2000.

Somewhere amid the ridiculous buzz surrounding super-prospect Matt Wieters, and the noise following Nolan Reimold, Jason Berken, Brad Bergesen, and David Hernandez, super utility guy Oscar Salazar got the call up to Baltimore.

It's not as if he didn't earn it. He along with Reimold and the injured Lou Montanez were all hitting above .370 at the time of their call up. He also had ten home runs and 43 RBI in 50 games at AAA Norfolk. The difference between Salazar and Reimold however, may be the very same reason why the former is a perfect fit for these O's.

I’m tired of hearing the name. As citizens and baseball loyalist, our minds should be weary of the one player whose worse than Donald Duck when tempers flare. The childish tantrums have been everywhere, this explains why Milton Bradley has played for seven different teams in his troubling nine seasons.

"Will you sign my magazine?"
"Aww, sure thing, sweetie. Who should I make it out to?"
"Well…uh…to eBay?"
"That's a popular name today!"

-From Futurama

New New York Mets Pitcher Turanga Leela meets her fans.

Throughout the years Lance Berkman has proven time and time again that he was a great option for fantasy owners.  A career .299 hitter, he hasn’t hit below .278 since getting a full-time job in 2000.  He’s shown the ability to hit 45 HR, but has consistently been in the 25-35 range.  He’s a perennial threat to eclipse the 100 RBI/100 R plateaus.

Thank you once again, Bud Selig. Twelve years ago, you gave baseball fans across the country, and especially in the New York/New Jersey market, something to watch every June and July: inter-league play.