Baseball

The Kansas City Royals’ farm system has served as a pipeline to the major leagues in recent years, producing former top prospects such as Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer, Salvador Perez and Danny Duffy, as well as a slew of late-inning arms.

The offseason has been abound with rumors that Dodgers right fielder Andre Ethier might be traded.  GM Ned Colletti repeatedly squashed them, but reports surfaced that both the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners were interested.

Last season the Cincinnati Reds starting five made 161 of 162 regular season starts. The only exception being the back end of a doubleheader that saw Todd Redmond take the mound for 3.1 innings. This remarkable stretch of health is far-and-away the exception to the rule in baseball—a task that will most likely not be duplicated by them again.

At the conclusion of the 2011 season, the Washington Nationals boasted one of the top farm systems in the game. Since then, however, they’ve traded away a majority of their highly regarded prospects for big league talent—which paid immediate dividends.

Johnny Damon made his public plea to come back to the Yankees on Monday.

In the wake of Curtis Granderson's broken forearm, which will sideline the outfielder for 10 weeks, the 39-year-old veteran was willing to take a minimum deal to come back to the Bronx.

Is it time to break up the Seattle Mariners?

So far this spring, after only five games, the M's are 4-1 while averaging nearly seven runs per game with power coming from several surprising sources with players such as Casper Wells and Jason Bay having already hit home runs. Meanwhile, pitchers Hector Noesi and Jeremy Bonderman have both struggled in brief stints on the mound.  

Bobby Valentine did a hell of a job managing the 2012 Boston Red Sox to a 69-93 record—at least according to him.

Speaking at a press conference signaling his appointment as the new athletics director at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, Valentine spoke openly about his last job and his new appointment.

Remember last month when the possibility existed that the Philadelphia Phillies could use a double-platoon for their corner outfield spots, rather than naming a starter at each position heading into spring training?

When the Miami Marlins sent Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, Emilio Bonifacio and over $100 million in salaries to the Toronto Blue Jays in November, that would have been a good time for team owner Jeffrey Loria to speak up.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said on Tuesday that the club wasn't interested in pursuing free-agent outfielder Johnny Damon, according to Wallace Matthews of ESPNNewYork.com.

Matthews tweeted on Tuesday: