MLB

It's hard to believe, but the 2007 trade that sent Miguel Tejada to the Astros and brought Luke Scott, Mike Costanzo, Matt Albers to the Orioles, was mostly about Troy Patton.

The 24-year old lefthander was a footnote of the deal due to the fact that he was forced to end his 2007 season early because of a torn labrum.

He was an early 30's (in age) slugger, traded several times during the early part of his career until a team in the NL Central finally gave him the opportunity to play full time. At this point, he began to produce big offensive numbers.

The New York Yankees are arguably the MLB organization of the year; 27-time World Champions, 103 regular season wins, and an unobstructed run to the World Series.

You ask, how can the TinCaps of Fort Wayne, the Midwest League affiliate of the San Diego Padres, top the evil empire ?

EDITOR

So today, as the Jets try to win their way into the playoffs and as I continue to try to think of new ways to evaluate the Mets and the blog, I started to think about the off season in baseball, and the lack of action that has taken place previously, and of course, the first person I blame is Omar Minaya.

The 1920s was one of the worst decades in the history of Major League Baseball for starting pitcher stats.  It is the worst, except for the 1890s, 1930s, and 2000s (now). 

It’s especially interesting because it followed one of the best decades in history for starting pitcher numbers—the 1910s.

With the official balloting results set to be announced January 6, I decided to make my predictions at how this year's MLB Hall of Fame voting will shake out. This is not necessarily how I would vote, but instead a prediction of what I think will happen. Let's look at the ballot.

The First Timers:
Roberto Alomar, Edgar Martinez, Barry Larkin, Andres Galarraga, Fred McGriff, Mike Jackson, Ellis Burks, Pat Hentgen, Robin Ventura, Kevin Appier, Eric Karros, Ray Lankford, Shane Reynolds, David Segui, and Todd Zeile.

It seems hard to believe, but we are already in the year 2010. And with any new decade, it seems only fair to look back at the best of the previous 10 years.

So with that, I present my Top 10 picks from each position between the years 2000-2009: Outfielders (for this list, I decided to do the top 30 given the large number of outfielders there are).

As with any ranking, there will always be snubs. I welcome any comments suggesting players that may have been left off this list.

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So far this offseason, the San Diego Padres have yet to make a change to their roster in trade or free agency.

According to Bill Center of the San Diego Union Tribune , that could change prior to players reporting to spring training next month.

Owner Jeff Moorad has already been quoted as saying the team has about $5 to $6 million to spend and with that money the team could go bargain hunting for a few free agents that are still on the market.

Gerald Laird and his little brother were arrested in Arizona for getting into a fight after a Phoenix Suns game.  This just doesn’t seem right, does it?  Laird seemed reasonably mild mannered during his first season with the Tigers, but I guess I don’t really know the guy.

Recently, former Boston Red Sox outfielder Jason Bay signed a new contract with the New York Mets for four years and $66 million.

Why the Mets wanted to overpay for an average hitter, I don't know.

Jason Bay was instantly beloved by the Fenway Faithful after being acquired on Trade Deadline 2008, which saw the Public Enemy No. 1 in Boston, Manny Ramirez, leave for Los Angeles.