Opinion

Evan Longoria was drafted by the Tampa Bay Rays with the 3rd pick of the 2006 amateur player draft out of Cal-State Long Beach. Rays fans knew as soon as they heard about this kid that he was going to be great.

After spending two years in the minor leagues, Longoria hit a combined .301/.386/.534 with 44 home runs and 144 RBI, all before his 22nd birthday.

Knowing what they had on their hands, with a team that they felt confident with, Andrew Friedman knew that he had to call up Longoria if the team was going to contend.

With four picks in the first round and the first compensation round, the Blue Jays loaded up with a collection of exciting pitching prospects.

Deck McGuire at No. 11, Aaron Sanchez at No. 34, Noah Syndergaard at No. 38 and Asher Wojciechowski  (pictured) with the 41st pick all were drafted by Toronto early in the 2010 MLB Draft.

Let’s face it—the Pirates are a bad team. Just look at the numbers of their pitching staff, and you cannot help but cringe.

A team ERA of 5.27 is awfully telling, as they have maybe two or three usable pitchers for fantasy owners.

Help may be on the way. Top prospect Brad Lincoln has been tearing up Triple-A, earning him a recall to start tonight against the Nationals. Just look at his production:

Six Wins
68.1 Innings
3.16 ERA
1.00 WHIP
55 Strikeouts (7.3 K/9)
14 Walks (1.9 BB/9)
.255 BABIP

Don't expect the New York Yankees to publicly admit to wanting both or either of these players.

According to MLBTradeRumors.com, George A. King III of the New York Post says the Yankees are likely to be interested in both Mariners starting pitcher Cliff Lee and Astros first baseman Lance Berkman.

The Yankees have five quality starters on the team at this point, so many may think pursuing Lee would be pointless. In all reality, adding Lee would be more of a move for next season.

You think the Cubs regret letting Casey McGehee go?

If you had said before the season started that a New York Yankees pitcher would be having a Cy Young caliber season in June, you would have thought it would be CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, or maybe even Javier Vazquez.

You might have even thought it was Mariano Rivera.

But on June 9, it’s none of those Yankee pitchers. The pitcher that is having a Cy Young caliber season is Phil Hughes.

Two of baseballs' most touted prospects premiered in the MLB tonight, but sadly one was quite overshadowed by the other. 

Mike Stanton, the young Marlins outfielder who was just called up today went 3-5 with two runs was the one who was sadly overshadowed by the toast of town in Washington, Stephen Strasburg.

So much for first game jitters.

In the much-anticipated arrival of pitcher Stephen Strasburg to the majors, the flame throwing right-hander gave fans a glimmer of hope in a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.

From the moment Strasburg took the rubber Tuesday evening, he was in control despite the home run given up to Delwyn Young.

In seven innings of work, Strasburg gave up four hits, struck out 14 (yikes!), and walked none. Not bad if you started him in a league that uses K/BB ratio as a category.

"Remember where you are so you remember where you were."–Nationals radio announcer Charlie Slowes after Tuesday night's game

Wow. Just wow.

What more is there to say about Stephen Strasburg's debut?

The buzz surrounding the right-handed fireballer reached historic levels before he even signed a professional contract. He was the unquestioned No. 1 pick in the draft last year, jumping to the top of a prospect class that was far more talented than this year's.