Fan News

The Houston Astros can officially welcome future Hall-of-Fame catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez to the active roster.

Rodriguez, the 1999 AL MVP, passed his physical in Orlando, finalizing the one-year, $1.5 million contract. ESPN.com reports the 14-time All-Star will make his spring debut for the Astros this Sunday.

Matt Stairs will forever be remembered for the game-winning home run in in a 7-5 win against the Los Angeles Dodgersin Game 4 of the 2008 NLCS.

That being said, when the season opens, or shortly thereafter, he could be gone.

I watched my first full exhibition game today against the Minnesota Twins (a 2-1 loss) and noticed a few things. Matt Stairs was playing left field and Raul Ibenez pinch hit. Geoff Jenkins played right and John Mayberry, Jr., shown above, played center.

The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers by a score of 4-3.

Do you get the title though? Grading "Jobination." It's like, grading "domination" except I put Joba and domination together.

Joba has been dominant with strikeouts in spring training.

It's 79 degrees in Tampa. I'm jealous because I like the heat. It's 50 here in Morris Plains so it's not that bad.

When I say the name David Patton, you probably immediately think of the former New England Patriots wide receiver, or maybe the last name elicits the former United States Army General about whom a great movie was made starring George C. Scott.

It might not be long before fans of the Chicago Cubs think of someone new.

In this winter's Rule V Draft, the Cubs selected a right-handed relief pitcher by that name, and he's having one heck of a spring in Arizona.

This morning, Cashman released the next six players to be cut from big league camp.  Phil Hughes, along with Steven Jackson, Anthony Clagget, Humberto Sanchez, Jason Johnson and Sergio Mitre, got the boot.

While the majority of my fellow hardball junkies are busy overdosing on the latest, most obscure stat that quantifies the number of sunflower seeds consumed by Ross Gload per at-bat (adjusting for park factors), I’m staring at a map. 

With opening day just a few short weeks away, desperate fans are handing over their first-born sons to the New York Yankees in exchange for front-row seats for opening day at the new Yankee Stadium.

"I mean, this is an historic event!" explained Joe Broncetti, a die-hard Yankees fan from the Bronx who arrived at the park with his 8-year-old son Tom in tow. 

"I've got two other children left and, really, it's one less mouth to feed," he added, rustling the hair of the boy.

John Maine's 2008 season was cut significantly short last year due to shoulder pain and stiffness which required surgery in late September to repair bone spurs behind his shoulder blade.

Maine missed his last seven starts, but remained with the Mets during that time to support his friends and teammates, though he was extremely frustrated that his contribution was limited to the role of dugout cheerleader.

There is a Red Sox blog called Boston Dirt Dogs that is complaining that the World Baseball Classic is doing quite the number on their players, and thinks that Derek Jeter may have had something to do with Kevin Youkilis’s ankle injury.

They don’t say a whole lot, but they did have this nugget.

Every MLB fantasy season there are sleepers that many people are totally unaware of. These players go unselected until the end of most drafts, where those fantasy owners that do indeed draft them, usually end up winning their entire league.

Last season Pittsburgh Pirates out-fielder Nate McLouth was a total no name going into the start of the season. During the first two months of the MLB season he hit .305 with 12 home runs. McLouth ended the year with a total of 23 home runs, 85 RBI, 101 runs, and 23 stolen bases.