Fan News

I just finished reading the section of the book about the 1998 World Series, and I found a couple of interesting comments.

Here is George Steinbrenner's take on the 1998 Yankees team:

Sorry for the delay but without further ado.

Cole Hamels’ evaluation came back relatively clean.  There was no structural damage after having an MRI and an ultrasound on his elbow and Philly fans can take a collectively sigh of relief.  He’s diagnosed with tendinitis, but Opening Day is still doubt.  The concern I have is the extreme jump in innings last year and the link to injury.  Additionally, I think you can get similar production much lower in the draft.

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Chris Coste, the most lovable professional player in Philadelphia right now, might become the most lovable former Phillie within the next week or so. Coste, who is the man who fought his way to the major leagues to finally get a shot with the Phillies in 2006, received immortality status when the Phillies won the World Series last October.

From Christian Red:

It's the middle of March, and spring training games are getting more competitive. Pitchers are pitching more innings, and players are starting to get back into the swing of playing Major League Baseball everyday.

The transition from spring training to the regular season is beginning to take place.

With that in mind, there have been numerous predictions, division breakdowns, rankings, and lists about who will win, lose, win awards, an so on.

Hitters

Here’s a look at some players who got out of the gate early last year. It may be wise to target these players late in the draft and move them if they start hot again.

José López - Lopez’s three best career months for average are April, June, and May.

1. The return of Manny Corpas

It remains to be seen if Corpas will be used as the closer, but it's certain that the Rockies will need Corpas circa 2007 if they are going to compete in 2009.

Corpas was fantastic in 2007 (2.08 ERA) and it looked as though the Rockies had a rising star on their hand. But Corpas regressed in 2008 and suddenly became very hittable and average.

With Taylor Buchholz out until at least the end of May, the Rockies will need Corpas to perform at his peak for the team to stay afloat.

2. Ubaldo

There was some great news out of yesterday's ball game. Too bad it was overshadowed, at least in part, by the news that came out afterwards.

The rumors surrounding the Houston Astros interest in signing 14-time All-Star catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez became a reality when the future Hall-of-Famer agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million deal on Monday, according to ESPN's baseball analyst Steve Phillips.