There was no World Champion of baseball in 1994 because the baseball owners wanted to eliminate both the free agent system and salary arbitration. The players' reaction was swift and forceful.

At the completion of games on August 12, baseball had another strike.

Replacement Player Threat

On March 30, 1995, 26 of the 28 baseball owners voted to use replacement players if their dispute with Don Fehr's union could not be resolved by the start of the season.

Joe Mauer won his first career American League MVP in an almost unanimous decision today. 

Albert Pujols—barring some sort of disgusting error by the BBWAA—will win his second consecutive National League MVP trophy early tomorrow afternoon. 

Both players are phenomenal talents that played at the highest level throughout the season and were clearly the most valuable player in their respective league. 

Just take a look at the raw numbers for each player:

Pujols: .327/47/135/1.101 OPS

Mauer: .365/28/96/1.014 OPS

The free agency period is now upon us, so we have been hearing lots of talk about Type-A and Type-B free agents and draft pick compensation…and the discussion leaves some people wondering what is all means.

For those of you who think you need an abacus to figure it all out, let’s see if I can help simplify it a little bit for you.

For the sake of discussion, let’s say the Red Sox sign John Lackey…and let’s say they lose Jason Bay to the Mariners and sign Jermaine Dye to fill the void left when Bay leaves. The question begs: which teams would get what compensation, and why?

A catcher has won the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player Award. It was not Yankees catcher, Jorge Posada, but Minnesota's Joe Mauer. Jorge Posada possibly was not even in consideration for the award. But the Yankees veteran has just won his fifth World Series title. Does Jorge Posada have the numbers to be enshrined in Baseball's Hall of Fame.

With rumors spreading and the off-season well under way, I felt it was time to discuss a few of potential moves for the Chicago Cubs.

The most talked about rumor of the off-season would likely be the possibility of bringing in current Detroit Tigers center-fielder, Curtis Granderson. The Tigers have expressed interest in dealing a few of their players in order to dump salary, and Granderson could definitely be one of those players.

So apparently the Dodgers are in the mix for an ace named Roy Halladay.

Bloggers, writers, panelists, and commentators across the country are all leaning towards a "no deal" mentality especially if it means trading Chad Billingsley or Clayton Kershaw.

Why?

POTENTIAL.

–adjective
1. possible, as opposed to actual: the potential uses of nuclear energy. 
2. capable of being or becoming: a potential danger to safety.

via www.Dictionary.com

If you have never heard of Aroldis Chapman, or if you have only heard dribs and drabs about him, then you had better get ready—because over the course of the next few weeks and months you are going to hear an awful lot about him.

I first read about him last spring while preparing for one of my fantasy baseball auctions. The rules in one of my leagues provides for a reserve roster, and permits team owners to acquire ANY player for its reserve roster, including players from the NL (notably, those who may become free agents), collegiate baseball, and international baseball.

It’s almost time to let the real “Hot Stove Season” begin in earnest.

Barring some unforeseen blunder by the Baseball Writers Association of America, Joe Mauer will be crowned the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player on Monday afternoon.

When that announcement becomes official, the clock starts.

What do Brendan Harris and Gene Larkin have in common?

In a perfect world, the answer would be simple: nothing (aside from having last names that sort of seem like they could be first names, but don’t completely seem like they could be first names).

The correct answer, however, is that both players were the best option off the bench for their respective Twins teams. For the 1991 Twins, this was a good thing. For the 2009 Twins, this was…well…less good.

The 2009 American League MVP award will be handed down on Monday, and Joe Mauer is the front-runner to take home the trophy. 

There are a number of players in pursuit of the Golden Boy, including Derek Jeter and Mark Teixiera. 

Jeter has certain unmeasurable qualities that have earned him the title of Yankee Captain, and Teixiera was the most powerful weapon on the best team in the majors.