The Toronto Blue Jays,
however, decided to give their 27 year old starting pitcher Brandon Morrow a two year contract worth $20 million.
Morrow is guaranteed $4 million for 2012 and $8 million in 2013 and 2014. The
Blue Jays hold a club option for $10 million in 2015. Morrow, the starter
turned reliever turned back to starter again, is that pitcher with the 10-11
record and 4.72 ERA. The Blue Jays would never be confused with the Yankees or
other big market teams. While the organization has systematically locked up
their talent such as Jose Bautista and Rickey Romero, the idea of throwing $20
million to a pitcher who has some injury history and hasn’t produced anything
more than league average results seems a bit of a stretch. http://www.baseballdigest.com/2012/01/28/morrows-time/
Miguel Sano (3B)
- The Twins surprised many with a
massive bonus to sign Sano out of Latin America. He has lived up to
expectations thus far and has a chance to be one of the best offensive
prospects in the game after his full-season debut in 2012. He has tremendous
raw power that earns easy 8’s from scouts. He has enough hitting ability for
his power to play to that level in games and he should be an elite level power
hitter. The Twins insist he can stick at third base and he has shown good actions
there so far, leading to some optimism. His timetable to the big leagues could
be accelerated after the 2012 season. Continue reading → http://baseballprospectnation.com/
Jorge Soler,
OF. A younger version of Cespedes is going through a similar situation. I might
prefer his potential to Cespedes but he would probably begin in Low-A or maybe
High A ball as a 19 year old. A cautious team may even place him in their
complex level team in the Gulf Coast or Arizona league before sending him to a
full season league next year. Timing will also be a large part of this. Whoever
signs him will need some patience http://www.minorleagueball.com/
Prince Fielder's
over-the-fence
power received what is approximately an 18% boost thanks to his home park in
recent years. Comerica Park is much less forgiving though; the homer park
factor for lefties is just 88, so it suppresses long balls by lefties
approximately 12%. Now we can't just add the 18% and 12% and say that Fielder's
homer total will drop 30% because of the ballpark switch, it doesn't work like
that. Prince isn't your average home run hitter, he has arguably the most power
in all of baseball, so it's not like he's just barely clearing the wall on his
way to 35+ homers each year. Petco Park and Tropicana Field didn't stop Adrian
Gonzalez and Evan Longoria from hitting all those homers, and Comerica is
unlikely to do the same to Fielder. Heck, just look at his new teammate Miguel
Cabrera, who still continues to rank among the league leaders in long balls
every year. Park effects don't always apply to great hitters. http://www.rotoauthority.com/
The Toronto Blue Jays
announced on Tuesday that they have signed a three-year, $21 million contract
extension with starting pitcher Brandon Morrow.
The deal covers Morrow's final two arbitration seasons and at least one year of
free agency, depending on whether the Jays exercise an option that they hold
for the 2015 season. According to Mike Wilner of Sportsnet Radio FAN 590 in
Toronto, Morrow will make $4 million in 2012, $8 million in 2013 and $8 million
in 2014, and Toronto holds a $10 million club option for 2015 with a $1 million
buyout attached. The deal guarantees Morrow at least $21 million over the next
three years, with a possible payout of $30 million over four years if the
option is exercised. http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2012/1/24/2730332/toronto-blue-jays-brandon-morrow-contract-extension-mlb-rumors-2012
When the Baltimore
Orioles plucked him out of Northeastern Oklahoma's Sperry High School in the
2008 Draft's eighth round, Bobby Bundy heard the hype. Everyone within earshot
told him he was a great pitcher. But all
the talk about Dylan Bundy is much, much louder.
Bobby, 22, has taken a backseat to his 100-mph-capable, 19-year-old younger
brother, the fourth overall draftee in 2011, and as of this month, MLB.com's
fifth-best righty pitching prospect in the game. He is well aware that his
little bro beat him to Baltimore's 40-man roster -- the result of signing a
Major League contract -- and isn't surprised to learn that Dylan has his own
Wikipedia page http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120111&content_id=26316230&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb#&tcid=tw_share
Hank Schulman of the
San Francisco Chronicle reports that the Giants have reached agreement on a
two-year, $40.5 million contract with right-hander Tim
Lincecum. The Giants were hoping to secure Lincecum to a long-term
contract this offseason, but the 27-year-old had a higher asking price than the
club could reach. This deal buys out his remaining arbitration years, and allows
him to test the open market in 2014. Lincecum registered a sparkling 2.74 ERA
and 220/86 K/BB ratio in 217 innings last year for San Francisco and should
remain a bonafide ace over the course of his new two-year deal. http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/mlb/348284/baseball-headlines?r=1
This year is the 40th
anniversary of the last time human beings set foot on the moon. Why haven’t we been back since? Maybe we should blame Gaylord Perry. One of baseball’s great urban legends is that Perry,
a Hall of Fame pitcher from 1962 to 1983, once said a man would walk on the
moon before he hit a home run. Or
perhaps the legend is that Alvin Dark, Perry’s manager with the San Francisco
Giants, is the one who made that disparaging but humorous remark about Perry’s
lack of knack to hit the longball. The confusion and dispute over who said it
or if anyone actually said it at all are so well known that the Internet
investigators at Snopes have even sniffed it out and can’t find the
answer. What makes the dispute relevant
is the second big fact of the story, which is indisputable. Perry hit his first career home run on July
20, 1969 the day that Neil Armstrong took “one small step for man” on the moon.
http://networkedblogs.com/t8LMM
