Recent Moves Have Reds Believing

When it came to offseason transactions for most of this winter, the Reds mostly stood frozen like department store mannequins while big names -- and little ones, too -- passed them by.

Reds Official Site

David Freese Has Starting Job In Sight, For Now

As sure as there's beer in the bleachers, when you ask any general manager about a trade rumor, he'll mention in his denial, "We're always looking to improve our team."

Sporting News

Red Sox Sign Joe Nelson To Minor League Contract

The Red Sox added possible bullpen depth Monday, signing free-agent right-hander Joe Nelson to a minor-league contract.

Nelson, 35, confirmed the deal to FOXSports.com. He previously with the Red Sox in 2004, making three appearances.

Fox Sports

MLB Accuses Upper Deck Baseball Cards Of Stealing Trademarks

Major League Baseball's licensing wing is calling out a baseball card maker for allegedly stealing trademarks.

AP/Star Tribune

Felipe Lopez Makes Sense...For The Right Price

Felipe Lopez is still out there. Why? I'm not so sure. But he is.

This is the same Felipe Lopez that hit .310 with a .383 OBP and a .427 SLG percentage last year in 604 ABs. That was over two teams (Brewers and Diamondbacks).

101 ESPN

Marlins Won't Make Big Offer For Kiko Calero

Joe Frisaro Twitter

Noah Lowry Pushes Throwing Session Back

Left-hander Noah Lowry is in great shape and gearing up for what he hopes will be a successful comeback to the majors this season after missing the last two years.

AP/ESPN

Can Randy Flores Rebound in 2010?

Has Joe Beimel's price tag gone down recently, and do you think the Rockies will bring him back? Randy Flores obviously showed he couldn't manage the LOOGY (left-handed, one-out guy) role last year, so why do the Rockies think he can do it this year?
-- Baker M., Fort Collins, Colo.

Beimel has been quiet this offseason, but I would not be surprised if some of the teams that still have Major League contracts available will make a play or him before camp begins. With the Rockies having filled their Major League roster, I don't expect them to be high on Beimel's priority list. That could change if a deal doesn't materialize elsewhere.

I'm looking to see how Flores does this season, now that he's fully past the shoulder surgery he underwent after the 2008 season. Last year, he didn't feel right until the latter part of the season.

When Flores succeeds, it's because he is getting the ball inside against the power hitters he is asked to face. He doesn't have the killer pitch that the game's top lefty specialists possess, but he can succeed if can hit the spots inside, which opens the other side of the plate for him.

If Flores is used early in the game and Franklin Morales, a power pitcher, handles sticky situations late, the Rockies should be in good shape. Jimmy Gobble, signed to a Minor League deal last week, also will have a chance. Gobble, who has extensive experience as a starter, has held lefties to a .268 average in his career. In brief duty with the Royals and White Sox last year, that average was .227.

Rockies Official Site

Reds Pick Up Aaron Miles From Athletics

In a swap of reserve players, the Oakland A’s dealt infielder Aaron Miles and a player to be named to the Cincinnati Reds on Monday for outfielder Willy Taveras and infielder Adam Rosales.

Fox Sports

Dodgers Ink Justin Knoedler To Minor League Deal

The Dodgers on Monday signed catcher Justin Knoedler to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Major League camp.

Dodgers Official Site

Cardinals' CAP Reaches Student Milestone

The St. Louis Cardinals celebrated the 20,000th student to take part in the Cardinals' Academic Program (CAP) on Monday at Busch Stadium.

Cardinals Official Site

Brendan Ryan Embraces Offseason To Fulfill Potential

Brendan Ryan took some big steps in the past year. He earned an everyday job, played Gold Glove-caliber defense and was more consistently effective at the plate than he'd ever been before in the Major Leagues.

Cardinals Official Site

All-Day Prospect Chat

Greg Pryor (Norman, OK): How good are Robert Stock? Is he a pitcher or catcher? And what about the Card's later picks of Bittle and Kelly? How good are they, injuries aside?

John Manuel: No way you can put injuries aside for Bittle and Kelly. Kelly's more conventional as he throws the snot out of it but he also threw all of 73 IP in college, then 30 more after signing. He needs a lot of experience and there's some real concern over whether or not his body can hold up to how hard he throws. Bittle, personally it seems like his shoulder can't take all the cutters he throws, but I think he's got a chance to be special if it can. Stock hit last summer and is just 20, so if he wants to catch, you let him do that until he stops hitting. It wouldn't shock me to see someone get better after leaving USC these days.

Baseball America

John Smoltz's Age, Arm Raise Concerns For Mets

The Mets are missing the dynamic that creates champions. I believe Johan Santana, Wright and Murphy and possibly Francoeur have more desire to win than the rest of the team put together. I'm not knocking other players, but bringing in John Smoltz and/or Pedro Martinez would do more to inject this team with the shot it needs to win.
-- Gary S., Orlando, Fla.

I don't think you'll see Martinez in a Mets uniform again. But the club does have a degree of interest in Smoltz. The condition of his arm is an issue, of course. But if he were to make 25 starts, that issue would fade. But how can they tell? And the club already has six potential starters with issues. But I would enjoy watching Smoltz pitch regularly.

Mets Official Site

How Did Mark McGwire Compare To Previous Sluggers?

In some ways it looks like he aged significantly better, but I don't the evidence is completely conclusive. I took all the guys who had 400+ HRs before McGwire and found their SLG relative (RELSLG) to the league average when they were under 31 and from ages of 31-37. The I found the ratio of their old RELSLG (ORATE) to their young RELSLG (YRATE). The data was from the Lee Sinins Complete Baseball Encyclopedia. I ranked them, including McGwire. This is shown in the table below:

Cybermetrics

It's Time To Ban Booze In All Clubhouses

The Tigers are supporting Miguel Cabrera in his battle with alcoholism. They placed him in an employee assistance program after his well-publicized October binge. Their health plan provides for the counselor who has guided him through the crucial months since.

Fox Sports

The Cardinal Family

More Mark McGwire-related comments came out this week, but instead of taking another pass at the hitting coach, I wanted to focus on a different aspect of the remarks. Bob Gibson came out and dismissed comments from former first baseman Jack Clark and former manager Whitey Herzog, in part because they "were not part of the Cardinal family."

C70 At The Bat

Checking The Numbers: Drilling Down On Volatility & Consistency

Volatility and consistency get used to categorize certain players. The terms are also perceived to be of much greater value than the actual relationship with results would suggest. Over the last two weeks, my focus has been on discussing these performances in conjunction to the free-agent market, contrasting pitchers personifying the aforementioned archetypes in order to help determine which teams they would best fit.

Baseball Prospectus

Baseball Therapy: Profiling A Manager, Part Three

This may shock some people, but according to some of our advanced metrics here at Baseball Prospectus, Ted Williams was actually one of the greatest hitters ever to live. Really. Williams, of course, was the last human being to hit .400 in a season and was said to have 20/15 vision.

Baseball Prospectus

Rochester Group Increases Share Of Money-Losing Batavia Muckdogs

Each year Rochester Community Baseball operates the Batavia Muckdogs, they pick up five percent ownership – but there is a catch.

The Cardinal Nation Blog

Cardinals Minor Leaguers: Making Ends Meet

A small increase in minor league per diem helps low-paid players get by financially.

The Cardinal Nation

Top-End Talent

The easiest way to slag the Cardinals' thin post-Walrus collection of prospects is to say that it lacks "impact" talent. (There are indeed a lot of ways, but that's the easiest one.) Several players in the average top ten don't strain the imagination as legitimate Major Leaguers, but it's seemingly always as a fifth starter or a backup infielder.

Viva El Birdos

Taking Stock Of The Cardinals: 10 Questions Before Spring Training

With just under three weeks before pitchers and catchers take to the green playing fields of spring training, it's time to take stock of the St. Louis Cardinals after a hectic offseason.

Belleville News-Democrat

Well, Sometimes It's Cathartic

I'm signing off one last time before the grind of the season begins. Won't be blogging for the next week, though I may tweet once in a while. Coverage will be in the very capable hands of my MLB.com teammate Carrie Muskat in case news happens. If not, look for a couple of feature stories and an Inbox at StLCardinals.com over the next week.

Obviously, You're Not A Golfer

Health, Safety Committee Already In Place

In the wake of the recent flap regarding outside-of-the-club knee surgery conducted on Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran, one reporter sought the answer to this question:

MLB

2010 Caught Stealing Projections

As we all know, catcher defense is difficult to quantify and probably even more difficult to predict. Nevertheless, one of a catcher's most important jobs behind the plate is to prevent base runners from swiping bases. Dan Turkenkopf's article over at Beyond the Boxscore about a month ago projected catchers' block percentages for the upcoming season and it gave me the idea of attempting to project catchers' ability to prevent runs by preventing the stolen base.

The Hardball Times

Criticism Of Mark McGwire Irks Cardinals Hall Of Famer Bob Gibson

Former Cardinals slugger Jack Clark has called for a lifetime ban of another former Cardinals slugger, Mark McGwire, and other steroid users and abusers.

STL Today