Top Stories
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 11:14PM By Pat Lackey (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Nationals, NL East, Prospects

The
Nationals learned Friday that the knee injury suffered by
Stephen Strasburg will not require surgery to repair. It's instead been diagnosed as a dislocated knee cap. As painful as that sounds, there's no ligament damage and the Nats' phenom will only require rest and some rehab to get the knee back up to full strength, though he'll still miss Saturday's Arizona Fall League championship game.
Considering those that witnessed the injury firsthand saw Strasburg crumple while playing long toss on Thursday and reported hearing a popping sound (often a telltale sign of ligament damage), this is obviously great news for the Nats. I can't even fathom following up a 103-loss season with a serious knee injury to the highest-paid draft pick in baseball history.
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 4:02PM By Pat Lackey (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Mets, NL East, MLB Rumors

In the six weeks since the
Mets' disastrous season has ended, lots of people have opined on how to fix the Mets. One person who'd like to chip in to the conversation is
Jason Marquis. The Mets need to add a starter and, well, what do you know! Marquis is a free agent starter! After adding those two together, the Staten Island native has gone ahead and
declared himself a "perfect fit" for the Mets.
Marquis had a nice enough year for the
Rockies in 2009, notching 15 wins, a 4.04 ERA, and his first career All-Star nod. He's not a
bad pitcher. He'd make a nice enough fit for a contender looking for a back-end starter to eat some innings and not embarrass himself. For a team like the Mets that trotted out
Mike Pelfrey,
John Maine,
Oliver Perez,
Tim Redding, and
Livan Hernandez after
Johan Santana, well, I dunno if I'd call him a "perfect fit."
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 3:30PM By Jeff Fletcher (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Cardinals, Giants, MLB Awards

Since
Zack Greinke and
Tim Lincecum won Cy Young awards this week with modest victory totals, there has been much discussion about how baseball writers are finally moving into the 21st century and looking beyond the win column.
Although I'm all for patting baseball writers on the back -- since I am one, and I did vote for Greinke -- I think in the case of the NL Cy Young, my colleagues may have looked past victories, and still picked the wrong guy to make their point.
Let's start with the ol' FIP, or Fielding Independent Pitching. FIP is a stat intended to quantify how well a pitcher performed based solely on the things in his control (strikeouts, walks and homers) without regard to the vagaries of the defense behind him.
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 3:00PM By R.J. White (RSS feed)
Filed Under: MLB New Studs, MLB Sleepers, MLB Value Machine

Major League Baseball announced the winners of its prestigious awards this week; now, FanHouse is following suit. We voted on winners in five categories (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Draft Day Bargain, Draft Day Bust), the results of which are revealed below. Remember, this awards show deals strictly in fantasy baseball. I'll also throw in a few awards I'm personally doling out for performances that made the 2009 season what it was.
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 10:00AM By Tom Fornelli (RSS feed)
Filed Under: White Sox, AL Central
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The 2009 season was not one with which the
Chicago White Sox were pleased. They followed their 2008 division title with a third-place finish in the AL Central and a record of 79-83. When you consider that the team's general manager Kenny Williams is never shy on making big moves when the team does well, there's no telling what he's going to do after a disappointing season.
So it's pretty safe to assume that the
White Sox team that takes the field in 2010 will look a lot different than the one Sox fans saw in 2009, and we're not just talking about
Jake Peavy and
Alex Rios. What changes will be made on the South Side? Nobody can be sure, but FanHouse has an idea of what Chicago's "other" team might do.
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 9:00AM By Tom Fornelli (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Twins, AL Central
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
It's a winter of transition for the defending AL Central champion
Minnesota Twins. The Twinkies are going back to their roots in every way. No longer will they be playing indoor baseball at the Metrodome as the team will open the new outdoor Target Field in 2010. The team also just unveiled their new old uniforms on Monday as well, as they revert back to their classic look from the early '60s.
Still, the field on which they play and the uniforms they wear won't be the only thing different about them. This winter they'll also be trying to make the moves necessary to ensure that they get back to the playoffs again in 2010. What moves they'll make remain to be seen, but given the club's history, it's somewhat safe to assume they'll be the right ones.
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 8:00AM By Tom Fornelli (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Tigers, AL Central
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The
Detroit Tigers are in a unique position this offseason. They missed the playoffs in 2009 after blowing their division lead during the final weeks, and then losing a one-game playoff against the
Twins in Minneapolis, but they remain one of the most talented teams in the AL Central. The question is how much of that talent will be back in 2010?
Dave Dombrowski and the
Tigers are usually one of the more aggressive teams during the offseason in both the free agent market and with trades, and have no problem paying top dollar for players. Still, there's a lot of speculation that things will change this winter as the economy in Detroit is still causing problems. Some are saying that the Tigers are going to be selling off a lot of that talent this winter. So odds are that, either way, the team Tigers fans see on Opening Day in April could look a lot different than the one they saw in the Metrodome last October.
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 7:00AM By Tom Fornelli (RSS feed)
Filed Under: Royals, AL Central
Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
Over the last few years there has been a familiar refrain coming out of the City of Fountains: this is the year that the
Kansas City Royals will finally be competitive. Yet it just hasn't happened. In fact, since the team won it's lone World Series back in 1985, they've finished over .500 only six times, and only once since the strike season of 1994.
So if general manager Dayton Moore is going to put together a winning ballclub, it's obvious he has quite a bit of work to do. Still, there is talent on this
Royals roster, so Moore might not have to make as many moves this winter as you would think.
Posted: Nov 20, 2009 6:00AM By Tom Fornelli (RSS feed)

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.
The baseball season ended in a way that Cleveland Indians fans had been dreaming it would for a few years. There starting in a ...
Posted: Nov 19, 2009 2:01PM By Jeff Fletcher (RSS feed)

Tim Lincecum won his second consecutive Cy Young Award on Thursday, pulling out a narrow victory that is likely to be the story of this awards season. The Giants' 25-year-old flame-thrower edged out Cardinals' teammates Chris Carpenter and Adam ...
Posted: Nov 19, 2009 1:20PM By Josh Alper (RSS feed)

To no one's surprise, Jason Bay has decided to see what the 29 other teams in the big leagues have to offer before deciding whether or not he wants to return to the Red Sox. Jon Heyman of SI.com reports that Bay turned down a four-year contract offer ...
Posted: Nov 19, 2009 12:30PM By Matt Snyder (RSS feed)

According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, the Cubs and veteran relief pitcher John Grabow have agreed to a two-year contract. The 31-year-old lefty came over to the Cubs in a midseason trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates -- a team with whom he ...
Posted: Nov 19, 2009 10:00AM By Knox Bardeen (RSS feed)

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010. Philadelphia Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro made it a point not to bring back the exact same lineup in 2009 after winning ...