Category: MLB (Page 385 of 448)

Catcher Jorge Posada has agreed to a four-year, $52 million contract extension with the New York Yankees and New York Post columnist Mike Vaccaro couldn’t be more pleased with the move.

Derek Jeter may be the nominal captain of the team. Any number of flashier players have posted all manner of flashier numbers through the years. But it has always been Posada who has represented the greater angels of the Yankees’ soul, bringing a daily professionalism to the ballpark that is as evident as facade in centerfield and The Bat out by the parking lot.

It was no wonder the Mets wanted to import Posada, why they were serious enough about doing that that the Yankees ultimately had to overpay to keep him. They saw in Posada precisely what was missing in their own clubhouse during the endgame of this terribly star-crossed season. They saw what they craved. He wore No. 20 for the Yankees.

And wears No. 20 still. Whatever else this offseason holds in store for the Yankees, that is a wonderful reality this morning. For the first time in a month and a half, the Yankees have answered back.

Posada had an outstanding season last year, hitting .338 with 20 home runs and 90 RBI. As Vaccaro noted in his column, Posada’s impact goes far beyond the numbers. He knows the organization, is a fan favorite, and with the Yankees likely to start injecting more youth in the pitching staff, Posada’s veteran experience will be much needed.

In an interview with MSNBC that aired Thursday night, Barry Bonds said he plans to boycott his own Hall of Fame induction ceremony if they accept the record-breaking 756th home run ball that was branded with an asterisk by fashion designer Marc Ecko.

“I don’t think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don’t think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk,” Bonds said. “You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can’t do it. There’s no such thing as an asterisk in baseball.”

What? You altered history by taking illegal steroids, Barry! By having the freedom to take roids, you altered one of the most historic records in Major League Baseball. It’s mind-boggling how this guy honestly believes that he never did anything wrong. He still believes that he earned all of this and everyone in baseball should bow down to him.

This is just like a kid that’s guaranteed a new bike if he gets straight A’s. He manages to get straight A’s, but eventually his parents find out that he cheated. Even when there’s proof that he cheated, the kid still denies that he’s done anything wrong, and then wonders where his new bike is.

The whole thing is sad, really.

Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre officially became the new skipper of the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday, signing an estimated three-year, $13 million contract. Torre will replace Grady Little, who resigned on Tuesday.

“Having grown up in Brooklyn, I have a great understanding of the history of the Dodger organization and I am committed to bringing a world championship back to Los Angeles,” Torre said in a statement released by the team. “I consider it an honor to be a part of this organization, which is one of the most storied franchises in all of sports.”

The Dodgers have a nice balance of young and veteran players, but the chemistry was always off under Little. Torre’s resume speaks for itself and he’ll likely command respect from day one. Players have always gone all out for him, so it appears like this is a good fit. It’ll be interesting to see which players and coaches (i.e. Don Mattingly) will follow him to L.A.

As promised Wednesday, here’s the link for SI.com’s National League Hot Stove Preview, complete with team-by-team offseason projections.

At a glance, unless a one-dimensional Barry Bonds catches your fancy, there aren’t a lot of key free agents coming out of the NL this offseason. Rockies RHP Josh Fogg might command some attention in a weak pitching class, but that probably means that some team is going to overpay for a guy who went 10-9 with a 4.94 ERA for the NL champs last season.

For those of us who aren’t Red Sox or Rockies fans, the hot stove season is about to kick off in Major League Baseball! I don’t know about any of you, but the offseasons in baseball and football have become an event unto their own.

With that said, SI.com released their AL Hot Stove Preview, complete with offseason breakdowns for every AL team. SI did a really nice job breaking down which players are free agents and what each team should, and will do this offseason.

Apparently their NL Hot Stove Preview will be out Thursday, so I’ll post that as well.