AGRI Biz

Give FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal credit—before reaching for the Chicago White Sox as his prediction to win the 2010 World Series, he prefaced it with (probably real) editor guidelines. The first two essentially prohibited him from tabbing either the New York Yankees or Boston Red Sox. Fine, the powers-that-be wanted him to zig when everyone else zagged. Makes for more interesting headlines, spicier debate, blah, blah, blah. That's all well and good except ...

The National League East should be one of the easiest divisions to predict in all of baseball. Everyone knows the Washington Nationals are dead on arrival for at least another year so put them in the cellar and etch it in stone. The Philadelphia Phillies are almost as sure a thing at the top based on lineup, rotation, and history. Contrarily, the New York Mets look distinctly more start-and-stop than the other ...

"The slow one now will later be fast...for the times they are a-changin'."—Bob Dylan If anyone's curious as to what defines classic music, it's that some aspect—usually several—is almost impervious to the ravages of times and fad while applying to a myriad of life moments. Bob Dylan's lyrics are a perfect example. Written almost 47 years ago, they fit the 2010 American League Central like those black stretchy pants that are in style ...

If you're a true Dodger Blue fan in Los Angeles or elsewhere, Monday morning can't have been a pleasant one. At least as long as Major League Baseball was on your mind. Sure, you've got the bristling young talents of Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Clayton Kershaw, and James Loney to go with still-coming Chad Billingsley (I'm not sold on Jonathan Broxton). Russell Martin ain't too shabby behind the dish either. Of course, ...

Love him or hate him, agree or disagree with his maneuvering, you cannot accuse San Francisco Giants General Manager Brian Sabean of being timid. Given Sabes' recent run of iffy transactions—the Barry Zito-Scott Boras debacle, prematurely inking Edgar Renteria, the pending merit of the Freddy Sanchez swap, and so on—you might think the guy would lay low for a while. Enjoy the shelter of his new two-year extension. Guess not. Instead of coasting ...

There is no doubt that a National Football League fantasy season is fun. Major League Baseball's storied infatuation with statistics and the length of its season just happen to make the diamond's make-believe game infinitely better. I mention this because I'm of the camp that believes our resultant addiction to fantasy baseball skews some current observations of the game. One example appears to be the growing import of Spring Training numbers. The process ...

Brian Sabean and the San Francisco Giants' front office deserve a hearty round of applause heading into 2010 Spring Training. Their winter of discontent following a disappointing finish to the 2009 Major League Baseball season could've been Ugly with a capital "U." Considering how the anemic offense submarined an otherwise exceptional campaign from the starting staff and bullpen, the easy thing would've been to start the ol' printing presses and shell out ...

Baseball fans know that the beautiful game isn't generally decided by which team makes the most errors, either of the physical or mental variety. That's because this particular diamond is plagued by flaws—observers often point out that Ty Cobb's lifetime average is .366. That means the all-time greatest hitter-for-average failed in his expertise at a 63 percent clip. That about sums up how immaculate even the best splinters are. Level of difficulty ...