AGRI Biz

The Detroit Tigers finished last year with a record of 86-76, tied for first place in the AL Central… but they failed to make the post-season when they lost Game No. 163 to the Minnesota Twins and sat home while the post-season got underway. At the conclusion of the season, Tigers' GM Dave Dombrowski began the process of rebuilding his team from top to bottom. In a seven-player, three-team trade with ...

Once again, there’s not a heckuva lot to like about what is going on in Kansas City. The Royals' front office appears to be completely lacking in terms of a consistent philosophy on how it wants to build the ball club. GM Dayton Moore acquired a couple of decent young players in the deal that sent Mark Teahan to Chicago—but otherwise, his moves appear to be ill-conceived and devoid of direction. Frankly, ...

The Cleveland Indians finished last season with a 65-97 record, good for fourth place in the American League Central. While I expect marginal improvement this season, there are too many questions to suggest anything better than a last place finish for The Tribe in 2010. Poor performance, injuries, and a lack of talent cost former manager Eric Wedge his job. Numerous issues are confronting new manager Manny Acta—not the least of ...

Drafted: Fifth Round, 2008 (Portsmouth, RI) Height: 6′2″; Weight: 195 lbs Born: April 27, 1990 This is where I choose to slot Westmoreland. While his future is in question following his recent surgery, his talent is too great to ignore…but there are too many questions in play to slot him ahead of Kelly, Reddick, or Kalish. Westmoreland drew relatively little interest as a high school senior due to a plethora of reasons… but the ...

One year after assuming the reins of a 100-loss team in Seattle, general manager Jack Zduriencik has imprinted his seal on the organization and provided manager Don Wakamatsu with enough talent to win the division. He followed up a busy 2009 with a very active offseason. In an extremely short period of time, he has turned over most of a mediocre lineup and added a second dominant pitcher to the ...

The Angels won the A.L. West again last season after posting a record of 97-65, but the team that takes the field on Opening Day will be substantially different than the one that eliminated the Boston Red Sox in the 2009 ALDS. One year after losing slugging 1B Mark Teixeira and closer Francisco Rodriguez via free agency, the Halos again endured an offseason in which they lost players who were key ...

The season hasn’t started yet and the Rangers have already been rocked by disaster—revelations of manager Ron Washington’s cocaine use (on ONE occasion) have placed the organization under a level of scrutiny (and criticism) that will almost certainly have an effect on the ballclub. Pitching has routinely been a problem in Arlington, and it will continue to be an issue for at least one more season. Last year was successful, ...

After years of being a seller, A’s GM Billy Beane spent the winter of 2008-09 in the uncharacteristic role of buyer, adding OF Matt Holliday (via trade) and 1B/DH Jason Giambi (via free agency). At this time last winter I wrote the moves “(had) placed the organization in a position where it can either compete for the division title or, if the team is non-competitive in mid-summer, flip soon-to-be-free-agent Holliday for ...

The Texas Rangers have claimed corner infielder Ryan Garko off waivers from the Seattle Mariners. The move effectively kills any chance the Red Sox will be able to trade Mike Lowell to the Rangers in exchange for catching prospect Max Ramirez. Texas had interest in Lowell if the Sox picked up most—if not all—of the $12 million due the veteran third baseman. The teams had agreed to a deal in December ...

Earlier in the day, a baseball source reported that trade talks between the Red Sox and Texas Rangers regarding a Mike Lowell-Max Ramirez deal had started anew and that a trade remained a possibility. However, by this evening, the source was reporting a trade was a long shot. The source told ESPN, “I don’t think it’s going to happen.” The teams nearly pulled off the trade in December, but the Rangers pulled out ...