AGRI Biz

Every year, hundreds of rookies touch down in the major leagues for the first time. Each has the same goal: to demonstrate to his team and the fans that he has what it takes to be a baseball star. Luckily for them, they have a generous margin of error should they not immediately succeed. While the fans might not be patient, managers usually are; most people who matter understand that it ...

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night? Maybe a bad dream interrupts your slumber. Maybe you're disturbed by a noise from outside. Or maybe the burrito you ate for dinner didn't quite agree with you after all. Here's a list of 10 sleepers who got up to pee at some point in 2009, then went back to bed. Bonus points to anyone who knows who's in this picture.Begin Slideshow

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Seattle Not a creature did stir, nor squeak, nor rattle The seats were placed 'round the diamond with care, In hopes that a playoff berth soon would be theirs. á The fans were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of championships danced in their heads. This year, the team really closed up the gap And they wanted some upgrades 'neath the Mariners' caps. á An arm would be nice, as ...

IÆm not normally one to criticize Chris Carpenter. I spent a solid month arguing with whoever would listen about why he should win the Cy Young, and even wrote a manifesto about why he was a the best choice. This past season was by far the best of his career (despite the fact that he actually did win the Cy Young in 2005). He compiled career-bests in ERA (2.24), WHIP (1.007), batting ...

In general, baseball players tend to be smarter than their counterparts in other major sports. Maybe it's that even the best players spend at least a couple years maturing in the minors before they hit the big show. Maybe it's because they aren't as involved with the so-called glamour of pop culture basketball stars, or because they don't get hit in the head as much as football players. But, of course, these ...

There are many different reasons for why teams trade their popular players. Sometimes it’s as simple as having too many good options for too few spots on the team, as was the case when the Phillies traded Jim Thome to make way for Ryan Howard in 2005. Sometimes a small-market team can’t afford to keep its star player, or a mediocre club swaps its biggest name for a package of prospects who ...

So far this offseason, no team has been the subject of more attention than the Boston Red Sox. Will they re-sign Bay or go after Holliday? Was signing Scutaro inevitable or should Dustin Pedroia have been pushed to shortstop? Will Adrian Gonzalez, Miguel Cabrera, or Roy Halladay be playing at Fenway on Opening Day 2010? These questions have been posed and answered by countless analysts, writers, and idiots with keyboards since the ...

Is it weird that I continue to root for my fantasy players even after their tenures on my team have ended? Take Matt Holliday. After limping to an 0-3 start in my most important Head-to-Head league in 2007, I swung a deal for a young slugger who I admittedly didn’t know much about. I went 13-1 after the trade. Coincidence? The Baseball Writers Association of My Head voted him my team’s MVP. ...

At a press conference today, new San Diego Padres GM Jed Hoyer announced that the team has agreed to purchase Fenway ParkÆs legendary ôGreen Monsterö from the Boston Red Sox. This news comes in the wake of Hoyerùthe Red SoxÆ Assistant GM before being hired by the Padres six weeks agoùselecting BostonÆs Scouting Director, Jason McLeod, as his own Assistant GM. ôWhen I bought the team a year ago, I said I ...

The week after Thanksgiving is Open Season for bargain hunters. Holiday shoppers all over the country flock to Best Buy and Target in search of discounted products they donÆt actually need. As the spending surge tapers down, it is clear that the shrewdest customer of the last few days was Tampa Bay Rays GM Andrew Friedman, who acquired Kelly Shoppach from the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday. In doing so, Friedman bought himself ...