AGRI Biz

If you haven't heard them before, you should definitely start to hear them now. Todd Wellemeyer’s latest debacle on the mound has many San Francisco Giants fans pining (even louder) for the promotion of top pitching prospect Madison Bumgarner. After a spring training stint that was about as absurd as the new immigration law in Arizona, Bumgarner is once again turning heads with the Fresno Grizzlies, and it might ...

There have been many instances in which the team with the best record didn't win the pennant. In 1973, neither New York's most beloved team, the gutsy New York Mets, nor the New York Yankees' former unofficial farm team, the Oakland (Kansas City)  A's, had its league's best record, but both were pennant winners. The World Series, pitting two similar teams in what was to become a riveting ...

For those of you who’ve been living in a cave for the last few weeks, some crazy stuff is going on in Arizona. A new state law requires police officers to check for immigration papers whenever they spot someone who “looks illegal.” Another new policy forbids people with accents from teaching English—I’m betting that won’t be enforced against Brooklyn inflections or Texas drawls—and bans ethnic studies in schools—because God forbid the ...

Welcome to the Cleveland Indians Trading Post, a new weekly segment to help my fellow Tribe fans sort out which of the few familiar faces we have left might not be around much longer. This week’s potential trade candidate is Jake Westbrook.   The basics After throwing six no-hitters (including a perfect game) in high school, Westbrook was taken by the Rockies in the first round of the 1996 draft. A ...

It’s about time the Houston Astros made a positive move. That move came in the form of releasing slumping second baseman Kaz Matsui—who has two days to clear waivers. According to Astros senior director of social media Alyson Footer, the Astros “asked for waivers on Matsui for purposes of granting him release. If he clears wavers in two days, [the] Astros [are] on the hook for [the] remainder of [his] salary.” Jeff Keppinger ...

For once, Jamie Moyer knows what it takes to pitch well and lose. Oh, the irony Moyer was brilliant for the Phillies as they faced the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night, allowing only two earned runs on four hits and one walk in seven innings, while striking out seven and lowering his ERA to 4.30, in the rematch of the teams that faced each other back in 1986 when Moyer made his ...

When one looks at the line of Phil Hughes' start Monday night against the Boston Red Sox, they see five innings pitched, six hits, five earned runs, one walk, and three strikeouts. The big stat, however, was the two home runs, a solo job to David Ortiz and a three-run jack to the newly-rejuvenated J.D. Drew. Ortiz was almost on the unemployment line in early May until he started to get ...

In 2007, David Wright had one of the best seasons in Mets history, hitting .325 with 30 HRs, 107 RBI, and 34 steals. That season, Wright only had 115 strikeouts in 160 games (an average of 0.72 a game). Fast-forward two-and-a-half years later to the 2010 season. In 40 games, Wright has accumulated 55 strikeouts (1.38 a game), and has batted only .262. It seems apparent that David Wright is not the player he ...

Every year, there are a handful of players who shock us in the season's opening weeks. There are nobodies, rookies, and washed-up veterans who emerge as the game's top players by May, while some of baseball's biggest stars make their fans embarrassed to don their jerseys. In this week's Featured Columnist poll, 16 of Bleacher Report's top baseball writers weighed in on which hot hands and slow starters we should begin idolizing ...

Let me start by saying that I am one of the biggest Derek Jeter fans ever. I grew up watching my favorite player become a legend for the most storied franchise in American sports. Seeing Derek Jeter play is something that I will tell my children. However, this season has not been going as well as we have come to expect from "El Capitan". At the one-quarter mark of the 2010 Major League ...