Top News:
Patrick Saunders / Denver Post:
COLORADO ROCKIES / MLB — NEW ROCKIES PITCHER KYLE KENDRICK EAGER TO TRY AND TAME COORS FIELD — The Denver Post — Whether veteran right-hander Kyle Kendrick succeeds in a Rockies uniform this year no one can know. But there is no doubt he possesses the right attitude.
Discussion:
MLB Trade Rumors, Purple Row and HardballTalk
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Red Sox Sign Wade Miley To Three-Year Deal — The Red Sox and left-hander Wade Miley will never have to worry about arbitration, as his agents at O'Connell Sports Management have announced a three-year, $19.25MM contract extension that buys out all of his arbitration years (Twitter link).
Discussion:
Over the Monster and MLB Daily Dish
Ken Gurnick / MLB.com:
Dodgers reliever rehabbing after Tommy John, back surgeries — 4/26/14: Chris Withrow gets out of a jam by striking out Troy Tulowitzki in the 8th, leaving the bases loaded — LOS ANGELES — Chris Withrow isn't yet healthy enough to play with his toddler, never mind playing with the Dodgers.
Baseball Prospectus:
Moving Beyond WOWY: A Mixed Approach To Measuring Catcher Framing by Jonathan Judge, Harry Pavlidis and Dan Brooks — A Mixed Approach To Measuring Catcher Framing — Last year, Baseball Prospectus introduced our Regressed Probabilistic Model (or “RPM") for catcher pitch-framing.
Discussion:
Over the Monster, DRaysBay, Bucs Dugout and Tangotiger Blog
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Victor Martinez To Undergo Knee Surgery — The Tigers announced that Victor Martinez tore the medial meniscus in his left knee during his offseason workout program and will undergo surgery next Tuesday. The team did not give a timeline regarding his recovery, stating that they will provide …
Discussion:
Bless You Boys
Steve Serby / New York Post:
Lawrence Taylor at 56: ‘Hard to believe’ I'm still alive — No. 56 Lawrence Taylor said his life at 56 isn't perfect, but that he is in a good place. — He spawned a generation of kids and aspiring football players who wanted to wear No. 56 more than any other number, arguably more than No. 12 way back when for Joe Namath.
Discussion:
Sporting News Feed RSS and ProFootballTalk
Steve Adams / MLB Trade Rumors:
Brewers Sign Chris Perez To Minor League Deal — 6:48pm: Adam McCalvy of MLB.com reports (via Twitter) that Perez can top out at $3MM if he hits all of the incentives in his contract. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets that $1.5MM of that will be his base salary upon making the club …
Discussion:
MLB Daily Dish, Brew Crew Ball and Al's Ramblings
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Jeff Todd / MLB Trade Rumors:
Rangers Sign Ryan Ludwick To Minor League Deal
Rangers Sign Ryan Ludwick To Minor League Deal
Discussion:
HardballTalk, Lone Star Ball and MLB Daily Dish
Rick Gosselin / Talk Of Fame Radio:
Haley: Brady's Super Bowls Tainted — Talk of Fame Network — Charles Haley owns an NFL-record five Super Bowl rings. — Quarterbacks Joe Montana and Tom Brady have four apiece. Haley won two of his Super Bowl rings with Montana and the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s.
Discussion:
Bleacher Report, Sporting News Feed RSS and ProFootballTalk
Joe Frisaro / MLB.com:
Marlins reportedly win arbitration case with Latos — Mat Latos will look to regain the form that helped him notch a career K/9 rate of 8.3 entering 2014 and should benefit from a new ballpark — MIAMI — An arbitration panel sided with the Marlins on Thursday in their $1 million difference …
Discussion:
Fish Stripes and Mark My Word
Steve Gilbert / MLB.com:
D-backs righty Ziegler has Opening Day roster in sights — 7/9/14: Brad Ziegler takes the mound for the 269th time since 2011 and sets a record for appearances among MLB relievers in that time — PHOENIX — Lost amid the rash of Tommy John surgeries that plagued the D-backs' pitching staff …
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Scott Merkin / MLB.com:
Outfielder has worked hard, lost weight in offseason — White Sox executive vice president Ken Williams traces the team's rebuilding process back to a 2013 trade for outfielder Avisail Garcia — CHICAGO — Evaluating Avisail Garcia's bright future simply by judging his past results must be done so with a couple of caveats in mind.
Discussion:
HardballTalk
Anthony McCarron / NY Daily News:
Zack Wheeler aiming to lower his pitch count as Mets righty already hard at work — Wheeler made 32 starts last season and logged 185.1 innings - only four of the 47 pitchers in the majors who started that many games threw fewer frames. — PORT ST. LUCIE — Zack Wheeler knows he's not …
Discussion:
Metsblog and CBSSports.com
Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com:
Cuban infielder, 19, was unblocked Tuesday by United States government — Matt Yallof, Ron Darling and Tom Verducci discuss the potential of Yoan Moncada and what impact he could have on an MLB team — Top Cuban infield prospect Yoan Moncada is eager to begin his professional baseball career …
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