All Star festivities get a bad rap these days, but at least one event continues to grab my attention year after year: The Futures Game. The greatest prospects of the minor leagues are put on a single stage, from low-A greenhorns to polished AAA players auditioning for the big show.
The game stats are pretty meaningless, but [...]

…throughout the past decade. Since it can take years to find out how teams fared in making their draft selections, it doesn’t make much sense to hand out draft grades for Tuesday’s draft. But it is possible to take a look back at the past decade and assess whether teams have been successful or whether [...]

The Cleveland Indians are in full rebuild mode, having traded away homegrown stars CC Sabathia, Victor Martinez, and Cliff Lee in the last 22 months. The front office has focused their efforts on surrounding USDA prime player Grady Sizemore with a core of young talent on the rise, led by fellow outfielder Shin-Soo Choo. The [...]

Baseball Daily Digest’s minor league correspondent Paul Bugala witnessed the beginning of the Stephen Strasburg era in Altoona, Pa. on April 11. The following are a couple video highlights.
Strasburg’s first batter.
Strasburg hits a double.

Top-level menu link (“MLPs”) now takes you directly to the 2010 MLPs: http://www.baseballdailydigest.com/ml/
The top 100 full-season hitters (as sorted by approximate Runs Created per Game) are now posted, including phenom Jason Heyward.  Stay tuned for pitchers, more hitters, and more options for selecting the players you want to see.

MLPs – Major League Prime Projections – [...]

This generation’s Oakland A’s have been a boring team on the basepaths, employing an organizational philosophy that eschews the risk of a caught stealing by leaving their runners parked on the bag. This trend suddenly changed in 2009, with the A’s attempting 181 stolen bases. This marked the highest franchise total in 16 years, and [...]

In essence, the Angels have swapped gimpy designated hitters, downgraded from Lackey to Piniero, lost Figgins and gained Rodney. Meanwhile, Roy Halladay went to Philadelphia, Cliff Lee went to Seattle, and Aroldis Chapman went to Cincinnati. The Angels wanted an ace pitcher and they ended up with Joel Piniero. It’s the kind of dream/reality contrast one would expect to find with the New York Mets, not the L.A. Angels.

Eye 2012 as a potential break-out year for the organization. It is likely when the bulk of the core of the organization will be at the Major League level, when Votto will be in his prime, and most importantly, when the Reds will have money and interest as a means to attract premier free agents.

The Twitterers are a-clackin’ away at the ol’ typewriter — this one’s a doozy, folks. Yes, the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and Arizona Diamondbacks engaged in a three-way trade.
NYY gets: Curtis Granderson from DET
DET gets: Austin Jackson and Phil Coke from NYY; Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth from ARI
ARI gets: Edwin Jackson from DET; [...]

Monday is the last day of the 2009 minor league regular season. For some players, that may mean a call-up to the major leagues. For others, it’s the beginning of an off-season spent preparing for the next step on the ladder to the majors. And for others, it’s the end of an opportunity to play [...]