Sat Feb 14th 2009 After having right hip surgery on November 24, many expected Chase Utley to be out until at least May or June, missing the first couple months of the season. The surgery, which repaired torn cartilage and a bony lesion, spurred much of the Phillies early offseason activity, resulti...

Pitchers and catchers are reporting this week. That makes this the perfect time to start working on the rankings for starting pitchers. Today, let’s look at the top ten: Tim Lincecum | San Francisco Giants - The real question at the top of the starting pitcher rankings is who to rank #1 betwee...

Couple things. First off, I’m pleased to announce that The Hardball Times Season Preview 2009 is now available (details from David Gassko, our editor). I contributed the chapter on the Padres. Buy the book. It rocks. And it’ll give you something to read while you’re waiting for my ...

I’m still catching up here on publishing the commentary from each selection in our slow mock draft. Take a look back and read the write-ups for round 1, round 2,  round 3, and round 4. Round 5 : Pick 1(49) - @crookedpitch - David Ortiz - I know that Papi is getting older and his injury is sti...

One of my new favorite personalities on twitter is Ron Aguirre (@xxldaddyo). Ron was the publisher of the short-lived XXL National Sports Daily in 2006, which was an homage to Frank DeFord’s old “National Sports Daily” from 1990. XXX National Sports Daily was a 150-paged daily PDF ...

Before we get to the rest of the links, I have to call my own number. I’ve got a new article up at Hardball Times that looks back at some old projections I did here at Ducksnorts many moons ago. Good fun… Lots to cover this morning: Padres experienced relative success in Moores Era (San ...

Jake Peavy isn’t going to the Cubs… for now. And just when I was starting to like the names being mentioned. Did you notice how the rumored packages went from being awful, to decent, to pretty good? At the very least, Kevin Towers deserves credit for not jumping on any old deal, like som...

It's over. They lived, they loved, they all said things they can never take back, but in the end, it was never to be. Jake Peavy will not be a Cub. Kevin Towers and Jim Hendry danced all night but in the end there's only one person to blame—Jason Marquis. That's right, the Cubs passed on a cha...

The Padres have traded shortstop Khalil Greene to the St. Louis Cardinals for right-handed reliever Mark Worrell and a player to be named later. Worrell, no relation to ex-Padre Tim Worrell, has has put up some nice numbers in the minor leagues. Then again, so has Carlos Guevara, and nobody ever gav...

This is one of my favorite times of the year. No, not because it's the holidays, but because it's Winter Meetings time! However, the Winter Meetings is like waking up Christmas morning, running down the stairs, grabbing the first present you see from Santa, tearing off that wrapping that mom and dad...