Baseball

David Ortiz says he has lost respect for David Price.

In the process, a lot of people have lost respect for Ortiz.

Since getting swept by Joe Torre and the New York Yankees in the 1998 World Series, the San Diego Padres have only played playoff ball twice.

Even on those two occasions that they managed to take an underpaid club and over-perform enough to swing the bats in October, they’ve only been victorious once.

Many of the top-ranked prospects in the Seattle Mariners organization have already reached the major leagues, but a few more could be on the way shorty.

The Mariners have already had James Jones, Dominic Leone and Roenis Elias make their major league debuts in 2014, and each has experienced some success. It should be only a matter of a few weeks before Chris Taylor and Carson Smith join them to fill a couple of holes on the roster.   

The Minnesota Twins are a halfway decent team in 2014. After three straight 90-loss seasons, that'll do nicely for progress.

But who knows? Maybe halfway decent isn't Minnesota's ceiling in 2014. Perhaps the Twins can be better than that. Perhaps they can even be good enough to make some noise in an AL Central division that's widely viewed as the playground of the Detroit Tigers.

Down on the farm, a vast majority of the St. Louis Cardinals' top 10 prospects are having noteworthy seasons.

Earning a spot on the big league roster is the ultimate goal for these young players, and the future certainly looks bright with the vast assortment of raw talent the Cardinals boast in their minor league system.

Outfielders Oscar Taveras and Stephen Piscotty are among the Cardinals prospects that are flourishing this season at Triple-A Memphis.

A rookie closer. A bunch of minor league starting pitching prospects who never panned out. A few no-name relievers. Some kids out of the farm system.

San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval hit a solo home run in the sixth inning of Thursday's game against the St. Louis Cardinals to extend his RBI streak to nine games.

If the Cincinnati Reds are going to make a midseason trade to help their postseason chances, they have a pretty good trade chip in Alfredo Simon.

It's been incredible to watch Simon turn into the pitcher he is today. The Reds claimed him off of waivers from the Baltimore Orioles right before the start of the 2012 season, and he has been everything from a reliable reliever to a very good starter for the Reds.

While most Los Angeles sports fans are still frustrated at the Lakers' fortunes in last week's NBA draft lottery, the hometown baseball team has its own draft coming up in less than two weeks.

The 2014 MLB draft is set to begin on June 5, with the Los Angeles Dodgers slated to make a selection at No. 22.

Last year, the team chose right-handed pitcher Chris Anderson out of Jacksonville University with the 18th pick.