MLB

In a move that surprised no one, Detroit Tigers' veteran relief pitcher Juan Rincon elected to become a free agent over accepting a demotion to Triple-A Toledo.

Detroit loses the right-handed reliever they spent $750,000 to get on January 20.

For the Tigers, he went 1-0 with a 5.23 ERA in 10.1 innings, but was replaced when Dontrelle Willis returned from an anxiety disorder a week ago.

The effectiveness of youngsters Joel Zumaya and Ryan Perry lessened Rincon's standing in Detroit's bullpen.

With every new baseball season comes a renewed sense of hope for baseball fans everywhere. With everyone's record tied at 0 - 0 every fan of every team can imagine a scenario in which their favorite team finds a way to make it to the playoffs and, with a little luck, the World Series.
Behind these hopes there is often times a prediction of a breakout performance by a young player, a return to form by a veteran, or simply a continued dominance by a team's superstar.
2009 has already seen examples of all of these and teams like the Toronto Blue Jays and Texas Rangers are reaping the rewards.

Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks led off yesterday’s game against the division rival St. Louis Cardinals with a strikeout swinging. After being fanned to begin the game, he had pain in his wrist, and left the game.

He has now been declared out for the season with an injured left wrist.

Before the season most experts pegged the White Sox to finish fourth in the AL Central and some even said last place, and after the first month-and-a-half of the '09 season it looks like they will be correct.

During the offseason, Kenny Williams realized the Sox had to get younger and he had to cut some payroll, as most teams did with the struggling economy.

Williams dealt headache Javy Vazquez for powerful catching prospect Tyler Flowers and career pinch runner Brent Lillibridge. Williams also dealt Nick Swisher for Jeffrey Marquez and utility man Wilson Betemit.

The Seattle Mariners No. 1 prospect for 2009, outfielder Greg Halman, is currently wit the class AA West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx.

Halman is the starting center fielder for West Tennessee. He's currently hitting .216 with 12 HR, 29 hits, 30 RBI, 2 SB and 57 SO in 134 at-bats this season.

Halman is one of the many power hitters in the Mariners farm system. The only problem with Halman is that he strikes out way to much and he's not patient.

Halman only has seven walks to his 57 strikeouts.

Raul Ibanez continues to show everyone in baseball that he is fitting in quite well in Philadelphia.

So much so that Ibanez was just named the National League's Player of the Week.

In the last week, Ibanez totaled 12 RBI, along with nine runs, which topped the NL. His four homers were also second in the entire league.

Ibanez ended the week with an amazing .481 average and a .963 slugging percentage. This award was the fifth of Ibanez's career, and obviously his first in red and white pinstripes.

The Pittsburgh Pirates more than batted around, scoring nine consecutive runs in yesterday's game against the Colorado Rockies in the seventh inning before making an out, and 10 runs in the whole inning in an 11-4 victory. That's a record of sorts.

Altogether, the Pirates outscored the Rockies 19-11 over the weekend. It could have been enough for a 3-0 sweep.

But it wasn't. The Rockies won the first game 3-1, wresting away in the ninth inning what could have been a 1-0 victory for the Pirates. And therein lies the problem.

Manny Ramirez’s stupidity did not just ruin his own fantasy value.

Nobody in baseball benefited more from the teammate hitting behind him than Andre Ethier has since Ramirez was dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers at the trading deadline last season.

Before Hollywood transformed into Mannywood, Ethier was known in fantasy circles as a nice doubles hitter who could bat around .290, but had average speed and average power. He was good enough to be a fourth outfielder on a fantasy roster, but he did not do one thing well enough to be much more than that.

Sometimes, a slump ends quickly.  Sometimes it takes awhile longer.

After a sixteen-year slump, perhaps the Pittsburgh Pirates are finally ready to right the ship.

They are certainly trying to right the 2009 incarnation of it, going from an eight game losing streak to consecutive series victories. 

Pittsburgh is not yet ready to be crowned a contender or even an also ran, but the Pirates do seem primed to pack up and leave the National League's basement after sixteen seasons of less than mediocrity.

I was at the gym the other day (these pecs aren’t going to wail on themselves) and I happen to catch a segment of one of ESPN’s talking head panel shows on one of the standard-issue muted flat-screen TVs placed every five feet around the wall of any self-respecting personal fitness facility. The following discussion topic was written across the screen:

“Who hurt their Hall of Fame chances more, A-Rod or Manny?”