Fan News

According to a report on ESPN.com Tony La Russa announced that Albert Pujols will appear with him in a Glenn Beck event at the Lincoln Memorial where Rev. Martin Luther King made his famous civil rights speech.

Here is a quote from the great Tony La Russa:

It didn’t take long for RF Brad Hawpe to find some work.  Hawpe, who cleared waivers on Thursday after being designated for assignment by the Colorado Rockies last week, signed with the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday.

As August comes to an abrupt close with prized rookie pitcher Stephen Strasburg requiring Tommy John surgery, I begin to predict what the New York Yankees are thinking with their own cherished talent.

I have devised a list of who I think have the best chances of being called up come September first.

Please enjoy and thank you for reading.

Note: All Statistics are through August 27th.

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Look, Washington National fans, I know you all must be feeling like absolute crap right now. And with reason. Stephen Strasburg going down, especially this late in the season, might have been the worst news a Nationals fan could've ever heard. In particular when considering how good he looked in only his first year in the majors.

However, here are two silver linings to cheer all of you up.

Today, Andy Pettitte will pitch a bullpen session in Chicago. There are two possible outcomes for this situation.

Good outcome: Pettitte could return in mid-September and be the horse he was before the injury, when was on his way to a Cy Young-type season. 

Bad outcome: He could feel a "pull" in his groin, and the Yankees could be stuck with the pitchers they have, or get someone off waivers.

When we think of great hitting catchers, we think of Yogi Berra, Johnny Bench, and Mike Piazza. Two are already in the Hall of Fame, and the other is well on his way.

But when reading the list of Hall of Fame catchers, you'll see names like Ray Schalk, Roger Bresnahan and Rick Ferrell. For a position that has been pretty underrepresented in Cooperstown, some pretty weak candidates have gained entrance to baseball's most hallowed hall.

Stephen Strasburg needs Tommy John surgery (TJS), and if you are in shock over this, you shouldn't be. Strasburg has all the requirements of a guy destined for this procedure.

First, he throws extremely hard, upwards of 100 MPH. That is just too taxing on the throwing arm’s tendons and ligaments. There is a certain threshold for the body when it comes to pitching a baseball. Second, Strasburg has brutal pitching mechanics, with a very violent motion.

We all know Stephen Strasburg as the phenom call-up by the Nationals back in June. But there's a new problem he faces.

Stephen Strasburg has been diagnosed with a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. This is not exactly what the Nationals had planned for.

For all intents and purposes, the 2010 Arizona Diamondbacks have been a disappointment. There have been high points such as the no-hitter by Edwin Jackson on June 25, 2010 and the emergence of young pitching such as Ian Kennedy and Barry Enright, but overall, the team has failed to live up to expectations.

No one expected that the 2010 team would not only fail to be competitive for the National League West, but would actually be worse than the 2009 team that finished in last place, 25 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Looking back, it's astounding to think that the Yankees ever let Andy Pettitte get away.

He's only been the guts of every championship rotation the franchise has assembled in the past 15 years, after all. Not to besmirch the dead, but Pettitte's regrettable sabbatical in Houston fell directly on The Boss, who never did fully appreciate what the lefty meant to the Yankees.