Fan News

There were no updates yesterday because I was busy with a family member’s wedding.

There is a silver lining to that, however: On my way home I stopped at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and got plenty of great Yankees-related pictures that I will post later today. If you have never been to the Hall of Fame, I highly recommend that you go as soon as you can.

Here are some notes from the weekend:

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim Triple-A first baseman Mark Trumbo talks about his breakout season.

Through 124 games for the Salt Lake Bees, Trumbo is batting .290 with 29 HRs and 101 RBI with a .906 OPS. Trumbo also gives his take on the jump from AA to AAA, Peter Bourjos' promotion, his AAA All-Star appearance, and a potential promotion to Anaheim in September.

Click here to listen to Mark Trumbo - LA Angels Insider Podcast

The Pittsburgh Pirates spent nearly $9 million to draft two high school pitchers, Jameson Taillon and Stetson Allie. Throw in $2.6 million for 16-year old Mexican Luis Heredia, and the total tops $11 million.

Less than half of first round draft choices become established players (playing more than a few games) in the majors. For long shots like high school or teenage pitchers, the chances may be as little as one in three.

Apparently the San Francisco Giants are trying to set the record for most outfielders acquired in one season.

Winning a Triple Crown is one of the rarest feats in all of baseball. Very rarely do we even see one player contending for the average, home run, and RBI titles.

And you're telling me that there are three contenders in the National League this year?

Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez, Cincinnati's Joey Votto, and St. Louis's Albert Pujols are all in the hunt for the Triple Crown. And if none of them wins the honor, it will be one of them that keeps another from winning.

All season long, these three have been hitting absurdly for average and power.

No major leaguer has won a triple crown since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski in his World Series season of 1967 with 44 homers, 121 RBI, and .326 batting average.

The last National Leaguer to win the triple crown was another St. Louis Cardinal,  Joe "Ducky" Medwick, who batted .374 with 31 home runs and 154 RBI.

Both are Hall of Famers.

Some take the hard-hand, run-suicides-until-you-puke approach. Some give the motivational “Go get ‘em” speech. Some throw you in the fire and force you to fight. 

Baseball free agency is often what separates the the pretenders from the contenders.

In the offseason prior to the 2009 regular season, the New York Yankees spent over $200 million to bring in Mark Teixeira, C.C. Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett. The moves paid off as the Yankees waltzed their to way another World Series title. 

With little more than a month remaining in the 2010 regular season, it's time to take a look at which 2009 free agent acquisitions paid off the most.

On Friday it was announced that Cody Ross was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants.

The move to claim Ross was done primarily to block the San Diego Padres from acquiring Ross, after center fielder Tony Gwyn Jr. obtained a season ending injury.

In the tight NL west division, claiming Ross was a very good decision, since there are now few available center fielders that the Padres can acquire.