Fan News

It goes without saying that Jeff Francoeur has pretty much worn out his welcome in New York. He is hitting a paltry .253, can't run all that well, or play other positions. Also, with the return of Carlos Beltran to the Mets lineup, New York is rather deep in outfield talent.

The Bronx Bombers are in first place in the AL East with the best record in baseball heading into the second half of the season, which starts tonight versus the second place Tampa Bay Rays.

But there are several Yankees who aren't in the New York Groove quite yet and need to pick up the slack as the season moves into the second half.

By no means do the Yankees absolutely "need" these players to improve in order to win the division, obviously they are already in first place, but if the Bombers want to see their 28th title come this year, then these players do need to step it up a notch.

Since starting the season with a 37-20 record in April and May and looking like they would run away with the AL Central, the Minnesota Twins have gone 15-23 in June and July and now find themselves 4.5 games back of the unbelievably hot Chicago White Sox.

I think the Twins desperately need to trade for an ace in order to turn things around. Let’s see what has been going on with the Twins…

There are currently two pitching phenoms in Major League Baseball.

One, though, is getting an absolutely massive amount of media attention in Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg.

The other is David Price, the Tampa Bay Rays starter who recently started the All-Star game in Anaheim this past Tuesday.

Begin Slideshow

It is a notion that dates back as far as Don Newcombe's 1956 season with the Brooklyn Dodgers: if a pitcher is the Most Valuable Player in his league, then he must be the best pitcher as well.

Logically, this is a very straightforward proposition: pitcher is subset of player; a pitcher who is the most valuable player must also be the most valuable pitcher.

We begin the season's second half tonight living in a post-Boss world, and I for one am a little uneasy about it.

We heard from Hal Steinbrenner's people on Thursday that the family doesn't plan on selling the Yankees. But since Hal kind of looks like a bad guy from an Eighties ski movie, I'm not quite buying it just yet.

A sample conversation:

The second half of the Major League Baseball season began Thursday night, and many in Puerto Rico are with a lot of good expectations.

Just as a start, everybody is happy that Carlos Beltran returned with the New York Mets, and Joel Piñeiro won his seventh straight decision as the Los Angeles Angels defeated the Seattle Mariners.

However, not every baseball fan is cheery and festive these days.

Alex Rodriguez is currently three home runs from becoming the seventh member of the elite 600 Home Run Club.

After dealing Justin Smoak and his right-handed bat for Cliff Lee, the Texas Rangers may have increased interest in reviving an offseason trade for Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell, according to WEEI Sportsradio Network's Rob Bradford.

Both Smoak's departure and corner-infielder Chris Davis' offensive struggles may force the American League West leaders to acquire a player of Lowell's caliber to at least platoon with the likes of Davis.

So...two or three weeks of anger management classes and suddenly Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano is a new man, huh?

You'll have to forgive me if I'm not buying what the Cubs are selling.

Apparently "cured" of the anger issues that have prevented Zambrano from reaching the full potential of his obvious talent, Big Z has been cleared to begin his baseball rehabilitation in Mesa.

From one "rehab" to another "rehab" and—Poof!—magically, all is well again.