Fan News

The Lowell Spinners, Class-A Affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, will welcome Red Sox star, and 2001 Spinner, Kevin Youkilis back to Lowell for the Eighth Annual Lowell Spinners Alumni Dinner, Tuesday, December 29 at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium in downtown Lowell.

With the date fast approaching, the Spinners are continuing to add to the guest list, confirming former Red Sox catcher Rich Gedman and former New York Met Mike Glavine will be in attendance.

News today from Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal states that Jose Valverde is leaning towards accepting arbitration from the Astros.

This news follows on the heels of reports that Rafael Soriano is also likely to accept arbitration from the Atlanta Braves. 

Also on Rotoprofessor.com !

Each draft there are players fantasy leaguers go crazy for because of a breakout season the year prior.

Often times the reasoning is unfounded because the player has never been nearly that good in his career. Most of the time he totally comes out of nowhere to become a fantasy force, only to come crashing down to reality in the next season.

The MLB winter meetings are commencing this week in Indianapolis.

Perhaps the St. Louis Cardinals could pencil in a 15-minute sidebar in economics. Perhaps they could commandeer fellow executives to a session where they instructed them on the finer points on looking like asshats.  

Or maybe they could just ask the Oakland A’s for Brett Wallace back. Pretty, pretty please?

The Kansas City Royals are the current grist being ground in the rumor mill that is Major League Baseball's hot stove season.

I suppose it is a welcome change for the oft-maligned and hardly spoken of club, because as the saying goes, "any press is good press. "

The 2009 New York Yankees will be remembered for the following: World Series Champions, Alex Rodriguez’s steroid controversy, and the $423 million in salary for their newest recruits, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, and A.J. Burnett.

The most underrated signing on this champion roster is that of Nick Swisher.

Swisher brought back the swagger that the late '90s, early millennium Yankee squads had, but had been missing for some time.

To report that Andy Pettitte will be back on the mound for the New York Yankees in 2010 is no more surprising than saying they will play their home games in the beautiful, new mini-park known as Yankee Stadium. Yet, ESPN reported it today.

It was a good week last week for Placido Polanco.

He signed a three-year, $18 million contract, he joined one of the best teams in baseball in the Philadelphia Phillies, and now that he is part of a great lineup, his offensive numbers should get a boost.

While all that is great for Polanco, it’s the last item that fantasy owners care about the most. With Polanco in a much better lineup, we should see increased fantasy production from him in 2010.

The announcements of players offered arbitration made Twins fans happy last weekend as three names being bandied about—Placido Polanco, Orlando Hudson, and Felipe Lopez—were all set free by their respective teams. This was particularly important for Hudson and Polanco, since due to their Type-A status they would have cost a first-round pick to sign. In the past, the Twins have been reticent to sign players and give up their pick, so this was indeed a prime development.