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Scandal Lowers Cardinals' Flag
Published 4/1/2007 by Greg at Faith and Fear in Flushing
... You don't have to be Buster Olney to recognize that Selig's whole tenure will be defined by how he handles this. Baseball has for too long turned its back on steroids and human growth hormones and everything else that has disrupted the game. Letting the St. Louis Cardinals masquerade as defending world champions, even National League champions, transforms this whole sordid tale, breaking on ...

Spheroid: Coffee and baseball
Published 5/5/2007 by Editorial Producers at MLBlogosphere

Proctor for Betimit swap
Published 7/30/2007 by Vinnie at MLB Authority
... writes that the Dodgers and Yankees continue to discuss a possible swap of pitcher Scott Proctor for infielder Wilson Betemit. Betit could give Yabnkees a backup plan if Alex Rodriguez opts out of his contract and proctor can fit nicely in alread very good bullpen for the Dodgers. If the Yankees are unsuccessful in their pursuit of Betemit, they may complete a deal for Oakland first baseman Dan Johnson.

I Don't Understand This One
Published 7/31/2007 by jscape2000 <info@pinstripealley.com> at Pinstripe Alley: Front Page Posts

It’s Time To Get Greedy
Published 8/6/2007 by Mark Townsend at Bugs & Cranks

Trade Reyes? No way, Jose!
Published 10/3/2007 by Eddie D'Anna at SILive: Ya Gotta Believe
... if he was asked to do so. And already, ESPN.com's Buster Olney and ...

Blogger Roundtable: Previewing the ALCS
Published 10/12/2007 by Dan Lamothe, Red Sox Monster at Red Sox Monster - MassLive.com
... . How about Fausto Carmona? Does everyone know about him yet? I know I picked him up for a few spot starts for my fantasy team this year and kept dropping him because I didn't think he was as good as he had been pitching. I know better now! And I'm a huge Grady Sizemore fan. He had a "down" year, but he's still electric in a Jacoby Ellsbury kind of way, except better. And Fox will Tout Jhonny Peralta's "power," but his slugging was fairly low, at .430. Don't be fooled by his 21 HR - sure, it was more than any other AL shortstop, but he didn't have many other XBH and he doesn't get on base as much as you'd hope (.341). That being said, his numbers are better than Lugo's. Speaking of Lugo, after sporting an atrocious .568 OPS prior to the all-star break, he had a .728 OPS post ASB. Not great, but much improved. Also, Buster Olney points this out ...

Yankees to pick up Abreu’s option
Published 10/26/2007 by Jim Johnson at The Bronx Block
... Abreu ended up putting together a pretty good season after absolutely forgetting how to play baseball for a month. Plus, A-Rod absolutely loves hitting behind Bobby. He gets to see everything but the kitchen sink.

That's One Expensive Tube
Published 10/31/2007 by Chris Needham at Capitol Punishment
... comes this Buster Olney note : It sure as heck seems like the Angels are gearing up for a run at Alex Rodriguez, in reading Mike DiGiovanna's story this morning. There's another revenue stream that the Angels, and every other team, is now drawing once unexpected millions from: the money created by the success of MLB.com. The annual check that the Angels (and every other team) receive from this source may well exceed $30 million, by now. Ignore the ARod crap. $30 million! Hell, even if it's half that, that's a crap load of money. And with the extra TV money from the TBS contract, these guys are probably turning a profit before they sell a ticket! Nice work if you can get it, huh? (anyone got half a billion I could borrow?)

ESPN says Lowell deal near with Sox
Published 11/19/2007 by mikemcd (mmcdermo@projo.com) at Projo Sox Blog
ESPN's Buster Olney is reporting today that Mike Lowell and the Red Sox are close to a three-year deal.

Lowell Set to Sign?
Published 11/19/2007 by Paul SF at YFSF
... Buster Olney "heard early this morning" that Mike Lowell is close to signing a three-year deal with the Red Sox. Not sure how firm you can consider a report such as that, but take it as you will. ...

Is Michael Barrett An Option?
Published 12/3/2007 by Eric SanInocencio at Outs Per Swing
The Winter Meetings are just underway, live from what is being referred to as “the mall” in Nashville. The host hotel is quite large according to baseball writers Buster Olney and Peter Abraham, and while they complain I say good. Baseball writers sit in a press box and eat free food all season long, so any exercise they get is needed. From the Rays standpoint, their fireworks went off before this convention began. The blockbuster (at least to us) six player deal with Minnesota looks to be the biggest smoking gun general manager Andrew Friendman will have this off-season, so from here on out it will be roster maintenance for Tampa Bay. Several positions are set for 2008, but a few have question marks with ...

Hot Stove Update
Published 12/11/2007 by Mantlemurcer at My Pinstripes
Nothing too much going on out there...still speculation and not much movement. Johan Santana Jon Heyman notes that the Twins are still having on-going talks with the Red Sox, the latter still insisting they won't include both Jon Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury in a deal. The Mets are in the same boat, not wanting to have both Fernanado Martinez and Carlos Gomez in a deal. And you already know where the Yankees stand. Heyman also gives his review of the Miguel Cabrera-Dontrelle Willis deal. Source The latest from Ken Rosenthal: The Padres have joined the ...

12/27/07 The Nationals Are Willing To Take The Risks...The Rays?...Uh, Not So Much...
Published 12/28/2007 by e chigliak <info@federalbaseball.com> at Federal Baseball: Front Page Posts
     I subscribed to espn.com around this time two years ago, desperate for any Hot Stove news I could find, and convinced by some of the free offerings, that Buster Olney's blog was by far the best time-saving destination for omnivorous readers of baseball news. As a consequence of my online subscription, the good folks at espn.com also began sending me"ESPN the Magazine" every week or so, and all for the low-low price of $30 dollars a year... ...

What happened to Santana in September?
Published 1/30/2008 by Jonathan Hale at Baseball Digest Daily
While the Johan Santana trade was in the works, there was some suggestion that his value could have been lower than expected due to concerns about an injury that he was playing through towards the end of last year. Buster Olney recently wrote: Spoke with a talent evaluator recently who thinks that if the Twins are intent on swapping Johan Santana for a relatively modest package of prospects before the start of spring training, this may reflect some concern over the pitcher’s physical condition. In the aftermath of Santana’s 17-strikeout game against the Rangers on Aug. 19, there was some evidence of diminished velocity in the left-hander, and it was noted by at least one scout that he used his slider much less often. There's no question that ...

Rich Harden: With Or Without You
Published 4/3/2008 by Matthew Hume at New England Sports Blog ()
ESPN (Buster Olney)  Red Sox To Make Harden Popular At The Deadline? Rich Harden is going to be the single biggest difference maker available for trade before the July 31 deadline. If the guy continues to take the ball -- two starts and counting, for a pitcher who has worked only 200 innings the past three years -- he will always take Cy Young-caliber stuff to the mound. If you added the Harden who threw against the Red Sox in his first two outings to the pitching staff of the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Cubs, Dodgers, D-backs, Rockies, etc. -- and he remained healthy -- that team would be the club to beat in its respective league. He's that good … when he ...

Buster Olney Has Huge Hard-On For Longoria
Published 4/30/2008 by David Chalk at Bugs & Cranks
Buster Olney said what now….?? “An enormous and stable pillar….??” I’m as excited and enthusiastic as anyone about our Devil Rays, even if we did have a little road bump to begin the road trip. Still, I got to say I was a little surprised when I read what Buster Olney wrote Tuesday: The Devil Rays have a lot of really good players — Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton, [EGDC] Carlos Pena, [TMOTMCC] James Shields, an underrated rotation, Akinori Iwamura. But in watching Tampa Bay play since the promotion of Evan Longoria, it feels like the Devil Rays have added an enormous and stable pillar, someone who is as ...

Tuesday's Crystal Callix
Published 7/1/2008 by battlekow at Brew Crew Ball: Front Page Posts
... and I've been waiting to use this title ever since Callix Crabbe was returned to us. Anyway, onto the links. If you were stuck "watching" last night's loss on Gameday, I think this picture pretty well sums up the game last night. A play that could have resulted in no runs instead resulted in two, and that was the end of that. Check out AZ Snakepit's game recap if you want the enemy's perspective. On the C.C. Sabathia trade front, Buster Olney still has the Brewers as the favorites to land the big left-hander. Tribe Report takes a look at ...

CC staying here?
Published 7 days ago by woziszeus (noreply@blogger.com) at Chuckie Hacks
Last Friday, I received a phone call from a guy who told me that he heard that CC Sabathia approached the Brewers, and said he would resign with them for $100 million dollars over 4 years. I said, "no way, who is reporting that?" My guy said he knows a guy who knows a guy in the upper levels of the Brewers front office. CC approached the team with that figure, and that the team was in the process of working the numbers to find out if the deal was plausible. Oh ok, "knows a guy that knows a guy." Whatever right? EVERYBODY knows that the Brewers had no chance at resigning CC right? Whenever the topic gets brought up, all that gets said is the Brewers have "no chance." Well, looks like Buster Olney has heard some of the same rumors in some capacity. ...