By The Heckler
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news 

Revealing the worst-kept secret in recent Detroit Tigers history, today, the team officially announced that they have inked all-world third-basemen Miguel Cabrera to a seven-year contract extension. The deal, which will carry the 25-year old through this year’s deal up through 2015, is worth more than $141 million. It is the fourth largest deal in Major League Baseball history, trailing only Alex Rodriguez’ $275 million, 10-year contract with the Yankees; shortstop Derek Jeter’s 10-year $189 million contract and Boston’s Manny Ramirez’ 8-year, $160 million deal.

The extension was imperative in relation to the large price the team paid earlier in the year (six players in total, including top prospects Cameron Maybin and pitcher Andrew Miller) which also netted the team lefty Dontrell Willis. Cabrera’s father reportedly cited the presence of other Venezuelan players such as Magglio Ordonez and Carlos Guillen, not to mention the team’s obvious committment to winning both today and down the road, as key factors in reaching the agreement.

Cabrera’s dominating prowess at the plate (he’s already hit 138 HRs in his young career along with a .313 average) adds to an already powerful Tigers’ lineup that also included Curtis Granderson, Placido Polonco, Gary Sheffield, Ordonez, Guillen, Edgar Renteria, Jacques Jones and Ivan Rodriguez. Based on projections, the team is expected to challenge for the all-time record for runs scored with everyone healthy and performing as per usual. If the team’s pitching, headed up by Justin Verlander (coming off 18 wins and a no-hitter in just his second season) Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman, Nate Robertson and Willis — and more pointedly, their bullpen anchored by Todd Jones — can hold serve, the Tigers will be the team to beat in this year’s AL Central, even up against last year’s incumbent Cleveland Indians.

All photos copyright Baseball Big Mouth and The Heckler
- All rights reserved -

CLICK HERE for more MLB baseball hotstove talk!

CLICK HERE for more MLB baseball season previews!

By Beltway Boss
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news 

The Boston Red Sox will soon take on the Oakland Athletics all the way from the Tokyo Dome in Japan. Naturally, second year Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka will get the nod in a game before his hometown crowd. Matsuzaka went 15-12 with a 4.40 ERA in his first season with the Red Sox after the team shelled out 103 million dollars in posting fees and guaranteed salary to bring Matsuzaka from the Nippon Professional Baseball League to MLB. First pitch will be at 6:05 a.m, EDT. That is 3:05 a.m. in Oakland.

This will not be the first time MLB teams have ventured out of the United States to play a game. The New York Yankees last played the Tampa Bay Rays in 2004 at the Tokyo Dome. In 2000 the Yankees and Chicago Cubs played in Japan; the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres also played a game in Mexico that year. 2000 was the first year MLB went global.

This matchup pits two franchises against each other that are heading in opposite directions. The Red Sox are the defending World Series Champions and have made the playoffs four out of the last five seasons - they also won the World Series in 2004. The A’s, meanwhile, have made the playoffs in just one out of the last four seasons after making four consecutive playoff appearances. But now, the small-market A’s appear to be in a constant state of rebuilding. This in stark constant to the Red Sox whose opulence will be on display in the form of Matsuzaka.

The A’s made those four consecutive playoff appearances on the backs’ of their memorable trio of starters: Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito. After the 2004 season, Oakland’s famed General Manager, Billy Beane, traded Hudson and Mulder apparently after reaching the conclusion that the A’s as currently constructed could not win a championship. Zito departed two seasons later as a free agent. Beane apparently has lost faith in his team again, as signaled by his trade of ace starter Danny Haren, who was acquired in the Mulder deal, to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Haren was signed for $12.65 million through 2009 with a $6.75 million option for 2010.

The Red Sox have some rotation issues of their own. Josh Beckett, the Cy Young winner in 2007, is not making the trip to Japan although he is throwing pain free. The situation is more dire with 41-year-old probable Hall of Famer Curt Schilling. Schilling has been placed on the 60 day disabled list. It is not known when Schilling, who tested the free agent market before signing a one-year incentive heavy contract to return to the Red Sox, will return. These injuries mean that the Red Sox will start 24-year-old cancer survivor Jon Lester in game two. They will also have to count on 41-year-old knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in the rotation. Wakefield won 17 games last season, but lost 12 while posting a 4.76 ERA.

CLICK HERE for BaseballBigMouth’s tribute to the great Ty Cobb

CLICK HERE for a rare glimpse at Ty Cobb - playing for Cleveland?!?

By Beltway Boss
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news

The Cincinnati Reds had, and still have to a certain degree, a surplus off outfielders. Aaron Harang has developed into a quality starting pitcher for the Reds - a legitimate number one starter. But despite his best efforts, the Reds finished with the second worst runs per game allowed in the National League. Some of this can be attributed to their ballpark, but the question must be asked: With Johan Santana and Erik Bedard both very much on the trading block why did the Reds not trade some of their excess outfielders for one of those two premier pitchers?

The Reds cannot cry poverty. They just had the disastrous Eric Milton contract, worth over eight million a year, come off the books. Adam Dunn is in the final year of his contract and will make $13 million this season. Ken Griffey Jr.’s $16.5 million option for next season almost certainly will not be picked up leaving just a $4 million dollar buyout in its place. The Reds cannot say they did not have the chips needed to make a move. A year after brilliantly snagging center fielder Josh Hamilton in the Rule 5 draft the Reds inexplicably gave him away to the Texas Rangers. Hamilton, troubled by a drug addiction, had played just 15 low Single-A games for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in the proceeding five seasons. But he was great for the Reds batting .292/.368/.554 with 19 homeruns and 47 RBI in just 90 games for the Reds. Apparently unimpressed, the Reds shipped him to Arlington.

The Reds are hoping that Edinson Volguez, the pitcher they acquired in the trade, can pitch behind Harang and Bronson Arroyo. There is reason to believe that Volquez can preform well but why, in a wide open NL and in a very weak NL Central, bet the ranch on an unproven target - especially when proven grade-a material was out there in the form of Santana and Bedard? Hamilton was not enough to get the job done? Maybe. But Adam Dunn is in the last year of his contract and is unlikely to remain with the team. Flip him to a third team for a healthy prospect return. Keep some of the prospects for yourself and use the other players to sweeten the deal to land Santana or Bedard. 1B/OF Joey Votto is ready and able to step in for Dunn after posting a .321/.360/.548 line in 84 at-bats at the young age of 23.

Perhaps these moves are too bold to make. But adding Santana or Bedard to the mix would easily make the Reds the favorites to win the NL Central. As Herman Edwards would say: You play to win the game. The Reds must figure that their formidable offense is enough to carry them to the promised land but, final word, they are going about it in the wrong way.

CLICK HERE for The Heckler’s first baseball game at Tiger Stadium

CLICK HERE for more on The Hecklers’s first baseball game at Tiger Stadium

logo used with permission of www.logoserver.com