Kuzul

The Oakland Athletics have a glaring hole at third base—one that could be filled effectively by Brandon Inge. The former Detroit Tiger was cut Thursday, ending a 12-year career in the Motor City. Inge is only a .234 career hitter. In nine games this season, he's 2-for-20, and his .100 batting average is well below the Mendoza Line. Still, there's a couple of reasons the A's should take a chance on Inge.   The Current Incumbents Aren't Great As of right now, the two players receiving the most repetitions at third base are Eric Sogard and Josh Donaldson. Donaldson is a converted catcher. He hasn't manned third base since college, and it's obvious. He's made three errors and owns a .917 fielding percentage. His hitting is worse. Donaldson is 3-for-21 (.097). He has just one RBI. The better option is Sogard, who played second base and some shortstop in ...

 Twenty games is a small sample size—we all know that.  When the season is 40 games old, we can make a better assessment of where the Giants stand and their postseason chances.  Certainly four games back behind the Dodgers is nothing to get too nervous about.Even though the 2012 season is young, we've seen some pretty amazing baseball already.  The Cain vs. Lee battle will go down in history as one of the truly great games played at AT&T.  The streak of the Panda and the remarkable return of Buster are also things that the fans can rally behind.There are some troubling trends as well though—question marks that GM Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy will be addressing in the coming weeks.  Tell me if you agree with the potential problems that I think the Giants need to fix ASAP.Begin Slideshow

Daisuke Matsuzaka is making good progress as he works to return to the Boston Red Sox after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June. Matsuzaka's first start was not particularly impressive, but he rebounded nicely Saturday afternoon.In his first rehab game last week with High-A Salem, he allowed three runs in four innings and threw 57 pitches. On Saturday he took the mound for the Double-A Portland Sea Dogs and looked dominant.Matsuzaka threw 74 pitches in 4.2 innings. He allowed three hits, one earned run and struck out seven, while only walking two.His only run was on a long fly ball that was misplayed and resulted in a triple. He responded by striking out the next batter, but was pulled when he walked the following.The only negative of the outing was that 30 of his 74 pitches were balls. In his first outing he threw 57 pitches and 17 balls.It was another step in ...

Everyone, myself included, appears to have been consumed with the idea of adding a player or changing things up for this Red Sox team.However, I realized something last night watching the game against the White Sox. Fans have to look around and realize that this team is quietly winning games and have managed a five-game winning streak.Granted, these are games they are supposed to be winning. The Minnesota Twins are certainly no Texas Rangers. The White Sox are not the Detroit Tigers.Last night Daniel Bard went seven strong innings giving up seven hits and three runs. Not bad for your fifth starter.Thursday night saw Felix Doubront go six innings and giving up five hits and three runs.The fact that the bottom of your rotation only gave up six runs in 13 innings over two games is pretty good in my opinion. The offense did its job as well, scoring 20 runs ...

Shortly after 6:00 p.m. PT, Washington Nationals top prospect Bryce Harper will make his major league debut at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers.It's going to be a big moment. Just in case you didn't know that already.It was just a matter of time before Harper got the call to the big leagues this season. The Nats just so happened to get the perfect excuse to call him up when they found out Ryan Zimmerman had to go on the disabled list (again). They had a roster spot to fill. Why not fill it with the top power-hitting prospect in the minor leagues?Not everyone likes the move, and I can understand that. Harper warmed up in recent games, but he wasn't exactly tearing things up with Triple-A Syracuse. To boot, he was just so-so at the Double-A level last year. Harper's numbers at Double- and Triple-A suggest that he's ...

Two Detroit sports underdogs peeled off their uniforms for the last time as members of their respective teams, and they both did it on Thursday.While that’s not where the similarities end, the endings couldn’t have been more different. The only thing the cessations of their careers have in common is that they happened within hours of each other.At approximately 4:30 Thursday afternoon, Brandon Inge was called into the manager’s office, and he certainly must have known what was cooking. When Inge stepped into Jim Leyland’s lair and saw that GM Dave Dombrowski and assistant GM Al Avila were also there, the trio likely didn’t even need to say a word.Inge was out, given the ziggy by his patient-to-a-fault bosses.This wasn’t so much a release as it was a mercy killing.Inge’s baseball career in Detroit had become that rabid dog in “To Kill a Mockingbird” and the trio of Dombrowski, Avila and ...

There is no way I can hide my excitement.Watching the Angels and Nationals play today will be equal to my tearing open a retail pack of baseball cards as a 12-year-old. Last night I wrote a piece on Bryce Harper. In that story, I said I would be glued to my television screen when Harper makes his Major League Debut versus the high flying Los Angeles Dodgers. When I first heard Harper was coming to the show, I could not help but feel for Mike Trout, who still had not gotten the call. I could see Trout sitting at his locker in Salt Lake and screaming to the heavens, “What more must I do to get the call?” To this Trout is right. He is hitting .403 with 31 hits and an OPS of 1.091 through 20 games with the Bees. Apparently, the baseball gods heard Trout’s question and were ...

Freddy Garcia, who is 0-1 with a 9.75 ERA on the young season, is likely pitching for his spot in the Yankees' rotation on Saturday afternoon against the Tigers.The right-hander, going on an extra day of rest, will be looking to give the Yankees a solid performance after Friday night's 7-6 Yankee victory.Opposing Garcia will be rookie Drew Smyly, who is making his fourth career start.Andy Pettitte will likely be returning very soon, and either Garcia or Phil Hughes will be getting the bump from the rotation.Every start counts for both pitchers at this point in the season—the one who shows the least promise by the time Pettitte is ready will be given the hook.Garcia can keep himself in the rotation with a quality start against the Tigers, but it won't be an easy task.The Tigers boast a very powerful lineup and their biggest star, Miguel Cabrera, has fantastic career ...

Nineteen-year-old Bryce Harper will make his Major League debut today against the Dodgers' right-handed hurler, Chad Billingsley.Billingsley enters the game with a 2-1 record, 3.04 ERA and 0.930 WHIP.While there has been a lot of hype surrounding Bryce Harper and what he will mean to the Washington Nationals and the game of baseball in general, the fact of the matter is this: he is only batting .250 in AAA for the Syracuse Chiefs.Is that any indicator of the type of player he will become? Of course not.However, it should give a signal as to how he will fare in his first few major league at-bats.Granted, in AAA this season facing right-handed pitchers, Harper posts a solid batting line of .275/.362/.431/.793 in 51 at-bats. I'm not prepared to classify that as crushing the opposition, but it is respectable.Billingsley, on the other hand, performs adequately against left-handed batters. In his career, left-hand bats put ...

The MLB season is off and running, with teams scrambling to get off to a good start. For the Chicago White Sox, it has been a mix of very good and somewhat concerning.Just the fact that many people projected the White Sox finishing in the bottom part of the American League shows that that they are better than many predicted.Here are some reasons why the White Sox are a darkhorse for the playoffs.Begin Slideshow