Kuzul

Last week, we saw one of the biggest and more shocking blockbuster deals in recent baseball history made with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox.Boston sent Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Carl Crawford and Nick Punto to Los Angeles while James Loney and four minor leaguers were headed back to Boston.With this, the Red Sox shed about $275 million in payroll, while allowing them to have more flexibility to make moves in the future.According to Joel Sherman of The New York Post, the Dodgers originally asked the Yankees about the availability of CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira before moving on to claim the players from Boston.However, Sherman speculated on a different type of trade that the Yankees and Dodgers could make in the future including Alex Rodriguez.A-Rod is still on the hook for another $114 million over six years—a contract the Yankees probably would love to have off their ...

St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Kyle Lohse has put together a very impressive season, but few outside of St. Louis seem to have even noticed.When Kyle Lohse was the team's opening day 2012 starter, a lot was expected of him. With Adam wainwright returning from Tommy John surgery, Chris Carpenter out with nerve issues and Lance Lynn making his debut as a starter, Lohse was expected to be an anchor to the team's rotation.His time in St. Louis has had its ups and downs, but since the beginning of 2011 he has been a real asset.In Lohse's first season with the Cardinals he went 15-6. His 3.78 ERA was, at least at the time, the best of his career.Forearm issues then began to plague him, making for lackluster 2009 and 2010 performances where he went a combined 10-18.Since his health issues were lined out, however, he has been better than ...

Death, taxes, and David Price pitching seven strong innings and getting a win.That seemed to be the way of things as recently as, say, 24 hours ago. Price went into his start against the Texas Rangers on Monday night with 12 straight outings of seven-plus innings under his belt, and he was tied with Jered Weaver for the AL lead in wins with 16.Something weird happened. Instead of logging his customary seven innings, Price got rocked for six earned runs and was done after four innings.Wait, what?Yeah, that actually happened.Price is still having an excellent season by any set of standards, but his poor outing on Monday didn't do his chances in the American League Cy Young race any favors. He already had work to do to catch up to Felix Hernandez, and now he has more work to do.Here's a look at this week's top five.Note: Stats are current ...

The second half of the season has not been kind to the Cleveland Indians. Since the All-Star break, Cleveland is 11-32 with losing streaks of 11 and nine games. They can't hit (27th in MLB in the second half, .231 team average), they can't pitch (28th in MLB, 5.30 team ERA) and if it weren't for the Astros (who are 7-35 since the break), they could be labeled the worst team in baseball since July 13. There does not seem to be much that the Cleveland Indians can do at this point to salvage the 2012 season. Mathematically, there are reasons to think that they can, but realistically, it is not in the cards. Sitting 16.5 games out of the AL Central heading into Tuesday's game against the Oakland Athletics, how can the Cleveland Indians salvage this season?Begin Slideshow

Stephen Strasburg, whose arm is being treated by the Washington Nationals as if it is a Fabrege Egg, did not have his best stuff tonight.He let up a pair of runs in the first and three in the third. With his innings at a premium, why would the Nationals send him out for the fourth inning against the Miami Marlins?For some unknown reason, manager Davey Johnson had him pitch the fourth where he let up a run. Then he batted in the fifth and came out to pitch in the bottom of the inning where he let up a double to Giancarlo Stanton and another run.He finished his game with five innings pitched, nine hits, five earned runs and three strikeouts. If they are limiting his innings, there was no reason to have him pitch more than three. There are two innings they could have banked.The coddling of Stephen Strasburg ...

The Pittsburgh Pirates and the St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of a pivotal series in the National League wild-card race, and Yadier Molina felt the full intensity Tuesday night.In the bottom of the second inning, after Jose Tabata singled to right, Cardinals outfielder Carlos Beltran came up throwing as Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison rounded third base. Update: Tuesday, August 28 at 8:56 p.m. ET by Ian HanfordMLB.com reporter Jenifer Langosch quelled concerns regarding Molina's injury status Tuesday evening: #STLCards announce that Yadier Molina left with an upper back/neck/shoulder strain. Day-to-day. This is good news...— Jenifer Langosch (@LangoschMLB) August 29, 2012 This is good news for the Cardinals and better news for Molina. A collision like this could have had more worse results. ---------------End of Update-------------------- I'll let Baseball Tonight host Steve Berthiaume tell you what happened next: OUCH! #StlCards Yadier Molina leaving game after he was CRUSHED in plate collision with #Pirates ...

Unless Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout cool down significantly in the final month of the 2012 season, we're probably not going to see a member of the New York Yankees with the American League MVP award this year.Not that it matters as far as they're concerned. Despite the fact they've been beset by injuries this season, the Yankees have the second-best record in the American League and seem well on their way to the postseason for the 99th time in the last 100 years (or something like that).For this, the Yankees have several of their own MVPs to thank, chief among the notables being players like Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Hiroki Kuroda.But who is the MVP of the Yankees this season? Which player would they be totally lost without?That's the kind of thing that calls for an immediate discussion.  The Honorable MentionsEric ChavezChavez is hitting .295/.353/.511 with 13 home runs, and ...

The 2014 MLB All-Star Game will reportedly take place at Target Field in Minneapolis according to the Associated Press (via USA Today).The last time the All-Star Game was in Minnesota was in 1985 at the Metrodome, so it's certainly been a while for the state.The Minnesota Twins, who are reportedly holding a news conference on Wednesday to make a "major announcement," could use all the publicity and fanfare they can get. They are mired in a 52-76 season, 19.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central, and they rank 14th and 29th in runs scored and team ERA, respectively. They've gone 8-17 in August.Target Field was opened in 2010. It was immediately lauded, ranked the No. 1 stadium experience in North America by ESPN The Magazine. It holds over 39,000 fans and has been designed in a similar style to such stadiums as AT&T Park in San ...

Consider this the clam before the PSY. I sense a new pop-culture phenomenon ready to engulf America like Macarenas of years gone by, and it comes in the form of "Gangnam Style."Here is a commercial spot attempting to get the world excited for the upcoming MLB playoffs. Oh, I am good and excited, as well as befuddled, confused and motivated. I just want to dance, and I don't know why. The song you hear is from the Korean rap artist known as PSY, and he is kind of a big deal. His official music video has close to 70 million views on YouTube as of this writing. If you spend any amount of time on Reddit, you will no doubt see a multitude of references to the pop sensation. Oh, and he was recently at a L.A. Dodgers game recently. The dance is fairly simple. Leave your inhibitions at the door along with your ego, and ...

In the latest sports scandal, Toronto Blue Jays 2012 first-round draft pick Marcus Stroman has been suspended 50 games for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, according to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi.Stroman released the following statement shortly thereafter:"Despite taking precautions to avoid violating the minor league testing program, I unknowingly ingested a banned stimulant that was in an over-the-counter supplement. Nonetheless, I accept full responsibility and I want to apologize to the Toronto Blue Jays organization, my family, my teammates, and the Blue Jays fans everywhere. I look forward to putting this behind me and rejoining my teammates."The 21-year-old Duke alumni was viewed as one of the more advanced minor league pitchers. Stroman compiled a 3.26 ERA with 23 strikeouts and a .219 opponents batting average between Class-A Vancouver Canadians and Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats. This is a major blow for the Blue Jays in an already disastrous season, as Stroman ...