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Giancarlo Stanton has accomplished a lot in his young career, but this offseason he did something that seemed utterly impossible: He convinced owner Jeffrey Loria to put the Miami Marlins in a position to succeed. 

In November, Loria and the Marlins signed Stanton to the biggest contract in baseball history. The deal served as a $325 million domino that led to an offseason of free-agent signings and trades that made actual baseball sense, something Loria has a track record of ignoring.

In an exhaustive feature on Stanton, ESPN The Magazine‘s Tim Keown wrote that the Marlins star didn’t demand just the 13 years and the parking garage full of Brink’s trucks that came with the deal. Stanton required a commitment to success. 

“I’m not going to sign just any contract because I got hit in the head,” he said. 

The deal ended up including an opt-out after six years and the first no-trade clause Loria has ever granted. Those serve as protection for Stanton in case the front office doesn’t keep its promise to field a winner. 

But so far the organization has held up its end of the bargain.

Michael Morse, Ichiro Suzuki, Dee Gordon, Martin Prado, Dan Haren and Mat Latos all found their way to Miami this winter because of the new leaf the organization has apparently turned over. 

Now, for the first time since they started calling themselves “Miami,” the Marlins can also call themselves contenders.

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The Toronto Blue Jays announced today that rookies Dalton Pompey and Devon Travis will both be part of the team’s Opening Day roster, per Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com.

Pompey is set to open the 2015 season as Toronto’s starting centre fielder, while Travis will start at second base.

It’s not a surprise to see the Blue Jays give Pompey a shot in the major leagues so soon. After all, the 22-year-old is coming off a strong 2014 season in the minor leagues where he held a slash line of .317/.392/.469 with nine home runs, 51 RBI, 84 runs scored and 43 stolen bases in 50 attempts.

Those stats are even more impressive considering that Pompey moved up three different levels in the minor leagues last season.

Despite being a switch-hitter and having plus speed, Pompey will likely be slotted near the bottom of Toronto’s batting order to start off the season so there is less offensive pressure on him.

Considering that the Blue Jays are short on outfield depth after an injury to left fielder Michael Saunders, Pompey should have a significant amount of leash going into the season.

While it seemed likely that Pompey would be named to the Blue Jays’ starting lineup, the same definitely can’t be said for Travis.

Acquired in an offseason trade in exchange for outfielder Anthony Gose, Travis seemed ticketed for Triple-A Buffalo heading into spring training. After all, the 24-year-old had never played above the Double-A level in the minor leagues during his professional baseball career.

But, a strong performance during spring training where he hit .351/.393/.456 in 57 at-bats got the club’s attention. Travis also looked sound defensively, not making an error in 121.1 innings of work.

When Maicer Izturis went down with a groin injury, Travis became a serious contender for the second base role and ended up beating out the likes of Ryan Goins and Steve Tolleson for the job.

It’s worth noting that Goins also had an impressive performance during spring training, hitting .286/.364/.490 in 49 at-bats. So if Travis struggles early on in the season, it’s likely that the Blue Jays make a change and give the second base job to Goins.

Like Pompey, the Blue Jays will likely slot the right-handed hitting Travis near the bottom of the batting order. With Toronto’s lineup already being top-heavy, the Blue Jays will need a decent contribution from both Pompey and Travis in order to have a balanced offense.

All stats are from MLB.com.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Mets’ 2015 season is just about here and there is a lot to look forward to, as the Mets attempt to get into the postseason for the first time since 2006.

After rebuilding for much of the decade thus far, most of the Mets’ young pieces are now on the major league roster, which means the team is that much closer to competing and having winning seasons.

Here are 10 reasons to be optimistic about the Mets this year.

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As the Philadelphia Phillies prepare for what may be a very long season, the team has come up with something that can help fans deal with the losing.

The Phillies will be debuting a new bar this season that will sell liquor, according to Philly.com’s Michael Klein:

But in a first this season, the Phillies and Aramark will sell cocktails and wine on the main concourse’s general concession areas at Citizens Bank Park. If you think that the idea of a ‘Phillies bar’ is coming from somewhere out of left field—well, you’re correct. It will be located behind Section 142, expanding an existing beer bar. Wine and cocktails cannot be brought out to seats. The cocktail list has not been finalized.

The bar may get more and more crowded as the season goes on, as the expectations for the team this year are rather low. After all, Phillies ace Cole Hamels told USA Today Sports’ Bob Nightengale this offseason that he doesn’t expect this team to win much this season. If the best player on the team thinks that, it’s hard for fans to get excited for a 162-game season.

Bleacher Report’s Dan Carson offered his take on what the drinks may look like, including a catchy tagline: 

Thanks to this new bar, both the boos and booze should be flowing at Citizens Bank Park in 2015.

[h/t Deadspin]

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Detroit Tigers star pitcher Justin Verlander is dealing with a tricep issue that could put the right-hander on the disabled list to start the season. 

Continue for updates. 

Verlander Could Head to DL with Tricep Issue 

Tuesday, March 31

On March 30, ESPN.com reported Verlander would miss his next scheduled start with a tricep issue.

Brad Iott of MLive.com reported on Verlander’s status, courtesy of Detroit manager Brad Ausmus:

Verlander won the American League Cy Young Award and the pitching Triple Crown in 2011, posting MLB-best totals in wins, ERA and strikeouts that year. However, he experienced adversity in 2014, as injuries hampered him and led to one of the worst seasons of his career.

A nagging right shoulder problem and surgery before the season to address an abdominal injury were among the ailments Verlander suffered last year.

Before the 2015 campaign, Verlander expressed optimism about his health, per Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal:

To be honest, it’s night and day. I feel better than I have in years. I was able to get back into my normal routine, get into the weight room. I also was seeing a physical therapist for an hour and a half, three days a week, just learning about my body, how the surgery could have affected me. I feel great right now.

Losing Max Scherzer to the Washington Nationals this winter was a big blow to Detroit’s pitching rotation. The good news is the Tigers have another ace in southpaw David Price to help fill the void, and it’s important for Price to make the most of his starts while Verlander recovers.

Veteran Anibal Sanchez is another solid option on the Detroit staff. Although he has a strong career ERA, Sanchez dealt with injuries of his own in 2014.

Thus, it is even more important that Verlander’s latest injury is only minor. Based on his prior durability and tremendous workload, he has to hope his latest string of health issues isn’t an ongoing trend.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

With all the access and information—and accessible information—out there now compared to even a few short years ago, it’s harder that ever to come across a prospect who can truly be classified as “unknown.” But we’ll try to highlight a batch of somewhat-off-the-radar youngsters who are primed to take a big step in their development in 2015.

To that extent, any prospect who made a top-100 list for Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, ESPN or MLB.com was not eligible.

In short, we’re trying to uncover the next big thing to become the next big thing.

For context, some prospects who might have qualified for a list like this a year ago include Dalton Pompey (Toronto Blue Jays), Nomar Mazara (Texas Rangers), Manuel Margot (Boston Red Sox), Dilson Herrera (New York Mets) and Luis Severino (New York Yankees).

With further improvements and a little luck, these 10 lesser-known prospects could put themselves on the map.

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With the 2015 MLB season finally set to get underway next week, now is the time to predict who will lead each league in some notable statistical categories.

This is obviously a shot in the dark, and there are always at least a few surprises that emerge over the course of the season.

Last year’s NL batting title race is the perfect example. It’s fair to guess there was no one out there who predicted Justin Morneau to win it over Josh Harrison in the final days of the season.

At any rate, it’s still fun to make an educated guess as to who could pace his respective league in some notable categories, and that’s exactly what we’ve done here.

In fact, the following goes one step further, with predictions for the top five finishers in each league for the following categories:

• Batting Average
• Hits
• Home Runs
• RBI
• Runs
• Stolen Bases
• Wins
• ERA
• Strikeouts
• Saves

Also included is one player to “keep an eye on” in that respective category, highlighting a player that finished well off the leaderboard last season, but could make a surprise push this coming season.

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As the San Francisco Giants embark on their quest to defend the 2014 World Series title, there are many questions that must be answered over a very long season.

The fact that the Giants have three world championships in five years is nothing short of amazing. Every season is a grueling marathon, both mentally and physically. 

Mental toughness, clutch execution and team chemistry are all critical factors behind the Giants’ success.

Manager Bruce Bochy has been the steady hand that guides the Giants and keeps the team focused and moving in the right direction. His leadership has paid huge dividends, as the Giants have championships in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

The question now is whether the Giants can win in an odd-numbered year. So much has to go right just to make the playoffs in the first place. Winning in 2015 will definitely not be an easy task.

Let’s review the outlook for 2015. Hopefully, we can provide a balanced view of the Giants’ chances this upcoming season.

All stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.

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There are really just 29 rotations to rank.

Everyone knows the Washington Nationals claim the No. 1 spot in the power rankings of all 30 MLB rotations at the beginning of 2015. While the Nats have assembled a group of starters that have the potential to be historically dominant, the other 29 staffs fall all across the spectrum.

In the process of building these power rankings, two primary factors were taken into consideration:

1. 2014 performance
2. 2015 projected performance

As for that second bullet point, the foremost focus was on the additions and subtractions that each respective club made over the offseason. Spring training results were also a minor part of that equation.

Unsurprisingly, the Nats aren’t the only World Series contender that landed right at the top of the rankings.

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For the last month, your head and heart have been engaged in an epic battle. Your head tells you spring training stats don’t matter. But your heart—oh that silly heart!—wants to believe. 

Here’s the thing: They’re both right.

Yes, every year tantalizingly hot spring performances evaporate in the heat of summer. At the same time, plenty of players carry their scalding exhibition output into the regular season.

The trick is identifying which is which.

With that in mind, let’s put some of this year’s breakout Cactus and Grapefruit league stars under the microscope and ask whether their preseason showings are more fact or fiction.

For our purposes, we’ll look only at spring studs with a shot at a starting gig but with thin or nonexistent big league resumes (sorry, Mike Trout). And we’ll define “fact” as a player who continues on a star-level pace, rather than merely clinging to a 25-man roster.   

Get your heads and hearts in order and proceed when ready.

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