Kuzul

The Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) cast their votes for players eligible for induction into Baseball's Hall of Fame before January 1, 2012. Bleacher Report baseball writers cast their votes yesterday.The premise of the vote was exact, however. All candidates that appeared on the official 2012 ballot appeared on B/R's ballot, and writers were able to select a maximum of 10 candidates. For mock induction, a player needs to appear on at least 75.0% of the total ballots cast.The following slides reveal our voting results and some comments from various B/R baseball writers about why they chose or didn't choose players for induction.Begin Slideshow

The New York Yankees have had their share of outstanding catchers over the past century, so where does Jorge Posada rank on that list?With the 40-year-old veteran reportedly set to announce his retirement in the next few weeks, let's count down the top 10 backstops in the storied history of this franchise...Begin Slideshow

It's obvious after the Minnesota Twins finished the 2011 season with the second-worst record since the franchise moved to the Twin Cities, the team has plenty of needs.The team needs a couple of solid starting pitchers, an effective reliever, a power-hitting corner outfielder and an effective middle infield combination.For general manager Terry Ryan, it appears that the wheeling and dealing is done, and from the looks of things, with no blockbuster deals, the team will be taking a long, slow ride to respectability.Ryan, taking no big swings to improve the Twins, is relying for the most part, on the current roster of players to improve over last season. The hopes on the 2012 season is that many of these players will return to form that had the Twins winning six division titles over nine seasons.The only changes to the lineup appear to be Ben Revere taking over one of the corner outfield positions, Josh Willingham ...

The 2011 season appeared to have been the last for Yankees catcher Jorge Posada, as Sweeny Murti is reporting that Posada will officially retire within the next few weeks. While acting primarily as a designated hitter and bench player, Posada hit .235 with 14 home runs and 44 RBI in 387 at-bats during the 2011 season.This is certainly not surprising news. Posada has battled injuries for each of the last four seasons, only reaching 120 games played once in that stretch. At this point, his value in the field is nothing more than that of an emergency first baseman or catcher. If he even wanted to play, he would only be a truly valuable player in the American League as a designated hitter. Given his age (40) and the abuse to the body that catchers always take, it certainly makes sense that the market would be thin on him. Long gone are the ...

For the first few months of the Cubs new administration, it has been relatively quiet on the forefront despite being in the running for several free agents throughout the offseason. However, yesterday Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer acquired first baseman Anthony Rizzo and Zach Cates, a 23-year-old pitcher from the San Diego Padres in exchange for Andrew Cashner and Kyung-Nin Ma according to MLB.com writer, Carrie Muskrat.Although this trade is not in the same league as signing Prince Fielder, nor does this mean that Rizzo will be the projected starting first baseman for the Cubs this season, but Rizzo is undoubtedly a promising prospect that will be a serious component in the Cubs future. It seemed evident Rizzo would be on his way out of Chicago after the Padres traded for Yondo Alonso. With this move, Epstein and Co. were able to jump and grab a premier prospect. Rizzo was called ...

The White Sox need a closer after trading away Sergio Santos in the first of two offseason deals with the Toronto Blue Jays.  The potential names for a replacements have included Matt Thornton, Jesse Crain and rookie Addison Reed.As a Sox fan I've seen what Thornton can do and I'll pass.  Thrust in the role of closer last season, Thornton struggled mightily with his control.  He had only been a starter and setup man prior to getting the nod to replace Bobby Jenks, and it proved to be a huge mistake.  The same thing happened with lefty Chris Sale and perhaps that explains why he hasn't received much consideration this time around. We also have seen Crain in the closer's role for a game or two here and there but never full-time.  Should that give us a sigh of relief? Not really.The closer may just be the second most important piece to the White Sox ...

Growing up, a lot of young men want to be a professional athlete.With that comes countless hours in the backyard honing your sport and doing a play-by-play with you at the plate, the three-point line as the clock hits zero, or catching a winning touchdown pass in the Super Bowl.After that comes the dreams of being a superstar in that sport and becoming one of its best.Then, comes the speech you'll give when you're being inducted into the Hall of Fame. You got through countless drafts as a young kid, dreaming of how cool it would be to live in immortality.For a few baseball players, that dream will become a reality in just a few short days. They will be announced as the 2012 Hall of Fame class for Major League Baseball, living what most kids dream of.All through their playing days, some felt they were destined for greatness, while ...

About four months ago, I wrote an article wondering aloud whether the Detroit Tigers should give oft-injured fan favorite Joel Zumaya one last chance, with a new contract. Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski gave us an answer to that question at the winter meetings when he stated bluntly that the team will not offer Zumaya a major league contract; but they are happy to have him at camp as a non-roster invitee.Detroit did not even have a representative among the 50 scouts present at Zumaya's open workout in December. Clearly the Tigers have decided to move on without the flame-throwing righty and it appears the odds of him showing up at Tigers training camp as an invitee are very slim, despite his stated interest in remaining in Detroit.Rumors abound that the San Diego Padres are very interested in Zumaya, a San Diego native who would benefit from an extreme pitchers' park in ...

The Baseball Hall of Fame—holy ground for America’s national pastime. Within Cooperstown’s pantheon are honored 296 of the diamond’s royalty. Some are gods; some many have never heard of. A few don’t truly belong; others, having received the sport’s ultimate reward, remain under-appreciated. Each of them was immortalized by vote, a process vulnerable to an array of human foibles. Whereas most Hall of Famers fully deserve their honor, more than a few waited for enshrinement long after their achievements warranted such recognition (sometimes for decades), or, occasionally in the case of the Veterans Committee, wormed their way in via cronyism, inflated reputation or voter incompetence. Because (since 1958) the ballot permits—but does not require—voting to the 10th place, some very mediocre players garner votes. Often, this safeguard prohibits too many candidates from making the cut—lest the Hall grow even more overpopulated than it already is— although it occasionally detracts votes ...

Mark Buehrle has a dream. A dream that his four little dogs will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the ferocity of their appearance but by the content of their tameness. A 1989 pitbull ban in Miami-Dade County forced Buehrle to distance himself from the Miami Marlins ballpark in order to legally keep one of his dog. According to the Miami Herald, Buehrle is an avid dog lover and wouldn’t even fathom parting with his pitbull Slater over the ban. The All-Star ace even said that if there hadn’t been a place for him and his family to move that permitted the pitbull, he wouldn’t have signed in Miami. Luckily for the Marlins, Broward County shares his love for canines. Buehrle, one of many dog owners who admitted that they hoped Michael Vick would get hurt, complained about the absurd law saying (via ...