Kuzul

Injuries have continued to plague some of the biggest names in baseball. With David Price the latest Cy Young contender to come up with a sore arm, Bryce Harper bouncing his head off an unprotected section of fencing and Ryan Howard limping again, we can only wonder about the hours that the medical staff is putting in.And while those good men and women work 18-hour days, we're left wondering if anyone else seems to care. I'll pass on stepping back up on my normal soapbox here. You know the next stanza on your own by now. At some point, some team will realize the advantage it can gain.In the meantime, we're left trying to find where the advantages are in our own fantasy world. You'll know if your favorite team is serious about managing injuries, but on a fantasy team, it's a game of minimization and prediction. The simplest way ...

Over the last year, baseball fans have celebrated the rise of Bryce Harper and Mike Trout as the seminal players of the next generation. Both are dynamic talents with the potential for superstardom and possibly future tickets to Cooperstown.Quietly, another phenom is emerging in Baltimore. While Harper and Trout were called up early in the 2012 season, giving them an entire summer to dazzle and amaze the baseball world, Manny Machado didn't arrive to the Orioles until August. Amid much less fan fare, Machado stepped into a contending team's lineup, played a new position and contributed to Baltimore's first postseason berth in 15 years. Now, in his first full year in the majors, the 20-year-old third baseman is more than a contributor. Machado is an emerging star in the AL East, garnering high praise and knocking on the door of the elusive Harper-Trout conversation.Before we answer the question of Machado's ...

A couple weeks ago, I wrote an open letter to Bryce Harper asking him to never change. I made it clear that it involved him upholding his style of play, as Bryce Harper just isn't Bryce Harper without the Tasmanian Devil approach to the game. I'm feeling conflicted on the matter now. In fact, I'll be damned if I don't feel a shred of responsibility for what happened to Harper on Monday night during the Washington Nationals' 6-2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium.You saw it, right?If no, you can watch it here. If yes, well, you can re-watch it here.It was a collision as weird as it was violent. Harper just seemed to have no notion of his whereabouts and then, BAM, face met fence. When he hit the deck and the blood started to flow, it looked bad.The good news is that it's not. Harper walked ...

Bryce Harper isn't invincible.During the sixth inning of the Washington Nationals' road game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Harper was hot in pursuit of an A.J. Ellis fly ball to deep right field. Harper appeared to be in position to make a play on the ball, but just as he pulled up short, he met an unforgiving force.The right field wall.In a horrifying sight, Harper crumbled to the ground and lay motionless with his face in the dirt. Ellis rounded second base and stepped into third base safely, as Denard Span came over to hit the cut-off man.More importantly, Harper rolled onto his back and one of the few things we could see was blood.Harper didn't just collide with the right field wall, but the scoreboard that is planted within the barrier. As soon as Span checked on him, he signaled for the trainers to come out and, before we ...

Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper has been the talk of Major League Baseball for years, long before he was taken with the No. 1 pick in the 2010 draft. The slugger graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 16-year-old junior in high school when he was declared "Baseball's Chosen One." After winning National League Rookie of the Year at the age of 19 in 2012 and starting off like a house on fire this year, Harper's stock is greater than Apple, Facebook and Google combined. Harper recently passed the 162-game mark for his career, a full season's worth of games. During that span, which has covered April 28, 2012, through April 27, 2013, he has put up eye-popping numbers for anyone, much less someone who just turned 20 last October. He has hit .283/.354/.515 with 31 home runs, 77 RBI, 116 runs scored, 19 stolen bases and a very good 135-69 strikeout-to-walk ...

Dear Bryce,You don't know me, but I feel like I know you well enough. Like many others, I'm a fan. Also like many others, I feel like I know you a little better now after having watched the documentary ESPN did on you. Bryce Begins was good stuff. A real humdinger.It also got me to thinking that it's high time I asked a favor of you, one that I believe most others in galaxies both known and unknown would find agreeable.Do us all a favor and don't ever change, bro. Always be yourself.I can't believe I'm sitting here asking you to never change. When you were still making your way toward the major leagues, I recall anticipating that you were going to be just another insufferable prima donna.You remember the article Tom Verducci wrote about you for Sports Illustrated back in 2009? You know, the one that portrayed you as baseball's ...

Major League Baseball has somewhat transitioned into a pitcher's league—as we've seen an increase in perfect games and no-hitters the past few seasons—but the league still has its share of feared hitters that no pitcher wants to see in the batter's box.From on-base percentages to threats to go deep, each hitter brings an arsenal to the plate that has proven to overpower pitchers in the past.So who made the cut for the 15 most dangerous hitters in baseball today?Let's find out.Begin Slideshow

After six weeks of preparation, the Washington Nationals will play their first game of the regular season on Monday afternoon. Spring training is officially in the books after their final tune-up against the New York Yankees on Friday afternoon.After a long, grueling spring which welcomed new faces such as new starting center fielder Denard Span, the Nationals will be able to reflect on their successes and failures of the spring in hopes to come together for a championship run.Let's take a look at the spring training stats of all of the Nationals' starters in their lineup spots as projected by CBSSports.com.Begin Slideshow

Get ready to see more of Mike Trout and Bryce Harper this year.Literally.Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times caused a stir last week when he reported that Trout, the 2012 American League Rookie of the Year, had reported to Los Angeles Angels camp at 241 pounds. That's somewhere between 10 and 15 pounds more than his 2012 playing weight.Earlier this week, James Wagner of The Washington Post reported that Harper, winner of the 2012 National League Rookie of the Year award, reported to Washington Nationals camp at 230 pounds. He's listed at 215 pounds on MLB.com.I'm already on record with my opinion that I'm on board with Trout's weight gain. It's perfectly harmless, and it could make him a more dangerous player.I would now like to go on record with my opinion about Harper's weight gain. I'm more than OK with it. In fact, I'd even go so far as to ...

There will be several missing superstars from MLB in the 2013 World Baseball Classic. Players such as the Los Angeles Angels Mike Trout and the Washington Nationals Bryce Harper have decided to forgo the third installment of the international event. There will also be several international players missing from the fold. Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners and Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers headline two prominent baseball players who will not be participating in the WBC for their native countries. Here is a list of 10 well-known major leaguers who will be sitting out the WBC.Begin Slideshow