Kuzul

Hunter Pence might need some help on the proper use of sunglasses. The Dodgers and Giants opened play on a sun-drenched Monday afternoon in Los Angeles. It was the kind of day that mandated some sun-shielding eye wear if you were ever going to skirt any amount of pop-fly disaster. Well, Pence flew too close to the sun and got burned, dropping a routine fly ball in the sixth inning, producing one of the first bloopers of the season. In case you missed it, @gidget (h/t Larry Brown Sports) provided this GIF of Pence using his hands to shield a bright sun when the sunglasses on his head may have proved far more useful. As Larry Brown Sports points out, MLB Memes was quick to the trigger in making light of Pence fighting a futile battle against the sun. Of course, this is just a silly moment from game one of 162. The San Francisco Giants will soon ...

Every year, in sports, there are underrated players who break onto the scene with great performances.And, every year, people try to predict who those players will be. And this year, I have some ideas.Despite successful 2012 campaigns, these players aren't getting much attention for a variety of reasons. However, in 2013, they will be getting attention, for some good performances, in fantasy and real life. And then, they'll be shining in the bright lights of October.But who will those players be? Well, why don't you find out.Begin Slideshow

Brought in to solidify the middle of the San Francisco Giants' lineup, Hunter Pence has actually made it worse during his short tenure as a Giant.The right fielder has gone just 6-for-43 for San Francisco in 10 games. He's struck out 11 times and walked just once. Overall he's hitting .140, with an OPS of .365.These 10 games absolutely represent a small sample size, so he can't be judged on his performance as a Giant alone. But Pence is very obviously pressing. He's diving at pitches, trying to prove himself to his teammates and Giant fans with every wild swing. He's always been antsy at the plate, with his body in constant motion. But he's looked more than antsy so far; he's looked anxious, in a teeth-gritting, silently desperate sort of way.There's no way Pence is actually this bad. He's clearly hurting himself by simply trying to do too much. ...

When the San Francisco Giants acquired Hunter Pence just before this year's trade deadline, they took the first step toward repeating a horrible mistake. The second step of that process is already looking likely: there's talk of signing Pence to a long-term deal.The mistake referred to is sitting on his couch somewhere, still collecting the balance of a $60 million contract he signed with the Giants in December of 2007. That's right, I'm talking about Aaron Rowand.The similarities between Rowand and Pence are striking, and the Giants don't seem to recognize them. If they can't see that they've got Rowand 2.0 in right field, they're doomed to repeat the same egregious error they made by giving Rowand $12 million a year.It's not just because both Pence and Rowand are former Phillies. And it's not just because Pence and Rowand each joined the Giants a year removed from their best seasons.The ...

Last year at the trade deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies were 68-39, six games up in the NL East. This season, the Phils are just 45-57, 16.5 games out in the NL East and 13 games out in the wild-card race. Needless to say, with the payroll over $174 million, second to the New York Yankees in MLB, expectations were high.They have not come close to meeting those expectations.There were several rumors going around, including the potential trade of veteran starters Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay, but Ruben Amaro, Jr. held his cards, hoping to rebuild with his powerful rotation for the 2013 season. With the deadline came a couple of major trades for Philadelphia. The club was able to acquire some talented young players to build around, while opening up the outfield for young players like Domonic Brown and John Mayberry, Jr. Let's take a look at how ...

The San Francisco Giants went into the trading deadline needing to fill three obvious areas of deficiency: a lack of power in the lineup, a lack of depth on the bench and in the bullpen due to the loss of closer Brian Wilson earlier this season.For Giants' general manager Brian Sabean, two out of three wasn't bad.The late-inning reliever never materialized, because it didn't exist. The relievers that the Giants were rumored to be interested in were ultimately not legitimate options to replace Santiago Casilla in the ninth inning.Jonathan Broxton and Brandon League were the two biggest names that were moved on the relief market, and while both throw hard, neither misses enough bats to be considered an upgrade on Casilla. You can't fault Sabean for failing to acquire bullpen help when the help that was out there wasn't good enough to warrant selling part of the farm for.Casilla has ...

The 2012 trade deadline has come to pass. For the Philadelphia Phillies, though, it could have gone better.At roughly noon Eastern time today, the Los Angeles Dodgers acquired Shane Victorino in exchange for reliever Josh Lindblom and pitching prospect Ethan Martin. Then, about two hours later, the San Francisco Giants made a trade that nabbed Hunter Pence from the Phillies for outfielder Nate Schierholtz, catching prospect Tommy Joseph and minor league starting pitcher Seth Rosin.It was thought that Joe Blanton could be traded today as well, but a deal with the Baltimore Orioles fell through. Blanton remains on the team for now, as he could be a trade candidate in August through the waiver trade system.In the meantime, the Phillies have called up Domonic Brown and have activated Brian Schneider off the DL to take the roster spots of Victorino and Pence. But with the returns the Phillies received in ...

As the baseball world surpasses 72 hours until the trade deadline at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 31, more and more rumors will arise and materialize into trades. Some of the most heated rumors involve two of the Philadelphia Phillies' starting outfielders, Shane Victorino and Hunter Pence.Given the team's current last-place standing in the NL East by a 14.5-game margin, the Phillies are best suited to sell rather than buy this year.In need of prospects to rebuild their thin farm system, the Phillies' only chances of doing that are trading away their proven talent to acquire multiple prospects who could make the team younger as well as help out the club in the future.It makes sense for the Phillies to at least consider trading away their center and right fielder. Maybe they want to trade one of them rather than both, or maybe none at all. It's up to GM ...

It seems like just a few days ago that nearly every Philadelphia Phillies player could be acquired in the right deal. Of course, signing an All-Star pitcher to a long-term extension and winning four straight games leading up to the trade deadline can change things. But that has not, however, stopped teams from displaying their interest in certain players. According to a recent tweet by Jon Morosi, the San Francisco Giants could make a run at Hunter Pence if the Phillies decide to deal him prior to the trade deadline. With Hamels in the fold long term, the Phillies' payroll for this season and next is expected to exceed the $178 million luxury-tax threshold.  Additionally, Pence is likely to receive a salary increase through arbitration, as he is still signed through next season.  Therefore, moving Pence could make sense to give the Phillies payroll flexibility this season and next. But ...

The Philadelphia Phillies are "eager" to trade Hunter Pence, according to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports. If Pence is truly going to be on the move, the Cole Hamels situation could end up being quite a bit more interesting. On one hand, trading Pence would be indicative of an oncoming fire sale. The Philadelphia Phillies haven't had much offense this year, but Pence does have 17 home runs on the year. Trading away a large piece of their offense so far this year would definitely not do very much to help the Phillies compete right now. If this trade would really indicate a sale, it would make sense that Shane Victorino and Hamels would be on their way out as well. If you're going to sell one important piece, why not go all the way and worry about dominating next season? However, there is another reason the Phillies might be ...