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On the day after Christmas in 1995, the Orioles traded outfielder Curtis Goodwin and minor league outfield prospect Trovin Valdez to the Reds for 32-year-old lefty pitcher David Wells. Wells had just gone 16-8 with a 3.24 ERA in a season split between Detroit and Cincinnati. Goodwin was 23 and had just hit .263 with no power - and 22 steals - in 87 games
It's Christmas Eve, and for the last several years my family has gathered around the TV set to watch the classic film "A Christmas Story," which TBS shows continuously for 24 hours. If you've never seen the film, it centers around a young boy in suburban Indiana who wants a BB gun for Christmas, only to be warned at every turn that "you'll shoot your
Last week, I wrote that, of all of the hypothetical center field prospects the Nationals might consider, the longest shot was probably soon-to-be 39-year-old veteran Mike Cameron. So, of course, the Nats signed Cameron. Seriously, I wouldn't get too excited about it. It's a minor league contract, and if he doesn't show much during spring training, it's adios Mr. Mike. It's possible that they're only
A caller to MASN's "NatsTalk" yesterday asked Mike Wallace and I to comment on the issue of money, specifically, the willingness of the Nationals to pay the going rate for major league free agents. She mentioned that she was motivated to ask based upon comments she'd read on a Nats online fan forum which seemed to suggest that many fans continue to believe that "the
Perusing the list of players non-tendered this week, I spot the name of Joe Saunders, a left-hander most recently of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Saunders, a West Springfield High (Va.) product, spent most of his career with the Angels. He was traded to the Snakes for Dan Haren in July 2010, and has a 3.69 ERA in 46 starts in the National League. If the Nationals
National League Most Valuable Player Ryan Braun's positive drug test for - well, whatever it was - is a real head-scratcher. Inasmuch as players are reportedly 0-for-12 in getting positive tests overturned, his appeal looks like a longshot. However, I can't get past one aspect of the story. The results of the early October test that was positive for Braun showed such an abnormally high
Albert Pujols' journey from St. Louis to Anaheim surprised me, to be sure, but it also leads me to believe that it will begin a chain reaction of sorts, based on an overcrowded Angels' roster. Pujols is a first baseman by trade, and will surely start at first for the Halos. He will also be designated hitter on occasion, but the point is, incumbent first
The last time I counted, there were 39 players and/or managers in the Hall of Fame who spent at least part of their career in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform. Of that group, only two - Stan Musial and Bob Gibson - played for no other team during their careers. I'm thinking that five years after he retires, Albert Pujols will join those two to
It's terrific that Ron Santo has finally achieved Hall of Fame status, thanks to the Golden Era committee. It's sad that it comes a year and two days after he passed away. I had the chance to chat with Santo a few times during his broadcast career, and it was pretty clear he thought he had Hall of Fame credentials. He played for a team
At the Winter Meetings a year ago, the Nationals made headlines by announcing the signing of free agent Jayson Werth to a huge contract the evening before the meetings actually commenced. Might they do something like that again? I wouldn't bet against it. For the past several weeks, we've all been hearing the same rumors that the Nats were focused on another starting pitcher. First
The 2012 Hall of Fame ballot is out. I don't have a vote and never will, but nonetheless, here's my take. There's a National on the ballot in the person of first-year regular third baseman Vinny Castilla. Castilla had a pretty good career, all things considered, hitting 320 home runs and driving in over 1,100 runs, with a .276 batting average over 16 seasons. His
