Greg Maddux, the future Hall of Fame pitcher, had his jersey retired by the Atlanta Braves on Friday. With the Braves, Maddux cemented his legacy as one of the best pitchers of his generation — and perhaps one of the top 15 pitchers of all-time.
Maddux pitched with the Braves from 1993 until 2003. Both before and after his stint with the Braves, Maddux pitched for the Chicago Cubs. In his final two seasons, he pitched for the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
For his career, Maddux had a record of 355-227 and an ERA of 3.16. He pitched …read more

Greg Maddux, most recently of the Los Angeles Dodgers, has decided to retire. At 43, Maddux retires with 355 career victories and is undoubtedly a first ballot Hall of Famer.
To go along with his 355 wins, he also had a career ERA of 3.16 and more than 3300 strikeouts. In his more than 5000 innings pitched, he walked less than 100 batters. Amazingly enough, he had at least 13 victories for 20 straight years — between 1988 and 2007.
Although he didn’t have a great season, he had a few big games for the Dodgers after being traded at midseason from …read more

The National League had a youth movement of sorts when it came to the Gold Glove winners. Five of the players who won the 2008 Gold Glove award were first time winners. Here’s a complete list of the NL Gold Glove winners for 2008:
Pitcher – Greg Maddux, Los Angeles Dodgers – 18th Gold Glove
Catcher – Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals – 1st Gold Glove
First Baseman – Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego Padres – 1st Gold Glove
Second Baseman – Brandon Phillips, Cincinnati Reds – 1st Gold Glove
Shortstop – Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies – 2nd Gold Glove
Third Baseman – David Wright, New York …read more

Even though the baseball trade deadline has come and gone, that doesn’t mean the trading has ended. In fact, expect to see plenty of more deals before all is said and done. Waiver trades have been common in the last decade.
Who will be traded? There are a number of possibilities but the biggest name is Greg Maddux. Maddux, who is one of the best pitchers the game of baseball has ever seen, has stated a desire to either stay with the San Diego Padres or be traded to a team on the West Coast. Where …read more

My preview of the Padres is up at Hardball Times. One issue I touch on is the uncertainty at the back end of San Diego’s rotation:
Last year the Padres brought in Greg Maddux and David Wells. One of those worked out real well, the other not so much. This year it’s Randy Wolf and Mark Prior. The situation is a little different, though, because Maddux basically never misses a start, while Wolf hasn’t made as many as 20 since 2004. As for Prior, my advice is not to think about him at all and hope for a pleasant surprise later …read more

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, one of the great things about attending spring training is that you have the opportunity to watch players hone their craft. This includes prospects getting their first taste of pro ball as well as future first-ballot Hall of Famers.
For reasons I won’t get into here, we missed Greg Maddux’s start while we were out in Peoria. But to me — and I can’t stress this enough — the games aren’t nearly as interesting as the practices. Fortunately, we did get to watch Maddux practice.
In the photo above, you can’t see it, but Maddux is standing on …read more