The Rule V draft took place on Thursday. For those not in the know, this is sort of a swap meet where teams can gather cheap talent from other teams, with a catch — you buy it, you have to keep it on your 25-man roster all year or offer it back to the other team. Sometimes this works (Roberto Clemente, George Bell, Johan Santana), but most times not so much.
USA Today has the full list of ‘07 draftees in the major-league phase (there’s also a minor-league phase, but seriously, it’s barely worth mentioning). Chris Constancio at Hardball Times [full …read more

Nate Silver ran a piece the other day at Baseball Prospectus re-examining his earlier look at the 50 most valuable long-term commodities in baseball. He offers thoughts on biggest risers (including Justin Upton, about whom he correctly notes that “age is everything, and for a 19-year-old to come this far this fast is very special”), biggest fallers (comparing Jason Bay’s career path to that of Bobby Higginson), and his “very preliminary, off-the-cuff, subject-to-change, pre-PECOTA Top 20″ for next year.
Read the full article for all the details, but here are Silver’s projected top pitchers for 2008-2013. See if you can figure …read more

{democracy:21}

We’ve talked about the AL Cy Young here and here, but I’m thinking maybe it’s time for a poll? After all, we are having so much fun with the NL (write-in candidate Jimmy Rollins has overtaken Matt Holliday and David Wright) and AL MVP award polls.
My preseason pick? I went with the pack and chose Johan Santana. Right now, I’d say that if one of the guys from Cleveland (C.C. Sabathia, Fausto Carmona) doesn’t win it, there’s a problem. But I could be wrong.
What do you think? Feel free to leave comments supporting your choice if you’re so …read more

Happy Labor Day. Watch your favorite team on television today, assuming the powers-that-be allow you to do so…
American League

Mariners at Yankees, 10:05 a.m. PT — Good thing folks in Seattle like coffee; this one’s kicking off good and early. The Mariners start the day two games back of New York in the AL wild card race. Felix Hernandez gets the start against a man twice his age, Roger Clemens. Hernandez was born three days before Clemens’ 37th big-league start. Interestingly, their age 21 seasons are kind of similar. Both got hit harder than you might expect for guys with such …read more

Wednesday? Must be a full schedule. Let’s jump right in…
American League

Angels at Mariners, 1:35 p.m. PT — Division rivals, great pitching matchup (Jered Weaver vs Felix Hernandez). Most days this would be a no-brainer as the game to watch, but there are several good ones today.
Red Sox at Yankees, 4:05 p.m. PT — Josh Beckett goes up against Roger Clemens. Advice to hitters: look for the fastball. The AL East is slipping away from the Yankees, as they are now 8 games back with 31 remaining. They’re only 2 behind Seattle in the wild card.
Twins at Indians, 4:05 p.m. PT …read more

There are two games seriously worth watching on Monday. Unfortunately, they’re being played at the same time:
American League

Twins at Mariners, 7:05 p.m. PT — Johan Santana? Felix Hernandez? One potential sticking point for Seattle is that lefties are hitting Hernandez pretty hard (.303/.368/.530) this year; that could be a problem against a team that features two potent left-handed bats in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Seems to me maybe Hernandez could use an off-speed pitch. Who better to watch than Santana?

National League

Astros at Dodgers, 7:10 p.m. PT — Yeah, only minor playoff implications here, but your other option is to …read more

So many games to choose from on a Friday. What to do…
American League

Red Sox at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT — Not that the Red Sox need my help in the hype department, but a battle between Daisuke Matsuzaka and Erik Bedard could be a lot of fun to watch. Bedard has emerged in a big way this season. He’s fourth in the American League in ERA, first in H/9, first in K/9 (11.20!), and first in strikeouts. With all due respect to perennial favorite Johan Santana, Bedard and Oakland’s Dan Haren have to be the front-runners for this year’s Cy …read more

This is more like it. We’ve got a full schedule of good pitching matchups on Friday. Here are some of the better ones:

What’s on tap for today? Here are some of your best bets:
American League

Blue Jays at Devil Rays, 10:40 a.m. PT – Roy Halladay and Scott Kazmir would be instant Cy Young Award candidates in a league that didn’t feature Johan Santana. Tampa Bay has some unbelievably talented young player — Rocco Baldelli, Carl Crawford, Elijah Dukes, B.J. Upton. If these guys can get any kind of pitching, they’ve got a chance to go somewhere. Like, um, fourth place in the AL East.
Twins at White Sox, 11:05 a.m. PT – Division rivals. Santana gets the start for Minnesota. John Danks, a …read more

Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter have hit back-to-back towering homers off Baltimore’s Erik Bedard. It’s only the second inning, but with Johan Santana on the mound for the Twins, that could be the game.
Some impressive homers on Opening Day. Adam Dunn knocked a couple of serious bombs for Cincy, as did Edgar Renteria for the Braves.
Ah, baseball…
[Update: The Orioles have knocked three doubles in the fourth off Santana to take a 3-2 lead. The home crowd got real quiet.]