Free Lance

It’s not often that you have the chance in life to not only become part of something greater than yourself but also become involved with a cause that you believe could change lives and motivate others to be more than they are. When that opportunity presents itself you must ask, “Am I ready for this?” and “Is this something that I can not only stay committed to for the rest…

Many of us are already well aware that one of the worst things a hitter can do is ground into a double play, or triple play for that matter but as cool as they are they are also incredibly rare. There are some players that are incredibly inept at avoiding the double play while others are actually pretty damn good at it. Generally, when evaluating whether a player is double-play…

Home runs can be a thing of beauty, no wait – home runs ARE a thing of beauty. When it comes to how we recognize those with a genuine power stroke that magical line we draw where you’re considered to have one or not is typically 30 home runs. If you hit more than that then you’re considered a slugger but if you hit less than that then you’re not…

When you think of BABIP, or batting average on balls in play, for players the first thing that typically comes to mind is luck. An incredibly high BABIP would indicate that the hitter in question was quite lucky that more balls than average found a hole somewhere, just as an incredibly low BABIP would indicate that those balls were likely being hit right at guys in the field very consistently….

There were seven players who managed to get the necessary 502, or more, plate appearances to qualify for the batting title that posted negative WAR values this past season. I’m going to take a look at each one and make a determination as to whether we can expect better things from them in 2013 or not. For some of these players their teams will be relying heavily on them to…

Even though nothing is “official” yet, John Fay from USA Today and the Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting that the Cincinnati Reds have been awarded the 2015 MLB All-Star game. This is the first time since 1988 that the Reds have hosted the event and fifth time overall. Teams typically give their ballpark and surrounding areas a bit of a facelift in preparation for the game so it will be interesting…

A lot has been made of late regarding steroid use and how it’s absolutely, positively against the moral fiber of many Hall of Fame voters to allow any known or suspected PED user/abuser in to such a sacred place. Don’t worry, this isn’t another Hall of Fame piece about steroid use and who should or shouldn’t be let in the Hall of Fame and blah blah blah. This instead is…

I’ve already given you the good news with the five best contracts signed in baseball last off-season, which you can read here, if you haven’t checked it out already. Now it’s time for the soul-crushing bad news for the teams that are guilty of handing out the five worst contracts from last off-season. What a way to kick off the year 2013! Before we get to the five worst contracts…

It wasn’t too long ago that I wrote about the New York Yankees payroll and luxury tax situation, and in case you missed it or would like to give it another read you can do that here. To give you a brief overview though, and it’ll make sense why in a moment, the Yankees are trying to get under the luxury tax threshold of $189 million dollars as quickly as…

Former relief pitcher and closer Ugueth Urbina was sentenced to 14 years and 7 months in prison on March 28, 2007 for attempted murder. While attempted murder is pretty self explanatory, it doesn’t nearly begin to explain what Urbina attempted to do to five farm workers on his property because he suspected them of stealing a gun from him (although he had no proof). This all took place in November…