Authors note: I promise we’re not trying to turn The Hardball Times Live into “The-Albert-Pujols-Decision.com”. However, it is a topic worthy of extra attention. How his contract situation plays out will say a great deal about many questions that face Major League Baseball today. And over the past few years, I’ve poured a lot of […]

Late last night, Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that the Twins are exploring the possibility of trading Francisco Liriano before the 2011 season. On the surface, this may be nothing more than exploratory talks but the question remains: Why would a team expected to contend in the AL Central suddenly put its […]

As David Gassko noted earlier this week, it’s looking more and more likely that Albert Pujols wants more money than the Cardinals want to pay him, and so he could become a free agent after the coming season. Recent reports also indicate that “there is ‘virtually no chance’ the Cardinals reach a deal with Albert […]

Hi there. I’m back after a prolonged offseason hibernation. Over the last several months there’s been a fair amount of the annual “Is he a Hall of Famer” debate. There’s the “the numbers tell me” argument, which tends to help players like Bert Blyleven. And there’s the “my eyes tell me” argument, which tends to […]

Ten thousand days ago, one of baseball’s greatest milestones was achieved as the 300-win club initiated its newest member, the longtime standout for the Philadelphia Phillies, Steve Carlton. He had an almost eerily even career record at that point: 300-199. (Sure enough, Carlton would lose his next decision to become 300-200 on his career). He […]

Apparently, discussions on a contract extension between Albert Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals are not going well. It’s rumored that Pujols is looking for an Alex Rodriguez-like deal (or even more), a price tag that the Cardinals claim they cannot afford. Both sides have resorted to some posturing in the media, and it’s looking […]

There are writers of historical baseball fiction, and then there is Darryl Brock. There are the rest, and then there is the best. It’s been more than ten years since the original publication of Havana Heat, Brock’s rollicking second work in the genre. His first novel, If I Never Get Back, published in 1990, was […]

I’ll always have fond memories of Woodie Fryman. He was pitching for the Detroit Tigers the first time my father took me to Yankee Stadium. This was back in 1973, the final season at the old stadium. In fact, it was the final night game in the history of the old ballyard. My father and […]

If you were going to start a franchise in 2011, which player would you take first: Albert Pujols, Troy Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria, Joey Votto, or maybe Buster Posey? How about Ryan Zimmerman? I might. Rob Neyer just made the fearless jump from ESPN to SBNation, and he’s started to post lists of who will be […]

If you’re a THT Forecasts subscriber (and if you aren’t, why not sign up today?), it turns out that you can search for players on Forecasts without having to go to the home page first. It works differently for different browsers, but here’s how to do it for the most popular ones: 1. For Internet […]