The signing of Edwin Jackson presents the Nationals with the kind of problem that every club strives for—they have more starting pitchers than rotation slots. They actually have a LOT more starting pitchers than spots. Stephen Strasburg, Jordan Zimmermann, Gio Gonzalez, and Jackson are all locks while Chien-Ming Wang, John Lannan, and Ross Detwiler will […]

Ten thousand days ago, Reggie Jackson made a bit of baseball history for himself. On Sept. 17, 1984, the most feared slugger of his generation did something long expected of him, bashing his 500th career home run. It came in the seventh inning off current Padres manager Bud Black. It was the only bad pitch […]

Fans had been waiting patiently for the last chip to fall. All of the big free agents had signed (Albert Pujols, Prince Fielder, C.J. Wilson, etc.) except for one. That one was Edwin Jackson, and he signed with the Washington Nationals yesterday for one year worth somewhere around $10 million. At first glance, this looks […]

In addition to the Oliver database, reports, projections, and watch lists, THT Forecasts also has a fantasy price guide that you can customize with your league specifications (although note that not all stat categories you can imagine are present yet; we’ll work on that!). Also, the fantasy price guides are updated as the season progresses […]

Whether you call it gold or mustard or just plain old yellow, the color simply glows on the 1974 Topps card of the underrated Ken Holtzman. A’s owner Charlie Finley liked to refer to this color as “California Gold,” which may or may not be available at your local paint store. In 1964, Finley adorned […]

10,000 days ago (a “day-versary” as I call it), Steve Carlton made a bit of history for himself. On Sept. 14, 1984, he pitched 6.2 IP to earn a victory over the Expos. In was his 312th career victory, and more important for today’s item, it was win No. 235 with the Philadelphia Phillies. That […]

Last week, the Phillies signed Juan Pierre to a minor-league contract. Pierre’s most likely role with the club is as the fifth or sixth outfielder. His primary duty might be to pinch run when Jim Thome reaches base in the late innings. Once Ryan Howard returns from his Achilles injury—projected sometime in May—Pierre may be […]

In a sense, there has been an air of spring training atmosphere around September baseball in Oakland for a while now. Only without the hope part. The weather is great. The games don’t really decide anything. And not too many watch them to start with. So, when Jeff Francoeur and his 59-83 Royals rolled into […]

Thirty years ago today, one of the more one-sided trades of the 1980s occurred. It was one of the worst trades the Phillies ever made, and one of the best trades the Cubs ever made. At the time, the three-player transaction didn’t look like a big deal. If it was at all interesting to people, […]

We’ve got a new feature here at the Hardball Times. It’s called THT Dispatch, and it’s a newly featured blog on the site (you can view a link for it in the links at the top of the page—between THT Live and THT Forecasts). The idea behind THT Dispatch is that our writers will regularly […]