Shohei Otani, a 18-year-old with an upper-90s fastball, made his Nippon Pro Baseball debut this morning for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters. And yeah, I was up at 5AM to watch it. Otani has already made plenty of news in Japan. After his impressive high school career Shohei announced that he would skip the Nippon League altogether, therefore bypassing the posting system and sign with a Major League organization. The Red Sox, Rangers, Yankees, Dodgers, and [...]

Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus cashed in a big way by agreeing to an eight-year, $120 million contract extension. The deal hasn’t been finalized, but should be made official on Thursday. There is a clause that would allow Andrus to opt out after the fourth year if he chooses, but since the extension doesn’t kick in till after his current contract expires after 2014, that means he’s signed at least through 2018, which would be [...]

According to a report, the Cubs are willing to eat $26 million of the remaining $36 million owed left fielder Alfonso Soriano over the next two seasons, the last of the eight-year, $136 million deal he signed before the 2007 season. The contract includes a full no-trade clause, which Soriano invoked last season when he rejected a trade to the San Francisco Giants, using the negative effect the cold weather would have on his knees. [...]

Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports reports that free agent reliever Rafael Soriano has agreed to a two-year, $28 million contract with the Washington Nationals. As a result of the signing, the Nationals will have to surrender the team’s first round pick in the 2013 amateur draft, while the Yankees will receive a compensatory pick sandwiched between the first and second rounds. Soriano was one of three remaining free agents with draft pick compensation attached. All three of them (Soriano, Kyle [...]

While the Mets may in fact be done for the winter, they are still open to the possibility of adding to the major league roster, although on minor league deals. So now that we’ve got that straight… The list of FAs we’ve seen recently has done nothing to excite Mets fans, but someone has just entered the fray that really piques my interest. After a Chris Schwinden-like off season, Russ Canzler has landed with the Yankees, [...]

The Los Angeles Angels have acquired starting pitcher Tommy Hanson from the Atlanta Braves for reliever Jordan Walden, according to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports. Here are two summaries from MLBTR: Hanson, 26, pitched to a 4.48 ERA with 8.3 K/9 and 3.7 BB/9 in 174 2/3 innings this year. The right-hander missed time with shoulder tendinitis last season, and his fastball velocity has been trending in the wrong direction as well. Hanson is arbitration-eligible [...]

Lisa Pernice asks: Now that Toronto got Buck, you think that we should try to get either d’Arnaud or Arencibia? If they didn’t have a logjam before, it looks like they have one now. What would the cost be? Ramon asks: Now that the Blue Jays acquired John Buck from the Marlins, do you think that the Mets have a good shot at attaining J.P. Arencibia? Though Travis d’Arnaud is a better option, it would [...]

According to Joel Sherman of the New York Post, the Mets will not be trading Ike Davis, despite the original plan of possibly moving him to capitalize on his value and allow Lucas Duda to play first. Sandy Alderson has a track record of putting high value on the ability to hit for power, and if R.A. Dickey were to be traded, Alderson would be looking for a power hitter, preferably in the outfield. Even [...]

A few days back, a group of friends and myself spent Labor Day weekend having fun and talking sports, as per the usual. The topic of the Mets came up with the normal insults being thrown around by the Yankee fans and us few Met fans valiantly trying to defend what little the team has, mostly David Wright. Then the topic of what the team will do with Wright reared it’s ugly head, and the [...]