Jim Vassallo

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Joined October 27th 2008

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Busy Tuesday

November 19th 2008 00:26
It has been a busy and interesting Tuesday across the world of baseball with free agent signings, rumors and awards galore.

Ryan Dempster rejoined the Cubs, Dustin Pedroia won the AL MVP Award, the Padres have not ruled out the Braves as a trading partner for Jake Peavy, the Yankees haven't had that many discussions with the Padres for Peavy, the Yankees are close to offering A.J. Burnett a contract and David Price will be a starter in 2009 for the Tampa Bay Rays.

We will begin with Ryan Dempster and the Cubs. What a big signing this was for the Cubs. Dempster rejoined the Cubs' starting rotation in 2008 after not being a full-time starter since 2002 after spending 2005-07 as the Cubs' closer. He saved 85 games during that time frame.

Dempster re-ups with the Cubs for four years and $52 million. He will be with the Cubs through the 2012 season. Dempster went 17-6 with a 2.96 ERA in 2008 and the Cubs went 22-11 in his 33 starts.

Dempster was named to the 2008 National League All-Star team, his first appearance since he made the squad as a Florida Marlin in 2000.

Dempster rejoins the Cubs starting rotation that also includes Carlos Zambrano and Rich Harden for the 2009 season. It may also include Jason Marquis, but that is yet to be determined.

Moving on the other big news of the day, Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia won the American League MVP Award. Pedroia becomes only the third player in Major League Baseball history to win the Rookie of the Year Award and the MVP Award in back to back seasons. The other two are Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard.

Howard accomplished the feat in 2005 and 2006.

Pedroia is also the first American League second baseman to win the AL MVP since Nellie Fox of the White Sox secured the award in 1959.

The next bit of news comes from the San Diego part of the country. The Padres said as recently as Tuesday that they are not ruling out the Atlanta Braves as a trading partner for starting pitcher Jake Peavy. Also, the Yankees have not had serious conversations with the Padres about the 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner.

Padres GM Kevin Towers said that he has not had any serious conversations regarding Peavy with Yankees GM Brian Cashman as of yet. Things could get interesting though if the Yankees cannot sign C.C. Sabathia or A.J. Burnett. They offered Sabathia $140 million over six seasons and are preparing to offer Burnett a contract relatively soon.

The deal for Burnett is likely to be for five years and $80 million. He opted out of his contract with the Blue Jays earlier this month and is a free agent. The Yankees are also interested in resigning lefty Andy Pettitte but not for the $16 million per year that he will be asking.

In our final news story of the day, David Price will be a starter for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2009. The team announced their decision on Tuesday. Price made his Major League debut in September and pitched a lot of important situations down the stretch and in the playoffs and the World Series for the Rays.

Price was the number one overall pick in the 2007 MLB first-year player draft by the Rays out of Vanderbilt University. He made one start and four relief appearances with the Rays in September and posted a 1.93 ERA.
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Plenty Going On

November 12th 2008 22:59
Even though the off-season is in full swing there is still plenty going on in the world of baseball. Two major trades occurred this week, with one of them being finalized on Wednesday, and plenty of rumors whirling around the free agent water cooler and the trade winds continue to swirl around the Rockies.

The Manager of the Year Awards were announced on Wednesday and their were no surprises. Joe Maddon was given the American League Award while Lou Piniella was given the National League Award.

Maddon led the Rays to their first ever playoff berth, won the American League pennant and fell in the World Series, four games to one to the Phillies. The team finished with 97 wins, the AL East title and a ton of respect from the entire league.

The Cubs, under Piniella's leadership, won 97 games for the best record in the National League. They took home the NL Central title but were swept in the first round of the playoffs by the Los Angeles Dodgers. The 97 wins was the most by the Cubs since they won 98 in 1945, the last time they played in a World Series.

Aside from the Manager of the Year Awards, the trade between the Rockies and A's was finalized on Wednesday. The deal was pending physicals, which were completed Wednesday. The A's will receive the 2007 runner up in the MVP Award race Matt Holliday from the Rockies in exchange for outfielder Carlos Gonzalez and pitchers Greg Smith and Huston Street.

Gonzalez was originally acquired by the A's in the Dan Haren trade with the Diamondbacks prior to the 2008 season. Street will more than likely take over as closer of the Rockies since Brian Fuentes will more than likely hit the market on Friday and not resign with the team.

There have been other trade rumors coming out of Colorado that Garrett Atkins might be the next member of the Rockies to be traded out of town. He has been involved in trade rumors since prior to the 2007 season and was rumored to be on the move at the July 31st trading deadline along with Holliday but neither of them were moved. Atkins might be on the move before Spring Training.

As the day moved, on the free agent pool of pitchers dwindled by one. Left handed reliever Damaso Marte resigned with the Yankees for three years worth $12 million and a club option for 2012. Marte's club option for 2009 was bought out for $250,000 last week by the Yankees, who made it known that they wanted to sign Marte to a longer contract.

Marte was originally acquired by the Yankees on July 26th with outfielder Xavier Nady for Jeff Karstens and three other players from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Thursday marks the final day of the free agent filing period and Friday marks the free agent signing period where players can sign with teams other than their current ones. The Hot Stove has begun to heat up and will get even hotter once midnight Thursday rolls around and Friday arrives. Teams will be knocking down the doors of C.C. Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, Manny Ramirez and other high profile free agents including Pat Burrell and Bobby Abreu and closer Francisco Rodriguez.

One of the trades on the block right now that has not been completed but will be soon is the deal for Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres. GM Kevin Towers is looking to move Peavy, as well as shortstop Khalil Greene, before Spring Training. The Padres lost 99 games in 2008 and are in the midst of a rebuilding phase. Peavy has been rumored in quite a few possible deals involving the Cubss and most notably the Braves.

Braves' GM Frank Wren has put an offer on the table for the Padres to review and it includes shortstop Yunel Escobar, either Gorkys Hernandez or Jordan Schafer and a Major League tested pitcher. Both Hernandez and Schafer are center fielders. The pitcher could be Jo Jo Reyes or highly touted prospect Charlie Morton.

Many sources around Major League Baseball feel that this deal on the table from the Braves is better than the deal the Cubs will be able to put together. One problem standing in the way of trading Peavy to the Braves is his full no-trade clause. Peavy wants to make sure that the Braves have a shot at winning the NL East in 2009 and he doesn't feel that that is a possibility.
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Shanahan Meets with Flyers

November 5th 2008 14:21
The Philadelphia Flyers met with free agent forward Brendan Shanahan earlier this week.

Shanahan met with head coach John Stevens and General Manager Paul Holmgren on Monday in hopes of signing the veteran NHL forward to a contract.

Shanahan is still interested in playing the game of hockey but did not resign with the New York Rangers and wants to stay relatively close to New York.

A commute to Philadelphia wouldn't be that bad would it?

The Flyers have had trouble with injuries this season, as usual, and need better defensive play out of their forwards and Holmgren feels that Shanahan would be the answer to that problem.

Shanahan said that it wouldn't take long for him to make a decision on where he would like to play next and said that the Flyers are on the top of his list.

Shanahan should be making his decision within the next week on where he will play next.
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Iverson to Detroit

November 3rd 2008 21:05
The Detroit Pistons have traded for one of the league's most prolific scorers in history.

The Pistons shipped Chauncey Billups and Antonia McDyess to the Denver Nuggets for guard Allen Iverson


[ Click here to read more ]
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Champions of the Baseball World

November 3rd 2008 20:39
Not many people can believe what took place on Wednesday night in South Philadelphia, not even Phillies fans,

But it is all true; the Phillies are World Series Champions for 2008


[ Click here to read more ]
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Game 5 Delayed...Again

October 28th 2008 18:09
Game 5 of the 2008 World Series has been delayed again due to inclement weather.

Bud Selig and the rest of Major League Baseball have been monitoring the weather for Philadelphia and it won't get any better until around 4pm Wednesday


[ Click here to read more ]
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Hello World

October 27th 2008 18:13
Hello everyone in the blogging world!
My name is Jim Vassallo and I am new to the Orble community but not the blogging world.
I write for/run over six blogs and websites, all of them pertaining to sports


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