Teams getting very active as mid-season battles heat up

The Major League Baseball Trade Deadline isn't until July 31, but several teams are getting a head start on making moves.

After seeing early season trades that landed Ryan Freel in Chicago in exchange for Joey Gathwright, as well as a deal that put Nate McLouth in Atlanta, the past four days have seen plenty of action.

The Cardinals finally landed Mark DeRosa, something was heavily discussed among Cardinals fans and media. In exchange for the utilityman DeRosa the Indians receive relief pitcher Chris Perez and a player to be named later.

The Cardinals needed another strong bat to back up Pujols, as well as someone that could possibly be an everyday player at third base. However, DeRosa's versatility was the main thing that drew Tony La Russa to him. He can be used everyday and play pretty much anywhere on the field. With the injury to Troy Glaus and Khalil Greene's anxiety issues, this was a huge pickup. It also sends a message to the other teams in the Central that the Cardinals are making moves to stay atop the division.

DeRosa said he is excited to be in St. Louis and contend for a Championship.

The Pirates were very active today in making two deals. In the morning the Bucs moved Eric Hinske to the Yankees for two minor leaguers and in the afternoon they agreed to a deal that sent Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Nationals for relief pitcher Joel Hanrahan and Lastings Milledge.

The Pirates welcome two guys who have struggled in the past and give up what many see is an up and coming young prospect in Nyjer Morgan. Milledge has struggled to find consistency with the Mets and most recently the Nationals.

I'm having trouble seeing what benefits the Pirates saw in either of these trades. Their fans cannot be happy. At this time last year, their outfield consisted of Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, and Nate McLouth, three dynamic players. It's no secret why they're a consistent cellar dweller in the Central.

Staying in the Central, the Brewers have shown interest in one time stud Brandon Backe, a guy who was just put on waivers after a very bad start to this season in Houston. Backe has really only had one good season in his career, and would not likely make much of an impact for the Brewers.

The Brewers have also expressed some interest in Braves pitcher Javier Vasquez. He is 5-7 on the year with a 3.04 ERA and stellar strikeout count of 125. Any team would be grateful to have his services.

Fantasy baseball a good way for fans to stay engaged

As a baseball fan, it’s a must every year that I join at least one, and
often multiple, fantasy baseball leagues.

It’s the ultimate hobby for any baseball guru, like myself. It helps me
stay more engaged throughout the long and tiring 162 game season.

However, the fact that it makes fans feel like a part of the game and sometimes even
like a real Major League manager are major reasons fans are becoming addicted to the game.

I’m in a league where our teams have 34 men rosters. It really offers a realistic sense of being a manager.

Fans can put together their own unique set of players, rules, and scoring categories, Teams can be comprised of players from every team in the league and managers compete for a championship in a league with friends, family members, colleagues, or even people from clear across the world.

Fans also have the option of adopting an actual teams roster and managing it. and compete for a championship in a league with friends, family members, colleagues, or even people from clear across the world.

There’s really no better way to follow baseball and learn a lot about
certain players, and have fun while doing it.

Baseball loses three of its own in past week

They say bad things come in threes.

Major League Baseball proved that it is not immune to this, as three baseball figures past away just in this past week.

The first was Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart, who was killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Andrew Thomas Gallo was reported to be nearly three times the legal limit when he collided with a car containing 4 people, including Adenhart. Two other passengers died, and one went to the hospital and was in critical, but stable, condition.

Adenahrt had just pitched the night before against the Oakland A’s, where he threw six scoreless innings in his season debut. The young pitchers life became just another tragic story of an irresponsible person taking a promising life.

Mark Fidrych, a former pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, past away Monday at the age of 54 in what appeared to be an accident on his Massachusetts farm.

Fidrych was known for his on-the-field antics, such as manicuring the mound or talking to the ball. He was only in the league five years, but won American League Rookie of the Year Honors and was named to the All-Star team.

On the same day as Fidrych’s death, Phillies long-time announcer Harry Kalas died at the age of 73.

Kalas collapsed in the broadast booth before the Phillies’ game against the Washington Nationals. He was the voice of the Phillies for nearly four decades, and also provided the voice over for NFL Films.

It was only fitting that the man whose wonderful captured so many memories in Philadelphia was able to see his team win the World Series in his last full season with them.

Fantasy baseball update: Players to watch for

TOR OF Adam Lind: Lind is currently one of the hottest players in league. He's gone 10-21 with 3 HR and 11 RBI in the first four games of the season. He recently switched to DH, so is only focusing on hitting. Lind is still available in a lot of leagues, so if you're in need of an OF don't hesitate to pick him up. He's only going to get better, and with the pace he's on, could very well earn a spot on the American League All-Star roster.

FLA 2B Emilio Bonifacio: Bonifacio has put up multi-hit games in each of the first four this season. According to CBSSportline, Bonifacio is the early front runner for the NL MVP. He is hitting .578 with 1 HR, 4 RBI, and 4 SB so far.

TB 3B Evan Longoria: Since failing to homer in the season opener, Longoria has homered in the last three games since then, including two in Friday's game. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year is hitting .444 with 4 HR and 8 RBI.

ARI 2B Felipe Lopez: Lopez is a very valuable player on any fantasy team because of his ability to play up to four positions. He's also a guy that is still available in a lot of leagues. He's hitting .313 with 2 HR and 4 RBI on the season so far.

Although it's still very early in the season, and still too early to tell trends in players, but these players are good early season additions in you're looking to jump out to an early lead in your leagues.

Jose Canseco throws out possibility of Ramirez using steroids

When Jose Canseco’s book “Juiced” came out in 2005 naming countless baseball players who were potentially connected to steroid use, many baseball figures doubted him.

Now it’s 2009, and Canseco has become a pretty credible source in this field. He admitted his own usage of steroids, and subsequently published his book naming roughly 104 players from around Major League Baseball.

Some of the names on his list were Miguel Tejada and Alex Rodriguez, who admitted just in this past year that they were in fact using steroids.

Canseco has now thrown another name out who could possibly be linked to steroids: Manny Ramirez. He says the reason Manny wasn’t given a contract extension was not because of his age, or the large amount of money he was wanting, but because his name is “most likely, 90%” on the list.

Although baseball fans don’t want to believe it anytime a player in linked to steroid use, one almost has to seriously consider the possibility nowadays when Canseco throws a name out there. Afterall, he does appear to have some inside knowledge on all of this.

Championship game features two hot teams

As a sports fan, I always want the championship of any sport to be a good match-up, and this year's Michigan State vs. North Carolina will be just that.

This game features two of the most storied college basketball programs, as well as two of the best coaches in college basketball.

Michigan State has had no easy time getting to this game. They came back from a huge deficit against defending champion Kansas, then beat the overall No. 1 seed Louisville in convincing fashion, and did the same thing to UConn, another No. 1 seed.

What they have been doing well it utilizing their strengths, and exploiting theire opponents' weakness. That may seem like an obvious thing that any team needs to do to win, but Michigan State has truly been definition of those phrases. They have made all of their opponents play at a slower tempo, and forced them to play "Big Ten basketball." They are not the biggest team, and rely heavily on their guard play. This just further proves that great guard play wins tournament games, more so than great big men.

This team is very young. Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers are both sophomores, and are the main offensive threats on this team. Another sophomore, Chris Allen, also provides solid minutes off the bench. Freshmen Korie Lucious and Delvon Roe are terrific freshmen that eat up a lot of minutes as well. The upperclassmen that the Spartans do have though, are solid. Raymar Morgan is another inside presence, to go along with Goran Suton, and Travis Walton is one of the best defenders in the nation.

To win, they're simply going to have to do what they have been doing: Making teams play their game. Travis Walton is a shut down defender, and will either be on Ty Lawson, or Wayne Ellington. The Spartans do not want to get in to a running game with UNC because they will have a tough time keeping up with Lawson and the Carolina backcourt.

The Tar Heels have some of the best inside options in Tyler Hansbrough, Ed Davis, and Tyler Zeller. Aside from Suton and Morgan, Dremond Green is really their only athletic big man that can hang with the Carolina front court.

The Spartans have surprised a lot of people this tournament, and pulled off some unlikely upsets, so this game is a toss-up as far as picking a winner. Michigan State doesn't make many mistakes, and utilize their strengths.

This kind of matchup is exactly what any fan wants to see in a championship game.

Remember, this game is being played in Detroit at Ford Field, essentially a home game for Michigan State. However, these two teams met earlier this season, a game that North Carolina won 98-63, also at Ford Field. However, both Tom Izzo and Roy Williams agreed that that game is no indication of how the title game will turn out. The Spartans had just played three games, and were without Goran Suton.

Stat to remember: Tom Izzo is 10-0 in the NCAA tournament as a No. 2 seed.

Final Four Preview

The Final Four tips off tonight at Ford Field in Detroit, but who is the favorite to win it?

Here's a little breakdown on the two games, and my prediction of how this Final Four will play out.

Michigan State vs. UConn: This may not look like an intriguing battle on paper, but if you have watched Michigan State play this season, you know what they're capable of. The Spartans completely took Louisville out of their own game plan in the Elite Eight, and made the Cardinals play Big Ten basketball. That's what this team is good at. They know they're not going to match up size-wise with UConn, so their shooting will have to be lights out. However, they are playing close to home, so that has to be taken in to consideration.

On the other end, UConn has played arguably the best basketball in the tournament so far, and it would be a belated April Fools joke to say they weren't the favorite in this one. Hasheem Thabeet is the most dominating defensive presence in the Final Four, and Michigan State has absolutely no answer for him. Goran Suton is not nearly as athletic as Thabeet, and will have a very tough time against him. Also, Jeff Adrien and Stanley Robinson have come up huge since Jerome Dyson's injury took him out of play for the remainder of the season.

The story in this game is going to be how much can Michigan State contain Jeff Adrien and Stanley Robinson down low, and how many three's and open jump shots can Kalin Lucas, Durrell Summers, and Chris Allen hit. The Spartans are going to try force UConn to shoot outside, because A.J. Price is their only real three-point threat.

However, in this one I have to give the edge to UConn. They're just playing too well right now, and Michigan State is still a young team.

Villanova vs. North Carolina: After getting blown out last year in the Final Four by Kansas, UNC has one mission: Win a National Championship. Tyler Hansbrough has basically done everything else a college basketball player can do, except win a national title.

With him comes arguably one of the best teams ever assembled at North Carolina. Ty Lawson has been nothing short of magnificent this whole season, and has been playing as well as anyone after coming off of his injury. Danny Green and Wayne Ellington come in to the game shooting the ball well and been playing great defense. Freshmen Ed Davis Davis compliment Hansbrough inside very well, along with Dion Thompson.

Villanova is no cupcake, though. Head coach Jay Wright has this team playing their best ball of the season at the right time. Scottie Reynolds' game winner over Pittsburgh in the Elite Eight is one of the iconic memories of this years tournament, and gave the Wildcats their first Final Four berth since 1985.

Reynolds is definitely a great guard, but Dante Cunningham and Corey Fisher are also outstanding players. Cunningam is the leading scorer on the team, but is really their only big presence inside.

The match-up everyone will have their eyes on in this one is without question Ty Lawson vs. Scottie Reynolds. However, aside from that, I don't really see Villanova matching up well with anyone on North Carolina's team. The Tar Heels are simply too good, and score too easily and efficiently for Villanova to stop them. They're a much deeper team, and have tremendous contribution from their bench, so I see North Carolina moving on in this one to face UConn in the Championship game.