You probably want to be spared the cheesy "home is where the heart is" stuff, but to Tim Hudson that sentiment apparently carries a lot of weight. Hudson, who grew up about 100 miles away from Atlanta in Phenix City, Ala. has once again given the Atlanta Braves a hometown discount. It all comes down to two parties wanting to continue a mutually beneficial relationship.
"I wanted to be back and they (Braves) wanted me back", Hudson told local sports-talk radio station 680 the Fan this morning. "Sometimes you have to tell your agent that I'm happy here and you work for me."
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
On the day Milton Bradley began serving a team-mandated, season-ending suspension, former Cubs fan favorite Mark DeRosa suited up for the Cubs rival. He's been doing so since coming over in a trade from Cleveland. This past offseason, the Cubs moved DeRosa to the Indians as part of a concerted effort to free up payroll. The target: Bradley.
Thus, it was only fitting the chain of decisions were further cemented as awful when DeRosa hit two home runs and drove in four runs Monday night.
As Tim Hudson continues to build up toward his pre-injury strength, the Braves can look to the offseason with a dilemma: Which of their six starting pitchers should be playing elsewhere in 2010. Hudson has a $12 million option, and in order for the Braves to afford to pay that, they'd likely have to trade one of the other starters. Tommy Hanson and Jair Jurrjens aren't going anywhere, and it's doubtful the Braves could convince someone to take on Derek Lowe's massive contract.
Thus, the likely candidates -- should the Braves decide they need to shed salary and keep Hudson -- would be Kenshin Kawakami and Javier Vazquez.
The Atlanta Braves have too many good starting pitchers.
It's a problem that every major league team wishes they had. The Washington Nationals just signed the most hyped college baseball player in decades because their rotation is a laughingstock. Heck, the Los Angeles Dodgers have the best team ERA in baseball and they don't even have a clue who their fifth starter should be.
Tim Hudson, surgically repaired right elbow and all, has returned to the Braves rotation. On Tuesday he made his first appearance in over a year, and his five-strikeout performance was good enough to earn him the win and force serious questions on Bobby Cox about his starting rotation. Everyone wants to know what the Braves will do now that they have six quality starting pitchers.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
The ugly pitching line from Monday night shouldn't have been a huge shock to Jarrod Washburn fantasy owners. He went 5 2/3 innings, giving up 9 hits, 8 earned runs, 3 walks and 2 home runs. He struck out just 2. While it was his worst outing for the Tigers, he's been flat-out awful in Motown since he was acquired at the trade deadline. Sure, there was an 8-inning gem where he didn't allow a run. He also mixed in a quality start last time out for his first win in Detroit. Other than that, it's been horrifying.
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.
The hits just keep coming. Kenshin Kawakami was cruising through five innings yesterday against the Padres. He then allowed four base-runners in the sixth, and all eventually came around to score, trashing what was a very good performance to that point. Then today, Anibal Sanchez couldn't get through four innings against the Mets. It's been a week since we've recorded a win, a complete turnaround from the first half of August, where we scored 13 wins in 20 games.
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.
Ryan Rowland-Smith was able to get the team back on track, throwing 6.1 innings of two-run ball. He wasn't able to get the win, and as it turns out, his opponent Brian Anderson would have been a better pick, but considering the trash we threw up over the last couple days, I consider this one a success. Kenshin Kawakami squares off against the Padres in today's game, and I feel a quality start is on tap for the Atlanta pitcher.
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.
After another terrible outing, this time from Clay Buchholz, it seems it's time to alter our strategy. Buchholz wasn't able to get through five innings yesterday, which would have likely secured us another win, even with the bad ratios. From now on, we should stress selecting pitchers that are playing the worst offenses in the league, as opposed to those who have boom-or-bust potential like Buchholz. Will Ryan Rowland-Smith be the first step back in the right direction?
As the No. 1 overall pick in 1990, Chipper Jones signed with the Braves for $275,000.
Even in today's dollars, that's about $450,000 -- or about 3 percent of Stephen Strasburg was guaranteed as this year's No. 1 pick.
And Jones agreed to his deal the night before the draft, while Strasburg came within two minutes of missing last Monday's deadline to sign.
"I think the only way that you're going to get kids signed and get them into the various camps is to put some kind of cap on it," Jones said. "I was always of the belief that you make your money at the big-league level."
That's how the teams want it too. When the current collective bargaining agreement is up in two years, Major League Baseball may pursue an NBA-style slotting system -- with signing bonuses locked in depending on how high a player is picked, as opposed to the current non-binding slot recommendations.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... The Astros are a game out of first place.
A little more than a month ago -- before the games of June 20 -- Houston was dead last in the NL Central, six games behind first-place Milwaukee.
Since then the Astros have gone 19-11, including Wednesday's 4-3 defeat of the (now) first-place Cardinals with two runs in the bottom of the ninth, finishing a three-game sweep. Miguel Tejada delivered the game-winning single.
You probably want to be spared the cheesy "home is where the heart is" stuff, but to Tim Hudson that sentiment apparently carries a lot of weight. Hudson, who grew up about 100 miles away from Atlanta in Phenix City, Ala. has once again given the Atlanta Braves a hometown discount. It all comes down to two parties wanting to continue a mutually beneficial relationship.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
As 
The 
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the 
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the 
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the 
Every Sunday, 
Starting Five
