Had the Washington Nationals been able to land Prince Fielder, one of the loudest cheers might have come from Atlanta. Such a signing would have put the Braves in a battle with the New York Mets for the lowest payroll in the NL East, but it would have been a race that Atlanta CEO Terry McGuirk would have enjoyed. In a free agent season where the dollars have flowed freely, a smirking...

When the Detroit Tigers signed Prince Fielder to a hefty $214 million contract Tuesday and added him to a lineup that already featured Miguel Cabrera, they also drew attention to the girth of those two players. Multiple sources list Fielder at 275 pounds, and we'll take them at their word. Cabrera, who at 6-foot-4 stands about five inches taller than Fielder, estimated in spring...

The Chicago White Sox have a notorious uniform history. They've worn tuxedos. They've worn pajamas. They've even worn shorts. Shudder. Amid a virtual minefield of fashion, the team has announced it is reaching into history to pull a retro look forward. And it's not horrifyingly ugly. The White Sox will wear red pinstripes for home Sunday games in 2012, replicas of...

Alex Rodriguez's baseball skills and ability to commit to one celebrity girlfriend may be on the decline, but he's apparently at the top of his game when it comes to investing in real estate. According to the Wall Street Journal, the New York Yankees third basemen has already received a contract for his 3,500-square foot condo on the 35th floor of the Rushmore building on...

Could the new Marlins ballpark or the Tampa Bay Rays' Tropicana Field serve as a homeless shelter for the 270 or so nights a year that they're not used for baseball? If two Florida lawmakers have their way, they might. As reported by the Miami Herald, state legislators have unearthed an obscure law that has not been enforced since it was adopted in 1988. It states that any ballpark...

Here's an interesting piece of news that flew under a lot of radars amid Tuesday's flurry of impact signings. From the office of commissioner Bud Selig came word that despite Tony La Russa's retirement as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, the future Hall of Fame skipper would be allowed the opportunity to fulfill his pennant-winning duties as manager of the National All-Star squad...

"Moneyball" the movie continues to surprise and excel. It received six Academy Award nominations Monday, including four biggies: best picture, lead actor (Brad Pitt), supporting actor (Jonah Hill), adapted screenplay, film editing and sound mixing. It's a shame that Bennett Miller wasn't nominated for directing, and the real snub was Wally Pfister missing for cinematography, yet...

Yes, something else happened in baseball on Tuesday besides Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers joining forces to shock the world to the tune of $214 million. On any other day, Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants would've been the top story. The two sides agreed to a two-year, $40.2 million contract, which buys out Lincecum's final two years of arbitration eligibility. He...

As mentioned in our winners and losers post, Prince Fielder might really be asked 214 million questions about his father once he finally lands in Detroit and holds a press conference with the Tigers. Cecil Fielder, though, has already weighed in with some public comments about his estranged son. During a MLB Network Radio interview with Casey Stern and Jim Bowden on Tuesday, Cecil...

So does Prince Fielder signing with the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday afternoon qualify as déjà vu all over again? You bet your sweet Seger it does. Not only is the hefty first baseman heading to the city where his father hit 51 homers in 1991, but the news broke in very similar fashion to Albert Pujols' deal with the Los Angeles Angels back in December: An out-of-nowhere tweet from...

We gotta give the Reading Phillies some credit. While the rest of us just write articles on how to improve the home run derby or make nominal changes like adding gold baseballs, the Double-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies has emptied its imagination and made it an onfield reality for this year's home run derby for the Eastern League All-Star Game. But we also must ask...

If you were worried about preparing yourself for a baseball season that doesn't include Omar Vizquel, the 44-year-old infielder is doing his best to make sure you won't miss him. Vizquel will try to keep this baseball thing going for a 24th season, agreeing to a minor league deal with the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday. The news was first reported by ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick...

Jorge Posada formally announced his retirement from baseball at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday morning, ending a 17-season career that was spent solely with the Bronx Bombers. Posada walks away from the sport with a fine résumé that includes 1,574 games behind the plate, 11 postseason home runs and five World Series rings (a haul that includes the 1996 season, when he failed to make...

We all have questions about the 2012 season and Alex Remington luckily has some answers. The Stew's resident stats guru will address some of the big ones as the year progresses. The Situation: Jason Heyward faced extraordinarily lofty expectations when he was named the Atlanta Braves' starting right fielder on Opening Day in 2010. But he met all of them, making the All-Star team...

When the Houston Astros switch to the American League in 2013, they also might undergo a makeover that includes new uniforms (whatever) and a new name (gasp!). The franchise has a history of fiddling with both. New owner Jim Crane, at a Monday event to announce several fan-inspired initiatives, said the team was "highly considering" altering its uniforms — which hopefully means...

With Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer now running the show on the North Side, it's been said that the Chicago Cubs will undergo a complete culture change from previous regimes. But who knew the culture would slant so young and goofy? Here's footage of the Idaho Cubs being taught the dance moves to LMFAO's hit song "Party Rock Anthem" at a recent practice for the franchise's short-season...

Last offseason, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw kept busy by getting married (that's his wife Ellen on the left) and taking a goodwill trip to Zambia that featured some great dancing with random African children. This offseason, the National League's newest Cy Young winner is experiencing something a bit different. Kershaw was present for the opening bell for the New...

After weeks spent wandering through the free agent wilderness, might Prince Fielder and Scott Boras finally be reaching the end of their riches-seeking road? Maybe, if an early morning report from analyst Jim Bowden turns out to be true. The former GM says the Washington Nationals and the slugger "continue to work" on a deal but that nothing has been reached. Tom Haudricourt...

Almost nobody likes Congress. The polls say so. But I'll say this for the federal legislature: Republicans and Democrats play each other in a baseball game every year, and that partly makes up for whatever it is they do the rest of the time. Back in December, Summer Anne Burton of NotGraphs published a wonderful post called "GOP Presidential Candidates and Baseball"...

For anyone expecting Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun to make big news at the baseball writers banquet Saturday night, well, he didn't. Unless you count the awesome velvet tuxedo he wore to accept his 2011 NL MVP Award. In a brief speech spent mostly thanking his supporters, Braun only alluded to the positive drug test that will lead to a 50-game suspension if his appeal is denied...

The trade was on. Then it was off. Now it's complete. As Troy Renck of the Denver Post first reported in all three phases of the deal that took a little over 24 hours to complete, the Colorado Rockies have acquired Marco Scutaro from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for right-handed pitcher Clayton Mortensen. No money changed hands in the deal, which means the Rockies will be on...

It didn't take long for Yu Darvish to experience his first lost in translation moment. Fresh off a long flight from Japan, the newest Texas Rangers pitcher raised more than a few eyebrows in Dallas-Forth Worth on Friday by wearing a t-shirt with a symbol more closely associated with High Times magazine than Major League Baseball. That's not exactly the type of thing that the Rangers...

It used to be that Jeff Passan was the only ex-Clevelander to take runs at Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria. But after Thursday night's game between the Heat and Lakers, you can add a runaway LeBron James to the list. The basketball star ran into Loria while trying to save a ball from going out of bounds. LeBron ended up making a pretty good save on Loria before the owner hit...

Bobbleheads can be tricky. There's a science and an art to getting the doll to look like the player. Sometimes, the bobblehead engineers succeed. Sometimes they fail. Sometimes ... Take the bobblehead issued by the San Francisco Giants for popular relief pitcher Sergio Romo, scheduled to be given away at AT&T Park on May 5. The overall likeness isn't bad. Designers obviously...

For years, ballplayers from the Dominican Republic have had to deal with the suspicion that they're all older than the age on the back of their baseball card. Now they'll have to battle doubts about the name that's listed on the front. Reports out of the Dominican Republic on Thursday say that Cleveland Indians pitcher Fausto Carmona has become the second pitcher arrested this offseason...