In recent seasons, teams have come up with inventive ways to utilize their young pitching prospects. One of the more popular strategies among teams is to let their prospects gain experience in the bullpen. Some pitchers (Neftali Feliz) stick in the bullpen permanently, some (Phil Hughes) are eventually moved into the rotation, and some (Joba Chamberlain) are jerked between the two roles. 

While it has already been determined that Sale will prepare as a starting pitcher this off-season, his stay in the rotation may depend on Jake Peavy’s health. Since the White Sox have five solid starters, Sale would be the most likely candidate to move back to the bullpen once Peavy recovers. Although this looks like the most likely scenario for Sale in 2011, let’s explore the thought of employing Sale in one role.

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During an off-season of inflated contracts, the Cincinnati Reds have remained one of the quietest teams in the majors. Despite winning the National League Central for the first time since 1995, the Reds haven’t made any significant acquisitions this off-season. That should change as the Reds are expected to sign Edgar Renteria to a one year deal worth up to $3 million depending on incentives. Renteria, who isn’t known for his fielding, has slipped offensively over the past two seasons. With Renteria already experiencing stages of decline, is it possible the Reds will regret this transaction?
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Over the past two seasons, the biggest factor holding back the New York Mets has been injuries. Apparently undaunted by those injury concerns, the Mets signed a pair of pitchers coming off Tommy John surgery. While both Chris Capuano and Taylor Buchholz pitched in the majors last season, they were only able to accumulate 78 innings combined. The Mets realized the risks involved, however, signing Capuano for only $1.5 million, and Buccholz for $600,000. After another off-season of recovery, will Capuano and Buchholz return to form in 2011?
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This is a continuation of my last article, Handling Young Pitchers. Both pieces focus on a recent article written by Craig Wright for the Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2011.

In part one, I analyzed Wright’s belief that pitchers in their formative years need to be handled with care, and discussed the difficulties teams face when trying to limit their young pitchers. For established pitchers, however, Wright carries a different viewpoint. Throughout the article, Wright argues against the current limitations of pitch counts, and suggests that some pitchers can handle larger workloads than others. While it may be a controversial stance, it could be time to revise our views on pitch counts.
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Chris Cwik will swing by at 3:00 pm eastern time for his inaugural chat here on FanGraphs. Come meet the new guy and talk baseball for an hour or so.

This article was initially meant to be one piece, but there was too much information to analyze. In order to save everyone from one massive article, I’ve decided to split this piece into two parts. Part two will run in the coming days.

While traveling for the holidays, I find that a good book makes a flight much more enjoyable. Last night, I began my journey through The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2011. While I have found many of the articles intriguing, Craig Wright’s How to Handle a Pitcher was particularly interesting. In the article Wright examines the Texas Rangers new approach to pitching, argues against current pitch count restrictions and explains how to handle young pitchers. In this piece, we are going to focus on young pitcher workloads. With more prospects reaching the majors at younger ages, how difficult is it for team to prevent long-term injuries to their prospects while pushing them just enough to maintain short-term success?

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If the Brewers’ upcoming season were a game of poker, Doug Melvin just pushed all his chips to the center of the table. The acquisition of Zack Greinke shows that the Brewers want to contend in what is likely Prince Fielder’s last season with the team. After finishing near the bottom of the NL in almost every major pitching category, the Brewers made starting pitching a priority this off-season. With their core offensive players returning, will their off-season acquisitions be enough to push the Brewers to the top of the NL Central standings?

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He wasn’t going to give the Rangers a “hometown discount,” but Cliff Lee was willing to re-sign with the Texas Rangers. According to Rangers CEO Chuck Greenberg, Lee was willing to stay with the Rangers if they guaranteed a seventh year. The Rangers, however, were not willing to meet those demands, and Lee returned to Philadelphia. Now that Lee has gone and formed the “Best Rotation Ever,” how will the move affect the Rangers?
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A quick glance at the 2010 WAR leaders at second base proves just how difficult it can be to project baseball players over a given season. Now that FanGraphs has launched their Fan Projection pages for the upcoming season, you can put your knowledge to the test against those pesky computer projections. As fans, it’s your duty to stop the inevitable machine uprising by proving humans are superior to their machine counterparts. Today, we will look at four second basemen that ended up in unfamiliar places on the WAR leader boards last season.
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A common complaint among baseball fans is that the teams with the highest payrolls will often sign the best free agents. The Boston Red Sox added some legitimacy to that notion after signing Carl Crawford to a seven-year, $142 million deal on Thursday. While every team can use Carl Crawford’s talents, it’s not as if Boston had a gaping hole at any of their outfield spots. With Jacoby Ellsbury and Mike Cameron returning from injury-plagued seasons, and J.D. Drew manning right field; this signing didn’t really fill a need for the Red Sox.

Despite that, it’s clear that Carl Crawford represents a large upgrade over each of the Red Sox outfield options. The Red Sox can only start three outfielders, however, and this move will likely shift a very useful outfielder to the bench.

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