Major League Baseball

Okay, technically this is still 2012 so....
I give you the Yankees NEW third base replacement for the busted A-Rod

Kevin Youkilis
1 yr. $12 million

AL EAST UPDATE:

So far, the Toronto Blue Jays maybe the team to beat in the AL East.
The Jays now have Melky Cabrera, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Jose Bautista, Jose Reyes, and R.A. Dickey with that ridiculous knuckleball.

AL East Report courtesy of MLB.com:

New York Yankees

Key additions: 1B/3B Kevin Youkilis
Key losses: RHP Rafael Soriano, OF Nick Swisher, C Russell Martin
What it all means: The days of New York spending money with reckless abandon appear to be over -- at least for now. The Yankees are attempting to get under the luxury tax threshold by the end of 2013, and as a result, they didn't make a major splash on the free-agent market this year. The club instead opted to let some of its top talent walk away at the end of the season while signing others to short-team deals.
The loss of Soriano will be offset by the return of closer Mariano Rivera from a serious knee injury. New York also hopes a healthy Brett Gardner will help replace some of the value lost when Swisher signed a lucrative multiyear deal with the Indians. The club was unable to find a suitable replacement for Martin, though, as Francisco Cervelli will now be tasked with an increased workload.
Youkilis represents the lone key addition. He is a career .269 hitter with 16 homers and 53 RBIs in 111 games against the Blue Jays and is battle tested in the AL East. That production should help cover the injury to Alex Rodriguez, but with an aging squad, a spot in the postseason is no longer guaranteed.

Boston RedSox

Key additions: C/1B Mike Napoli, OF Shane Victorino, DH/OF Jonny Gomes, SS Stephen Drew, RHP Ryan Dempster, RHP Joel Hanrahan
Key losses: OF Cody Ross, 1B James Loney, RHP Daisuke Matsuzaka
What it all means: The Red Sox were one of the most aggressive teams this offseason, but it remains to be seen just how long their rebuilding plan will take to implement. Napoli, Victorino and Gomes filled clear voids, but there are plenty of question marks surrounding Boston's starting rotation.
Any chance of success ultimately will come down to Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. The two promising pitchers are coming off disastrous 2012 campaigns and will need to get back to their previous form for this club to have any shot at the postseason.
Napoli has enjoyed a decent amount of success against the Blue Jays over the years, as evidenced by his 11 homers and .890 OPS in 43 games. Dempster has appeared in just three games against Toronto while posting a 5.27 ERA in 13 2/3 innings. Toronto won't be sad to see Ross leave, as he has a career .301 average and .926 OPS in 21 games against the franchise.

Tampa Bay Rays

Key additions: SS Yunel Escobar, 1B James Loney, OF Wil Myers
Key losses: OF B.J. Upton, RHP James Shields, 1B Carlos Pena
What it all means: The Rays continued their creative ways this offseason by unloading No. 2 starter James Shields to Kansas City for a series of top prospects. The move could lead to a small step back in 2013, but there's no question it will help the cash-strapped organization continue its winning ways in the long term..
The loss of Upton was expected but still hurts as the club will be hard pressed to replace his contributions at the plate. Escobar, who is coming off a disappointing and controversial 2012 season in Toronto, still has the ability to be one of the best shortstops in the game when he's motivated and focused. He could prove to be one of the most underrated pickups of the offseason.
Tampa Bay also should have enough young pitching to fill in for Shields without too much difficulty, but his absence at the front of the rotation will still be felt. Shields owns a career 11-5 record with a 3.24 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 147 1/3 innings against the Blue Jays.

Baltimore Orioles

Key additions: None.
Key losses: None.
What it all means: The Orioles remained surprisingly quiet this offseason after taking a big step forward in 2012. The club didn't lose any key players to free agency but also declined to make an aggressive move to make the club better.
Baltimore instead will hope it can get back to the postseason on the heels of an emerging young core group of players and one of the best bullpens in the game. A full season of rookie phenom Manny Machado should help in that quest, while this could be the year right-hander Zach Britton makes the next step.
The problem is the O's could be in line for a big step back. Baltimore finished the 2012 campaign with a 29-9 record in one-run games and at one point won 16 consecutive extra-innings games, which was one short of the Major League record. If similar situations occur in 2013, it's hard to imagine the Orioles can pull off that type of winning percentage again.

Nice write up. You forgot about 1 key loss for ny this season A Rod

not really a loss, should be back by July but honestly he wasn't there for us last season either. Too busy chatting with chicks in the front row. Amazing how money makes you forget the game you played and loved as a child. Now its about using fame to pick up chicks.

Nevermind...there will be suspensions

All-Stars Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, pitcher Gio Gonzalez of the Washington Nationals, Nelson Cruz of the Texas Rangers and Melky Cabrera of the Toronto Blue Jays, along with other MLB players and athletes in other sports, were strongly connected to performance-enhancing drug use in an investigative report by the Miami New Times.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/01/29/mlb-drugs-alex-rodriguez-miami-new-times-nelson-cruz-gio-gonzalez/1874203/

Not baseball but related:
Ray Lewis returned to Super Bowl media day with another controversy: allegations of cheating. The Baltimore Ravens linebacker tried to obtain deer-antler velvet extract in an attempt to speed the healing for a torn triceps that sidelined him for more than half the season.

Okay..gotta get this off my chest OC, and since this is the only MLB thread we have....

In last nights game (Yanks/Sox) I don't have a problem with Dempster hitting ARod. That's his choice. I have a problem with the Umpire having an agenda in not ejecting Dempster immediately after the beaning. A lesser team would have retaliated with their own hit batsmen, the benches would have cleared, a brawl would have ensued, all because the umpire felt it was ok for ARod to be plunked, but the ump got drilled in the throat when the Yanks catcher missed a fastball, so actually, retaliation was served. And to make it sweet, we not only came from behind but ARod scored after being hit--then to add insult to injury came up to bat with Dempster still pitching and hit a homerun to begin the come back. Karma, go figure...

Yeah klown I agree he should have been ejected as he totally hit him on purpose and postured himself as he stepped down the mound squares up ready to fight.

Don't get me wrong, I'm NOT and I mean NOT fan of ARod with the steroids and snitching on others that use, etc. but fair is fair and that stuff has no place.

What I saw immediately took MLB a few days to recognize:
Dempster should be fined!

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20130820&content_id=57612592&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb

I will always be a Dempster fan after his run with the Cubs and I think 5 games (even though he doesn't miss a start) is fair enough considering he hit a whiner that should be banned from baseball.  That's all I've got to say about that.

S7 SockPuppet wrote:I will always be a Dempster fan after his run with the Cubs and I think 5 games (even though he doesn't miss a start) is fair enough considering he hit a whiner that should be banned from baseball.  That's all I've got to say about that.

on-field vigilante  

I agree that dempster shoulf have been tossed from the game. I mean come on he threw his first pitch behind him. That's when the warning sghould have been issued. Then eject him after he hit him. Arod had it comming take your susspention like  the rest its not like your innocent.

I agree that he should have been immediately ejected from the game.  I also agree that A-Rod is a douchbag and deserves it.  He shouldn't be standing at the plate, or even be allowed anywhere near the game of baseball.

Wow, so didn't expect any support on that comment.  Good deal!

That is why baseball is awesome...unwritten rules. He should have hit him and he should have been ejected and suspended. Normally you can't say that with a sport.