July 13, 2012–The Baseball Bloggers Alliance today named Hardball Talk lead blogger Craig Calcaterra as the winner of the 2012 Joe Posnanski Award, honoring the top internet writer of the year.  Besides being the lead voice at Hardball Talk, the baseball blog of NBCSports, Calcaterra can also be found interacting with his readers via his Twitter account.

The Writer of the Year Award was created by the BBA to honor those writers who, beyond being exceptionally great at their craft, have taken to the internet in a full and vigorous fashion.  Voters were instructed to take into account not only the writing abilities of the nominees but also their online presense, whether via blog or other media, as well as how they interact with their followers and fans.

“It seems only appropriate to honor Craig Calcaterra, as he could be seen as ‘living the dream’ for many bloggers,” said outgoing BBA president Daniel Shoptaw.  “Calcaterra quit lawyering, began blogging and quickly rose to a place of prominence.  What blogger wouldn’t want to follow in those footsteps?”

Voters were allowed to vote for three of the five nominees, casting a first, second and third place ballot.  Those ballots were tabulated based on a 5-3-1 point scale.

Calcaterra received 276 points, which included 32 first-place votes from the 119 ballots cast.  Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports was runner-up with 245 points and Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus third with 209 points.  Dave Cameron of FanGraphs (208) and Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (194) rounded out the ballot.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was formed in the fall of 2009 to encourage cooperation and collaboration between baseball bloggers of all major league teams as well as those that follow baseball more generally.  You can follow the BBA on Facebook and Twitter or contact them at baseballbloggersalliance@gmail.com

A team focused on a youth movement acquires a player in his own “rebuild” mode. Jonathan Broxton is going to wear Royal Blue in 2012.

Broxton has seen his share of down times in the last few years but many teams see him as a legit answer to the back end of bullpen issues. In an effort to maximize his future payday, Broxton was on the market looking for a one year deal to allow him to rebuild some value and seek a longer, more lucrative contract, in the near future.

While Broxton’s 2011 was cut short by injury, his arrival on the scene in 2006 showed sure dominance. A fireballer out of the bullpen, Broxton opened his first full career season by striking out 97 hitters in just 76 1/3 innings. His rise came quickly and he would find himself in the All Star game in 2009 and 2010. A lifetime strikeout to walk ratio of 3.09 shows a guy that is going to force hitters to beat him.

The Broxton signing will leave fans to wonder what the future holds for closer Joakim Soria. In my opinion, you will see Broxton setting up Soria and one or the other being used as trade bait near the deadline if they are both performing. Soria has team options stacked up for 2013 and 2014, making him the more attractive piece to other teams, but also making him the more valuable piece to the Royals.

Broxton will get $4 million for the 2012 campaign, including $1 million dollars in incentives based on games pitched, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com who broke the news.

I must admit, Dayton Moore is showing signs of making some good moves in my opinion this off season. His next few moves may be the big ones that everyone is waiting for.

Bill Ivie is the editor here at I-70 Baseball as well as the Assignment Editor for BaseballDigest.com.
He is the host of I-70 Radio, hosted every week on BlogTalkRadio.com.
Follow him on Twitter here.

The official Press Release from the Royals is below:

KANSAS CITY, MO (November 29, 2011) – The Kansas City Royals announced today that the club has agreed to terms with right-handed relief pitcher Jonathan Broxton on a one-year Major League contract for the 2012 season, pending a physical exam. Consistent with club policy, terms of the contract were not disclosed.

“We are delighted to add someone as talented as Jonathan to our bullpen,” Royals GM Dayton Moore said. “He will be used in a set up role to closer Joakim Soria and will help solidify what we feel is a young and talented bullpen.”

The 27-year-old Broxton was a two-time National League All-Star (2009, 2010) while playing for the Los Angeles Dodgers, including picking up the save for the National League in the 2010 Midsummer Classic in Anaheim. Since debuting in 2005 for the Dodgers, Broxton has compiled a 25-20 record with 84 saves and a 3.19 ERA in 386 appearances, all in relief. In 392.0 career innings, the 6-foot-4 right-hander has struck out 503, a ratio of 11.55 strikeouts per nine innings which is the third-highest in baseball since 2005 among pitchers with at least 350 innings. Broxton was 1-2 with seven saves and a 5.68 ERA in just 14 games for the Dodgers in 2011 before being placed on the Disabled List on May 6 with bone spurs in his right elbow that eventually required arthroscopic surgery on September 19.

Broxton and his wife, Elizabeth, have a son, Jonathan Brooks, and reside in Waynesboro, Ga.

[Adapted from an article on El Maquino]

Right after the All-Star Game on Tuesday, Sports Illustrated reporter Jon Heyman was rushed onto the MLB Network on-field studio to announce the news: the holder of the all-time saves in a season record Francisco Rodriguez had just been sent to the Brewers for some mid-level prospects.

You must be this tall to be a Cardinal, sorry Aaron Miles.

The natural first reaction (I had it too) was that Cards GM John Mozeliak had to counter with a move of his own. In fact, Mo was even discussing with the media what kind of deal he will be making with the trade deadline now only a bit more than two weeks away. But now my question is Why? Why is a trade taken for granted?

K-Rod is good, but he will operate as a setup man in Milwaukee since a big paycheck hike is in store for the team if he ends 21 more games. So his role is diminished in an already awful bullpen (20 losses, most in the Majors). So how good did this move really make them? Better than the Cardinals? I don’t think so. The only reason the NL Central is even close at this point is because the Cardinals were banged up ever since Adam Wainwright went down in spring training. But now, they’re healthy. Matt Holliday, Albert Pujols, David Freese, Skip Schumaker, Gerald Laird and Kyle McClellan are all healthy with the only key players still on the DL being Allen Craig and Eduardo Sanchez. They were equal with the Brewers when they were injured. Now, everyone’s back.

So, to me, the Cardinals are better than the Brewers by not making any deals. In a way, getting Pujols and others off the disabled list are trades in their own right.

Plus, what do the Cards really need? The primary answers to that would be defense, relief and starting pitching. Defense is an obvious hole, but you can’t point to a single player who is on the field solely because of his defense. For instance, why does Lance Berkman play right instead of Jon Jay, who is a much better rightfielder? Because Berkman puts up MVP numbers at the plate. So while defense is important to most teams, it’s obvious that it will not be an integral part of this one.

If you had said the Cards needed to make a deal to help the bullpen a month ago, I would have totally agreed with you. But now, the entire thing has been re-worked since Opening Day:

Bryan Augenstein (Still injured)
Miguel Batista (Fired)
Mitchell Boggs (Demoted for some reason, re-promoted)
Ryan Franklin (Fired)
Trever Miller
Jason Motte
Brian Tallet (Injured)

Fernando Salas (Promoted, now closer)
Lance Lynn (Promoted, now long reliever)
Raul Valdes (Promoted, now lefty specialist)
P.J. Walters (Promoted)

Eddy Sanchez (Promoted, injured)
Maikel Cleto (Promoted, demoted)
Brandon Dickson (Promoted, demoted)

Raul Valdes’ job is kind of confusing right now. As one of only two lefties in the ‘pen, you would think his job would be to face other lefties. But actually, he has faced 11 right-handed batters (.273) and nine left-handers (.222). (He’s also never pitched in a winning game in six outings, but only one of those was his fault.) So we don’t know if he will be good or bad yet. We do know that Trever Miller is having an awful year. One unknown and one bad equals the need for lefty relief help: the only thing I think the Cards need to trade for. Fernando Salas has done a great job closing games, so the highly-proposed move for Heath Bell, who offered to come over from San Diego, is unnecessary.

And offense is obviously not a problem.

One more thing to consider: Who gets traded in these trades? The only chip that carries enough value for a big name player is Colby Rasmus. I’ve said it before and will keep saying that a trade of Rasmus is not a good idea right now. He is too young, has not hit his ceiling yet, and is playing virtually for free right now. If it ever looks like he won’t top out like he should, get something for him either this offseason or next year. But it’s better to wait and see than give away an All-Star in a tight payroll setup just to one-up the Brewers’ new setup man.

Postscript: Hit me up at my site or on Twitter @El_Maquino.