The Milwaukee Brewers have already lost slugging first baseman Prince Fielder and there’s a chance that Ryan Braun, last year’s National League MVP, could be suspended for the start of the regular season. However, the club’s fans don’t seem to mind as tickets for the upcoming season are selling like hotcakes so far.

The team held its Brewers on Deck event at the Frontier Airlines Center recently and said this season could set a new attendance record for the franchise. Winning the NL Central title last season has a lot to do with it and it appears the fans aren’t really concerned who’s going to be in or out of the lineup on opening day.

The club said sales are well ahead of last year’s numbers and it expects to set an all-time Brewers attendance record if the fans keep on snapping them up. The club set a franchise record last season when 3,071,373 tickets were sold for its 91 home games. The Brewers won 57 of those on their way to a 96-win season, both team records. It was the third time in the last four years and the third time in club history that they have attracted more than three million fans to their ballpark.

Another team record was set on Dec. 22 when the Brewers sold their millionth ticket for next season, which is about a month earlier than they’ve ever done it before. The team announced the millionth ticket had been sold about 10 days after the news broke about Braun’s possible suspension due to a failed drug test. According to the team’s ticket office, the sales didn’t slow down after fans learned of Braun’s predicament.

However, Braun didn’t show up for the On Deck happening, which featured photo and autograph sessions with most of the players. It was reported that Mark Attanasio, the principal owner of the club, told Braun he didn’t have to show up while his case is under appeal. It was reported that the appeal process started on Jan. 19 and arbiters are supposed to rule on the case within 25 days.

Some fans were upset that Braun skipped the event, but the club feels the best thing for him to do at the moment is to focus on the drug allegations and get that incident cleared up first. The Brewers held several events in the past to drum up ticket sales for upcoming seasons, but the On Deck event, which began in 2009 at the convention center, has proved to be the most effective.

Rick Schlesinger of the Brewers front office  said the fans love it and the staff and players enjoy it just as much. He feels it’s a key ingredient to the continued success of the club and it shows that the fans are interested in the good fortunes of the team as a whole rather than its individual players.

Former baseball slugger Cecil Fielder was quite surprised on Jan. 24 when it was announced that his son Prince Fielder had signed a nine-year contract with the Detroit Tigers. When in Toronto a couple of weeks ago, the elder Fielder said he thought his free agent son, who played with the Milwaukee Brewers last season, would end up signing with the Washington Nationals. It looks like the offer of cashing in $214 million over the length of the Tigers deal was just too good to turn down though.

The Tigers suddenly became interested in the first baseman after it was revealed that designated hitter Victor Martinez is going to miss the entire MLB season due to a torn ACL in his left knee. The Tigers originally looked for a short-term deal to solve their problem, but then decided to jump in head first and offer fielder a long-term contract. It’s now a done deal unless Fielder fails his physical, which is possible, but not likely.

The deal means Fielder will be with the Tigers, a team his father played for, up until 2020, when he’ll be 36 years old. Losing Martinez from their lineup will hurt the Tigers as he had 103 RBIs and a .330 batting average last season, leading the team to their first division crown in 24 years. The Tigers already have a big-hitting first baseman in Miguel Cabrera, and it’s believed he could be moved to first base while Fielder takes over at third. However, that means the Tigers won’t be among the league’s best defensively at the corners.

Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski stated publicly that the Tigers would consider Fielder, but he didn’t think the club would be a good fit for him. However, team owner Mike Ilitch obviously felt a deal could be worked out with Fielder’s agent Scott Boras and he was right. Ilitch has a soft spot for Fielder since he used to hang around Tiger Stadium when his father played for the team early in the 1990s.

Cabrera reportedly has no problem moving from first place and said he was looking forward to playing on the same team as Fielder. Cabrera told a Venezuelan newspaper that he’s going to be playing third base next season, but it’s unclear if that will be his full-time position. It’s possible that he rotates at DH with Fielder and could still play some first base. Cabrera played third base previously for a few seasons as a member of the Florida Marlins. He was moved to first base in 2008 by Detroit.

However, things could get a little crowded once Martinez returns to action in 2013. But it looks like the Tigers aren’t going to worry about that until the time comes. Fielder hit for a .299 batting average last year with 38 homers and 120 RBIs, so the Tigers view the possible player logjam in 2013 as a good problem.

After 17 years as a New York Yankee, catcher Jorge Posada has decided to hang up his pinstripes and call it a day.  Posada, who has five World Series rings, announced his retirement on Jan. 24 at Yankee Stadium. The 40-year-old Posada said it was emotional day for him, but he lived his dream of becoming a Major League ball player and that’s all he ever wanted to do.

After being drafted in the 24^th round in 1990 it didn’t look like the native of Santurce, Puerto Rico would make it to the big leagues, let alone enjoy a 17-year career in them. He started his career as a second baseman and moved to catcher in 1991, but struggled initially after changing positions. He said he made up his mind to retire during the 2011 season and only told his wife and good friend Derek Jeter about his plans. He said he told his agent not to bother looking for a deal with another team because he wanted to retire a Yankee.

He added that he wasn’t looking forward to working out and preparing for another baseball season and was looking forward to taking a summer off to be with his family. However, he said if he had at least 291 home runs he might have played another year to try and reach the 300 mark. But after hitting 14 homers and 44 RBIs last season he retires with 275 career home runs, 1,065 RBIs and a .273 batting average and said he didn’t want to play for a couple more years just to hit 25 home runs.

The switch-hitting Posada was also named to the All-Star team five times and won five AL Silver Slugger Awards, but said he was disappointed to be replaced as catcher last season and moved to designated hitter. He said he felt he was demoted since he didn’t have the chance to fight for his job. He wasn’t too happy with club management at the time, but GM Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi said everybody worked through it and the club can’t thank him enough for what he’s done for it over the years.

Posada said when he was a youngster his father inspired him because he hated to lose and he took that same attitude with him to the Yankees. It was his win-at-all-costs attitude that will likely see Posada end up in the Hall of Fame some day. There are 14 catchers in the hall now and only Yogi Berra has more homers and RBIs and a better batting average.

As a Yankee, Posada ranks third on the all-time list for games caught, eighth for home runs, 11^th for RBIs, and seventh for both walks and doubles. Girardi said those are Hall of Fame numbers and that’s where he should be in the future.

Posada said he’s not sure what he’s going to do next, but has already received offers from MLB Network, the YES Network, and ESPN to work as a commentator, but doesn’t think he’ll take that route, at least not yet. He also said he’s not interested in management right now, and after a summer of relaxing he’ll just see where the winds takes him.

The Los Angeles Dodgers, one of Major League Baseball’s most-storied franchises, will have itself a new owner or owners by the end of April. The bidding process for the baseball franchise and the famous Dodger Stadium began on Jan 23 with the sale be managed by a company called Blackstone Advisory Partners. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court is also overseeing the sale of the ball team and stadium.

So far, it’s been reported that over 25 different interested groups have received the club’s confidential financial information to review. Frank McCourt, the Dodgers current owner who placed the franchise in bankruptcy protection in June 2011, will work closely with Blackstone and they will present the assortment of bids to Major League Baseball. MLB will then go through all of the bids and bidders and will approve up to 10 of them.

Out of those 10, McCourt will be able to choose what he feels is the highest and best bid by April 1. He must then notify the bankruptcy court no later than April 6 with the closing date of the sale being set for no later than April 30. Ironically, April 30 is also the day that McCourt is scheduled to pay Jamie McCourt, his ex-wife, a total of $131 million as a settlement to their recent divorce. The Dodgers recently announced in court that the franchise is $573 million in debt.

It’s believed that the franchise and stadium could fetch as much as $1.5 billion or perhaps even more, which would be a record sale for a MLB club. If it sold for that price then all of the creditors would be able to be paid in full. McCourt originally paid $431 million for the franchise back in 2004. However, according to the rules of the sale, neither McCourt nor any of his relatives will be allowed to keep any financial interest in the team either indirectly or directly. The parking lots at the stadium aren’t included in the sale price, but they can be purchased separately or negotiated into the final bid.

The sale of the Dodgers has attracted quite a bit of interest from a wide variety of people. Some of them have confirmed their interest in the club and others have just been rumored. It’s believed that some of the bidders include broadcasting giants Comcast, Time Warner, and Fox and Comcast; Peter O’Malley, the Dodgers former owner; former baseball manager Joe Torre; former basketball star Magic Johnson and partners; Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban; former baseball players Orel Hershiser and Steve Garvey and their business partners, and several other business and real estate investors, owners, and groups.

It’s also been rumored that the Dodgers could make a run at signing free agent Prince Fielder from the Milwaukee Brewers. He’s looking for about $200 million in a long-term contract, but the Dodgers aren’t willing to lay out that kind of cash before the team is sold as it could affect the sale process. However, depending on the bidders and if they agree to it, Fielder could possibly be signed or at least offered a contract.

The Boston Red Sox strengthened their bullpen by acquiring 27-year-old All-Star reliever Andrew Bailey from the Oakland As along with 26-year-old outfielder Ryan Sweeney on Dec. 28. In return, the Sox sent 24-year-old outfielder Josh Reddick to the west coast with 20-year-old infielder Miles Head and Raul Alcantara, a 19-year-old minor-league pitcher.

Bobby Valentine, the new Red Sox manager, was looking for a closer since Jonathan Papelbon recently left the team as a free agent and signed a four-year deal worth $50 million with the Philadelphia Phillies. The right-handed Bailey said he loves pitching at historic Fenway Park and had three saves in four games there with Oakland. He added that there’s nothing comparable in all of baseball than running into Fenway Park from the bullpen.

Bailey and Valentine know each other and the pitcher feels that’s a big advantage when changing teams. He said it always helps to know somebody, especially if it’s the manager. Bailey’s had an excellent start to his three-year career so far. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 2009 and was named an all-star in both 2009 and 2010.

He struggled a little last season by going 0-4 with 24 saves in 42 appearances. He also had an ERA of 3.24 in 41 2/3 inning pitched. However, he was placed on the team’s disabled list due to a problem with his right forearm. He didn’t make his first appearance with the As until May 29. Career-wise, Bailey has a 7-10 record in 157 total games to go along with his ERA of 2.07. He’s saved 75 games in 84 opportunities. Bailey said he’s healthy at the moment for the first time in the off-season since joining the Major Leagues.  Sweeney, the other player heading to Boston, is a left-handed batter who hit for a .265 average in 264 at bats with Oakland last season with one home run and 25 RBIs.

Oakland has now traded four key pitchers in the past several weeks as Craig Breslow, Trevor Cahill, and Gio Gonzalez have all been shipped out of town. The As seem to be in a rebuilding mode and still have pitchers Dallas Braden, Brandon McCarthy, and Brett Anderson in their rotation. Braden pitched a perfect game for Oakland back on May 9, 2010 and he recently signed a new one-year deal worth $3.35 million. However, he started just three games last season before undergoing surgery on a shoulder injury.

Bailey said he thinks Oakland is trying to get younger and that’s the reason for so many trades this off-season. He believes GM Billy Beane is hoping the club can relocate in San Jose in the near future in a brand new ballpark. However, there could be a few problems with that scenario since the San Francisco Giants currently own the territorial rights to that area of Santa Clara County.

The Texas Rangers are looking to the Land of the Rising Sun to fill in the void that was left when C.J. Wilson decided he’d rather pitch Los Angeles Angels from now on. The Rangers and the Toronto Blue Jays were recently involved in a bidding war for the right to negotiate a Major League Baseball contract with Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish.

The bidding came to an end on Dec. 19 when it was revealed that the Rangers offer of $51.7 million was accepted with pleasure by Darvish’s club, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters. The Rangers now have 30 days to work out a deal with the pitcher or he will return to play with the Ham Fighters. This means they have until Jan. 18 to wrap up contract talks and get Darvish’s signature. If the Rangers don’t sign the right hander they’ll get their money back though.

The 25-year-old Darvish is widely regarded to be one of the best ever pitchers to come out of Japan and is considered ready to give it a shot in MLB. Rangers’ GM Jon Daniels said his organization and its fans are excited about the possibility of signing Darvish, but warned there’s still a lot of work to be done. He said winning the bid was an important process of course, but it was just the first step. The club must now convince Darvish that Texas is the right place for him and sweeten the deal with a multi-million dollar contract.

The last major signing of a Japanese pitcher took place back in 2006 when the Boston Red Sox shelled out $52.6 million for six years to Daisuke Matsuzaka. When C.J. Wilson recently signed with the Angels he received a five-year deal worth $77.5 million. When you add up a contract and the winning bid, it’s likely going to cost the Rangers at least $100 million to get Darvish in a Texas uniform next season.

However, some fans feel if they’re going to spend that much they should have offered it on a proven MLB pitcher and kept the 31-year-old left hander Wilson, who was the team’s Pitcher of the Year award winner for the last two seasons. Daniels said it’s too early to compare Darvish to anybody else and he could be a long-term solution for the Rangers because he’s six years younger than Wilson.

Going by statistics only, Darvish looks to be ready for the Major Leagues. He pitched in 28 games last season and finished with an ERA of 1.44 and a record of 18-6. He also struck out 276 batters in 232 innings. It was his fifth consecutive year with an ERA below 2.00. So far, he’s won two ERA and thee strikeout titles in his native Japan. He was also named the Pacific League’s Most Valuable Player of the Year twice.

Texas has had their eye on the pitcher for the last few years and Daniels has been to Japan to see him pitch in person after receiving rave reviews from his scouts. With a deadline to sign Darvish, it’s unlikely Texas will make any other major moves until then. They signed reliever Joe Nathan already, but have stated their interest in free agent Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers. In addition, the club is trying to re-sign players such as Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, and Derek Holland.

The Rangers already have a starting rotation of Matt Harrison, Colby Lewis, Neftali Feliz, Alexi Ogando, and Holland and have Scott Feldman, Martin Perez, and Neil Ramirez in the organization. If Darvish is signed it’s likely the team would trade one of its starters before next season gets underway. Lewis is the oldest and he’s a free agent after next season, so he’s the most likely candidate to be moved.

Toronto, Canada is one of North America’s worst locations when it comes to the performances of its professional sports franchises. The NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1967 and haven’t even made it to a final series since then. The NBA’s Raptors have won a total of one playoff series in their history and the Blue Jays of MLB haven’t made the post season since 1993. Still all of these clubs are more successful than soccer team Toronto F.C of MLS. They haven’t made the playoffs since they joined the league.

It can easily be said all of these teams are pretty bad, but there’s also another common thread now since the Maple Leafs, Raptors, Toronto F.C, and Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL) were all recently sold. Canada’s top two telecom companies, Bell and Rogers, joined forces and bought 75 per cent ownership for a total of $1.32 billion from previous owners MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment). Rogers already owned the Blue Jays and now the telecom giants have a monopoly on Toronto sports teams as well as the telecommunications market.

MLSE was funded by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and they confirmed sales of the sports franchises as well as the Air Canada Centre, where the Leafs and Raptors call home. Rogers already owns the Rogers Centre, home of the Blue Jays and Bell has an 18 per cent stake in the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens, who play out of the Bell Centre. The other 25 per cent of the former MLSE stocks are owned by Larry Tanenbaum, who had first refusal on the shares that were sold.

The sale still has to be approved by the various leagues, such as the NHL, NBA, and MLS and the Canadian government’s Competition Bureau also has to approve it to make sure the sale doesn’t result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition. Bell also owns TSN, which is one of Canada’s biggest sports networks while Rogers owns the Sportsnet channels which is it fiercest rival. The two companies now have to sort out some type of deal to see which network shows which games. The 66 Raptors contests this season will all be shown on one network or the other.

However, when it comes to the Maple Leafs, which is the NHL’s most valuable franchise, the broadcast deal might not be so easy to split up since both networks view the team as their golden egg. Bell and Rogers also own competing radio stations, but all of the current contracts involving the teams have to be honoured until they expire.

The announcement of the sale had been rumoured for a few weeks, but most fans and journalists wondered aloud how two of the nation’s top rival companies to come to an agreement. Both Rogers and Bell reportedly paid $533 million each while Tanenbaum’s previous stake of about 21 per cent was raised to 25 per cent in a separate deal.  The sale will allow the new owners to broadcast its franchises’ games on a variety of media devices, such as mobile phones and Xboxes.

The sale doesn’t mean the teams will necessarily improve and as one journalist put it, “It just means I can now watch their lousy teams on more electronic devices.”

Former baseball player Barry Bonds was sentenced on Dec. 16 to 30 250 hours of community service, two years of probation and 30 days worth of house arrest for obstruction of justice. He was found guilty back in April after a three-week trial and was sentenced by Susan Illston, a U.S. District Court Judge. Illston said she agreed with a pre-sentencing report recommending probation and also tacked on a fine of $4,000. The prosecution was seeking a 15-month jail term. However, Bonds won’t after to serve any of the sentences for the moment since Illston suspended it while it’s being appealed by Bonds.

Bonds won the National League’s MVP award seven times during his career while also setting MLB records for career and single-season home runs. Even though the former star was found guilty of obstruction, the jury couldn’t agree on any of the three counts he faced of making false declarations. The charges stemmed from the testimony he gave in 2003 before the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative grand jury where he denied that he knowingly used any performance-enhancing drugs during his 22-year baseball career.

Bonds lead defense attorney, Allen Ruby, agreed with the pre-sentence probation report which said Bonds shouldn’t serve any time in jail. The prosecution argued that Bonds was convicted of a level 14 criminal offense and the typical sentence is between 15 and 21 in jail and didn’t agree with the pre-sentence report. However, the defense said the conviction was out of character for Bonds and was just a once-in-a-lifetime incident. Ruby added that Bonds’ history shows he’s very charitable and a good community citizen.

The judge said she agreed that Bonds had attempted to obstruct justice, but he wasn’t successful at doing so. She also said he didn’t threaten witnesses, but his testimony was questionable at best. The prosecution attempted to discredit Bonds during the hearings and said that he planned ahead of time to lie and that he also led a double life and had mistresses on the side. However, Illston said that had nothing to do with the case and he wasn’t convicted of anything else.

The 47-year old Bonds was one of baseball’s biggest stars. He retired from the game in 2007 with a total of 762 home runs, the most in MLB history. He also set the single-season record for home runs in 2001 when he slammed 73 of them out of the ballpark. However, many people have felt that Bonds was using performance-enhancing drugs during his playing days and his home run records are questionable because of that.

A host of free agency signings has meant baseball’s been in the headlines quite a bit the last week or so, especially with the LA Angels signing Albert Pujols to a $254 million contract. However, the publicity was all negative on Dec. 10 when it was reported that 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers had failed a drug test.

The 28-year-old Braun helped Milwaukee to a franchise-best 96 regular season wins in 2011 along with the National League Central title, which was their first since moving from the American League in 1998 and their first overall title since back in 1982. Braun hit 33 home runs and 111 RBI and batted .332. He also stole 33 bases and beat out Matt Kemp of the Dodgers in the MVP voting. Braun was selected by the Brewers in the first round in 2005 and was named 2007’s rookie of the year. He’s also won four Silver Slugger Awards and played in four all-star games. His career stats are 161 home runs along with 531 RBI and a batting average of .312.

There have been contradicting reports though as to what caused the outfielder to test positive. ESPN said he failed due to a performance-enhancing drug (PED), but other sources said that wasn’t the case, that something else triggered the reading. It’s believed Braun underwent a urine test in October during the playoffs and it showed that his testosterone level was high enough to result in a positive test. Another test was taken, which showed the high level was caused by a synthetic substance.

The confusion at the moment is whether or not he was using a PED. But either way, whatever it was in his system is a violation of Major League Baseball’s steroid-testing policy. If he’s found guilty, he’ll be suspended for 50 games for violating the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Policy. At the moment, Braun said he’s appealing the test results and requested to take the test again. He’s keeping mum on the subject for the time being until more results and information can be gathered. MLB Players’ Association and MLB officials aren’t making any comments either.

The only person doing any official talking about the incident was one of Braun’s spokesmen. He released a statement which said the there’s some unusual circumstances in the case and Braun in no way intentionally violated the drug policy. He added that Braun will eventually be found not guilty when all of the information is gathered.

Also, Mark Attanasio, owner of the Brewers, said that MLB hasn’t contacted the club regarding Braun’s test results, and Braun deserves the right to appeal it before he should be judged. He said he supports MLB’s drug-testing program and its process of review and feels people shouldn’t jump to any conclusions or speculation until all of the facts are in.

In the meantime, his full support is with Braun. But he made it clear that he’s against prohibited substances because of the negative effects they can have on a person’s life and body. He said he supports drug testing because it’s the right thing to do, not just because it’s MLB policy.

Valentine’s Day came early for the Boston Red Sox when the club announced on Dec. 1 that Bobby Valentine had been hired as their new manager, replacing Terry Francona. Valentine had spent the last couple of years working behind the microphone for ESPN. However, if he doesn’t produce he might not be around for too long since he was given just a two-year deal with options for the following two seasons.

There are many baseball experts who believe the Red Sox are still after Toronto Blue Jays manager John Farrell, whose contract with the Canadian team conveniently expires in two years. But for the time being, the 61-year-old Valentine’s in charge and he has his work cut out for him as the franchise’s 45^th manager. His resume is pretty good; having taken the New York Mets to the World Series back in 2000 and winning a Japanese championship series in 2005 with the Chiba Lotte Marines, but a World Series win has eluded him so far.

His stint with the Red Sox could change that since they’re still one of the top MLB teams out there. His introductory press conference was filled with the usual quotes about how thrilled he is to be there and that it’s an honor to be working with one of baseball’s most storied franchises. John Henry, the club’s principal owner, joined the love-in and said Valentine’s the right man for the job and should be able to lead the team to the playoffs for the next two seasons.

However, things might have changed a little since Valentine last managed in the Major Leagues, which was back in 2002 when he led the Mets to a 75-86 record. He started managing with Texas in 1985 and spent eight years with the Rangers, with his most successful one coming in 1986 when they finished in second place in their division. He joined the Mets in 1996 and won the NL pennant in 2000. He had two stints in Japan with Chiba, which were 1995 and 2003 to 09.

While Valentine’s known for being pretty opinionated, he’s also got one of the best baseball minds out there and is pretty solid tactically. The Red Sox need somebody who can instil a bit of discipline as last season they became the first MLB team in history to blow a nine-game lead in September and miss the postseason. When the season ended stories about the players’ work habits and conduct angered the club’s management and fans as it appeared the inmates were running the asylum.

Valentine said he doesn’t know what happened last September, but is going to give the players the benefit of doubt and is looking forward to working with them and earning an excellent reputation with the fans. He said he’s also looking forward to playing the hated Yankees 18 times a season. His appointment surprised some people though since his name was never mentioned publicly by the team while it was searching for a new dugout boss, plus the fact he’s been out of the Majors for a decade. Valentine now has two seasons to show Henry that he made the right choice.