In a surprising move, the Cincinnati Reds sent Josh Hamilton and his feel-good story to the Texas Rangers for pitching prospect Edinson Volquez over the winter. The decision has turned out to be a win-win for both clubs, with Hamilton hitting the cover off the ball in Arlington and Volquez leading the National League in ERA, even before his seven shutout innings against the Cubs on Wednesday afternoon.

Volquez garnered significantly less attention than teammate Johnny Cueto early, who burst onto the scene with an outstanding spring and a dominant first outing. Though Cueto has just a tad more upside, Volquez features a similar repertoire and is already growing into a frontline big-league starter. Read more »

To less hardcore baseball fans, the name Larry Walker doesn’t carry a lot of clout. If you didn’t see him play or hear numerous, numerous people rave about his immense abilities, his name blends in with a mass of other very good, non-Hall of Famers.

But if you do listen to all of that talk and can appreciate the fact that Walker had once-in-a-generation, five-tool ability, you can appreciate how gifted Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton is. The reason? Hamilton is raking to start the 2008 season, and he is collecting comparisons to Walker faster than he’s adding to his MLB-leading RBI count. Read more »