Alex Rodriguez

Well, the Super Bowl is over, and that only means only thing: the countdown to Opening Day has just begun. There are 51 days left until then (as of Monday, February 7). That gives us just about a month and a half to prepare.

The Yankees have had an interesting offseason; and by interesting, I really mean disappointing. Highlighted by the failed signing of ace Cliff Lee, the Yankees also watched its two toughest division opponents go in opposite directions.

Before we look ahead to this season, let’s recap last year.

Alex Rodriguez has been known to upstage a major sporting event in the middle to draw attention to himself, and the 2011 Super Bowl was no exception.

While the Green Bay Packers battled the Pittsburgh Steelers, Alex Rodriguez was sitting in his luxury box with his beau Cameron Diaz.  Surely, Rodriguez must have realized that he would be seen when Diaz started feeding popcorn to Rodriguez during the second quarter.

Beginning with Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro we have seen that the Hall of Fame voters are not looking fondly on nominees that have their pasts tied to performance enhancing drugs.

Looking back to the stars that emerged in the late 1980's and through into the early 2000's, an alarming number of our favorite players were implicated in the steroids scandal.

Baseball saw some of the most hallowed and revered records in our national past time broken by the games modern athletes. Home run records fell, pitchers seemed ageless, and mediocre players became great.

New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano has replaced his agent, Bobby Barad, with high-powered sports agent Scott Boras.

Cano finished third in AL MVP voting in 2010 and was awarded the Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards.

Andy Pettitte is that soft spoken lefty with the slow Texas drawl. A man dedicated to his faith and his family, tenacious, unflappable in the moment.

He may be among the best pitchers the New York Yankees have ever seen. But he’s also a confessed cheater.

A few weeks ago, Brian Cashman made headlines.  He made a comment, stating that when Derek Jeter's time at shortstop is over, he would be moving to center field.  It's almost unthinkable that the best shortstop the Yankees have ever seen might be vacating the position soon. 

Even so, it's not uncommon to see a move like this.  For example, the legendary Mickey Mantle moved from center field to first base after years of abuse on his legs caught up to him. 

From "Mr. Mariner" to "The Bone," there have been nicknames.

From Arquimedez Pozo's one plate appearance to Edgar Martinez's franchise record 8,678, there have been different lengths of stays.

Since 1977, the Mariners have employed hundreds of players. While not every team has a history rich with players like the Yankees, they all have a large pool of players where you'll find interesting characters who defined the franchise.

A big market city, such as Boston, comes with big payrolls and even bigger expectations.

Year after year the front office, coaches and fans expect a certain level of excellence from their players. If they do not live up to their potential then it's the general manager's job to find someone who can.

It used to be that most players, especially stars, would start and finish their careers in the same uniform. However, since the introduction of free agency that is now rarely the case.

It’s a question you might face on draft day. Do I draft an up-and-coming player entering his prime or an aging superstar who in previous years was a no-brainer to be drafted first? In this year’s draft, Ryan Zimmerman is that up and coming player while Alex Rodriguez is the aging superstar. So which one would you rather have?

As much as we try, hope and pray, we will never be able to fill our rosters from top to bottom with guys who are going to put up 2010 CarGo-esque numbers. There are only a handful of players in every given season with the ability carry a fantasy team. A good fantasy team succeeds at rostering above average players; not rostering statistical liabilities.