Baseball

On Wednesday, the Giants inked reliever Jeremy Affeldt to a two-year, $9.5 million extension, according to USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale .

On paper, it makes sense.

Once again the baseball season is upon us.

With the steroid era still looming over the league, players and fans try to move on and look toward the future.

Last year we saw the Yankees come back into Championship form winning their 27th title.

Will they repeat or will some dark horse win the race?

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On an everyday basis during the baseball season, the Yankees make me believe in things. They make me feel strong. Whether it is crushing a 400 foot home run or throwing a 99 mph fastball, it’s almost as if the Bronx Bombers possess powers and abilities beyond those of mortal men.

Simply put, the Yankees are my superheroes.

Then I got to thinking: if the Yankees were superheroes, which ones would they be? I put together a list of Bombers who represent comic book heroes. I tried to match each hero to a Yankee in accordance to their attributes and personality.

With less than two weeks until opening day, most the roster is set. However, a few position battles will likely go down to the final week.

As everyone knows, spring training stats are an awful indicator of future performance and are written off as useless for most players. But don’t tell that to guys like Brooks Conrad and Joe Thurston who are playing their tails off trying to be the last position player on the roster.

Since most of the roster is set, I won’t go into detail about why Tommy Hanson will be in the rotation or Chipper Jones will start at third base.

With the announcement Thursday that New York Yankees right-handed pitcher Phil Hughes will be the team's fifth starter, a firestorm has arisen over what many now call the misuse of fellow right-handed flamethrower Joba Chamberlain.

Last season Ozzie put together 126 different lineups over the course of the season. If recent rumors are any indication, the White Sox lineup will continue to be in flux this season.

As reported by Mark Gonzales, Ozzie has floated two ideas recently, both of which gave me the same knee-jerk reaction of “SERIOUSLY!?”

1. Batting Mark Kotsay THIRD against right-handed pitchers

Sergio Santos is a name White Sox fans may need to learn going into this season, as he is currently extremely close to taking the final roster spot. Fans of other teams, however, may learn his name as well before the 2010 season starts.

The 26-year-old Santos has been one of the few surprises in White Sox camp striking out nine in five-and-two-thirds of scoreless work. His dominating pitching is only half the Santos surprise (Santos surprise sounds really dirty).

The most surprising part is that Santos has only been a pitcher for 28.2 innings before this spring.

The name of the Cubs spring training facility, HoHoKam, literally means "those who vanished". That is appropriate as we embark on a journey of past Cubs spring training stars and "can't miss kids" who did.

The current spring star is Tyler Colvin, who is ranked third in the National League in hitting this spring, at .440. While this is great for the kid, and Paul Sullivan has Colvin making the Cubs' roster, let me remind you of one thing:

Spring statistics mean nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. As predictors for regular season performance, that is.

How does any team replace a player who has averaged 46 doubles over the last six years, 39 stolen bases over the last four, and made two All-Star appearances?

More importantly, how do you replace a guy like that when you are the Orioles, and the player in question is Brian Roberts?

That is the dilemma currently facing the Orioles as they draw ever closer to Opening Day 2010.

Let’s set the debate aside for the moment over the Red Sox's shift in philosophy.

Volumes were written this winter (here and elsewhere) about the front office’s desire to transition the team more towards pitching and defense.

What can be said with near certainty is that once Theo and Company decided to head in this direction, it was clear the club should spend its $80 million on pitcher John Lackey instead of hitter Jason Bay.

The acquisition of Lackey did several things.