Baseball

Originally published at the Green Valley News.

The NL East is a division crowded with competitive teams hoping to dethrone the reigning National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies. The Phillies, Braves, and Marlins all won at least 85 games last year. However, it was the New York Mets that many predicted would make a run at the World Series.

For the most part, White Sox players go completely overlooked when it comes to fantasy baseball.

In most seasons, the entire White Sox starting staff can be found on waivers after a draft.

This year, however, the White Sox are producing a lot of possible sleepers...but like all sleepers, they come with their share of possible buyer's remorse.

Pick your poison, or perhaps a gold cup of fantasy championship, with Juan Pierre, Gordon Beckham, Carlos Quentin, Alex Rios, Alexei Ramirez, and the entire White Sox pitching staff minus Freddy Garcia.

How many leagues are you joining this year?

Last year I loosely participated in no fewer than 26 fantasy leagues. I’ve played on ESPN, Sporting News, Fox, and CBS Sports.

In the last ten years, Cubs fans have seen their share of disappointing seasons, bad trades, over-hyped prospects and greedy super stars.

No other franchise in the entire MLB has experienced more disappointment then Chicago, and here is a tribute to the best players that graciously took the blame.

102 years of painful seasons has made the Wrigley faithful the most loyal and passionate fans in all of sports, though times may seem tough.

Though thousands of players have set foot into the hallowed walls of Wrigley Field, these athletes have proven to be the best since the Y2K.

Everyone has likely participated in the wonderful world of fantasy baseball at least one time during his or her lifetime.

Whether home base was at CBS, FOX, Yahoo, ESPN, or Sandbox, the goal was the same: compile the best team, destroy your friends, and remind them of it until next season.

Last year the Minnesota Twins won the American League Central for the fifth time in eight years, but it was how they did it that was so significant.

Trailing the Tigers by seven games on Sept. 6, the Twins closed out the season with a 17-4 run to force a one-game playoff.

The one-game playoff ended up going 12 innings, and Minnesota clinched a playoff berth with a 6-5 win.

Can the Twins repeat? Let's take a look at their chances, along with their season win total projection.

Pitching

In case you missed it, the biggest news of the morning is the Yankees decision to waive Chad Gaudin, thus eliminating him from the fifth starter competition and probably from the team altogether.

Here are some other news items of note:

The Milwaukee Brewers needed to make a pitching splash in free agency over the winter. Once it was apparent that John Lackey wouldn't become a Brewer, GM Doug Melvin signed the next best option, Randy Wolf.

Wolf signed a three-year, $29.75 million deal with the Brewers on December 9.

There were two main thoughts by most after the signing: Wolf is a good pitcher, but the Brewers overpaid to get him.

Both statements are true, but that's the price the Brewers must pay in order to get a big-name free agent to come play in Milwaukee.

According to Ed Price of Fan House, the Yankees have placed right handed pitcher Chad Gaudin on waivers. There are four scenarios that can happen now and only one involves him pitching with the Yankees in 2010.