Baseball

When you commit $64 million dollars to three pitchers over the span of two years, there are certain expectations that need to be met.

Take a look at the San Francisco Giants. Their three headed monster of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Barry Zito are making $54.05 million collectively in 2009 and 2010. Last year they won a combined 39 games in 98 starts and struck out 586 batters in 635 innings pitched. Those numbers are produced by, what some regard, the best top end rotation in the league.

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Through about three weeks of Spring Training games, what have we learned about the Atlanta Braves?

Here are a few things...

Jason Heyward is the man.

Nate McLouth...not so much.

Craig Kimbrel can throw really well.

Jesse Chavez...not so much.

Derek Lowe has a new delivery.

Brian McCann and Troy Glaus' deliveries of balls to the outfield have not.

Joe Thurston and Brooks Conrad are both more than qualified to be the back-up, back-up infielders.

While Jason Heyward and Stephen Strasburg may be receiving more notoriety entering this season, the Brewers have their own super prospect in Alcides Escobar.

Heyward and Strasburg will get all the national press and be touted as the next big things, but Escobar is the one that could very easily win the NL Rookie of the Year and amaze fans around the league this year.

Escobar has been compared defensively to fellow Venezuelan great, Omar Vizquel. He has the speed and range to get to any ball hit in the hole, and his arm is as strong as any shortstop in baseball.

Today is March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day , and many people across this world are celebrating the Luck of the Irish, enjoying corned beef and cabbage, and getting their drink on.

This day also marks the 91st anniversary of the birth of the greatest natural baseball player who ever lived. A player so remarkable that the natural right handed hitter taught himself how to switch hit in the minors, and it only took him a couple weeks to get the hang of it.

This afternoon, Red Sox manager Terry Francona announced the cause of the recent bout of fatigue that infielder Jed Lowrie has been dealing with.

He is suffering from mononucleosis.

Lowrie complained of fatigue a week ago. Thereafter, the ball club subjected him to a battery of tests in an effort to uncover what ailed him.

Now we know.

Francona said: “He can play as tolerated. He was on the bike yesterday. I don’t think he’ll feel like he has a ton of energy for the next week or two, but he can do physical things as tolerated.

Last year, expectations for the Tampa Bay Rays were sky-high.

Here was a young team that the entire world got to see blossom during the playoffs.

The phenom, David Price, was showcased to the baseball community with his killer strikeout of J.D. Drew during the American League Championship.

Evan Longoria and B.J. Upton came out swinging during the playoffs; Upton hit the second most home runs in a single postseason with seven, and Longoria was not far behind his teammate with six.

This team looked like it was in the upper echelon and might only get better.

Baseball's oldest professional franchise has witnessed plenty of illustrious talent over it's 141 years of existence. The Reds have five World Series championships and five Hall of Fame players.

The historic franchise has gone from pioneers Harry and George Wright wining 130 straight games, to being on the other side of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, all the way up to Marge Schott, Sean Casey and Adam Dunn.

The 2010 season is almost upon us. Baseball season is getting much closer to being back.

We're about two weeks away to Easter Sunday on April 4, when Opening Night will kickoff the season on ESPN, and what a game to open up with between the defending World Series Champions New York Yankees and rival Boston Red Sox.

But there will be 29 other teams trying to do what the Yankees did this past November, which is win the World Series. Eight teams only get a chance every year to qualify to win, so who will be the teams this season to step up and challenge the Yankees?

The primary line of thought is that the Yankees' pitcher that loses the fifth starter battle will be used as the primary eighth inning pitcher.

This is likely to be the case, but is that the right decision? Could Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes use more development against Triple-A hitters?

With Hughes, I think the answer is an obvious no. He has a ton of minor league experience and has already dominated the Triple-A level. I don't think Hughes has anything to learn in the minors.