Baseball

The Seattle Mariners are a hot pick in 2010—and for good reason.

Last year, the M’s rebounded from a 101-loss ’08 campaign to win 85 games and lead the American League in staff ERA (3.87). The top of their lineup now features a “double-whammy” of Ichiro and Chone Figgins while the top of their starting rotation now includes the “one-two punch” of Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee.

Yes, Seattle could be very good. But so too could those L.A. Angels.

It’s not everyday the Yankees are outbid by many teams, a few years ago they were outbid by Boston for Daisuke Matsuzaka, but that was the Red Sox and with their nearly $170 million payroll you’d expect them to outbid somebody sometime. The Blue Jays however? Come on!

This is the time during Spring Training that all Major League teams starts to cut down on their rosters, sending some players down to their Minor League affiliates while others are sent on their way right out of the organization.

The funny thing about this process is that there are very few surprises as to who stays and who goes.

Here are some pitchers whose name we all know, but who you may not realize as on the cusp of a tremendous 2010 season.  Let’s take a look at five of my favorite pitching sleepers for the coming year:

Marc Rzepczynski —Toronto Blue Jays
The left-hander made his Major League debut in ‘09, posting a 3.67 ERA and 1.32 WHIP over 11 starts.  He was slightly lucky (.280 BABIP), but also struggled with his control (BB/9 of 4.40). 

During a recent "Saturday Night Live", comedian/host Zach Galifianakis did the mustache community proud by shaving his trademark bushy hobo beard down to a very handsome cookie duster.

Similarly, during last spring's World Baseball Classic, Kevin Youkilis abandoned his goatee and toyed around with a fu manchu that would make the likes of Luis Tiant and Hulk Hogan blush.

Unfortunately, the werewolf gene present in both "The Hangover" star and the Red Sox first baseman keeps them from donning just the lip sweater.

In my quest to post an article related to every Milwaukee Brewers player that I felt had a legitimate shot at making the 25-man roster to begin 2010, I knew this day would inevitably arrive.

It's tough to write about the New York Mets these days.

There hasn't been a whole lot of good news to write about when it comes to the Mets this spring. Actually, there hasn't been much good news to write about the Mets during this entire offseason, as anything positive that happens to the Amazin's, like signing Jason Bay, is followed by multiple negatives, like not being able to add any pitching, or the Mets continued injury problems.

The Reds have Scott Rolen locked in at third base which is the normal position for power-hitting youngster Juan Francisco .

Francisco gets a crack at joining the overcrowded group battling for left field on Tuesday. He has played third base and left field in his four-year minor league career.

The man can hit home runs, that is for certain. He hit two homers on Saturday against the Cubs and is batting .267 after wearing a size-three collar today against the Oakland A's.

As usual, Theo Epstein has effectively overloaded the 2010 Red Sox rotation with Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and John Lackey owning the front end and Daisuke Matsuzaka, Clay Buchholz, Tim Wakefield, and maybe Boof Bonser competing for the final two spots.

The bullpen, led by the still largely dominant Jonathan Papelbon, is not quite so prohibitively predetermined but remains crowded. Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, Ramon Ramirez, and Daniel Bard have probably already locked up their spots if only due to their experience.