Baseball

There's a smoldering question in Reds' country.  Who will be the No. 5 guy in the rotation? 

Coming back from Goodyear to the Queen City, the first four are set.  We've got Bronson Arroyo, Homer Bailey, Johnny Cueto, and Aaron Harang.  

Sorry traditionalists, but modern ball dictates that teams need a fifth.  Check the rule book. It's just under the "keep all pitch counts under 100" section.

According to Jorge Arangure of ESPN, Cuban shortstop Adeiny Hechevarria has been “unblocked” by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and is now free to sign with any major league team.

The consensus right now is that the 19-year-old could earn as much as $10 million, which would be more than the $8.2 million the Red Sox recently paid Jose Iglesias this winter.

When the Brewers cut ties with veteran catchers Jason Kendall and Mike Rivera this winter, it appeared they were poised to turn the catching reins over to their top two prospects at the position: Jonathan Lucroy and Angel Salome.

That's both a scary and dangerous risk for an organization to take, so Brewers' GM Doug Melvin went out and signed George Kottaras and Gregg Zaun.

"The biggest game I ever played in was probably Don Larsen's perfect game."

Those were the words of Mickey Mantle, who played in many big games. On Oct. 8, 1956, Mickey Mantle had one of the best games of his great career.

When the Yankees traded for Nick Swisher in the offseason prior to last season, I was almost irrationally excited. I knew that they probably got good value for a player who had a down season in 2008, and I was skeptical that he could play 1B full time (which was how his role was spun before the Teixeira signing).

But my irrational excitement was not caused by any value assessment, but by a much more ludicrous desire: After a decade of waiting, the Yankees had their very own meat grinder. I saw his fan-favorite status coming a mile away.

When the Tampa Bay Rays sent Scott Kazmir to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim last August, Sean Rodriguez was an afterthought in the trade. As a matter of fact, he was the ever so famous “Player To Be Named Later.”

Now it looks like Rodriguez might be paying dividends for the Rays.

Major League baseball has not been played in the Borough of Brooklyn since 1957.

But any serious baseball fan can still tell you that until that time some of the games greatest moments occurred at Bedford Avenue where Ebbets Field stood.

Lets begin Spring Training 2010 with a light news story.

A story made even lighter by Phillies' skipper Charlie Manuel.

Ok, so my jokes are about as cold as Ryan Howard’s bat is this time of year. But let’s turn our attention back to Mr. Manuel.

Today we are going to take a look at the lefty portion of our All-Aught relief crew, and the first part of 'Dos Rafael' to enter our team of the decade. The All-Aught Relief Pitcher No. 5 is Rafael Perez.

Now Perez doesn't enter this club without some questions, but before we look at those, we have to take at why he made this team.

As the spring games roll on, the focus is going to shift greatly to the pitchers, where there are quite a few interesting battles brewing.  Let’s take a look at how things played out in today’s games: