Baseball

With Spring Training in full swing for the Red Sox, the fun (and drama) can really begin.

After an off-season full of wheeling and dealing, Boston found itself with more players than it knew what to do with. Now, many of the long-time Sox players will slowly be pushed out of their starting jobs, and things could get very awkward.

The ability to hit 25 Home Runs in one season is a special skill. The ability to steal 25 bases in one season is a skill just as special. The ability to do both is exceptionally rare and is a talent that can not be ignored or denied. However players like these somehow find a way to fly under the radar.

But how?

How could a player with such rare skills be passed on so long in a fantasy baseball draft?

Recently there have been trade rumors circulating the Internet involving Adrian Gonzalez moving from San Diego to the White Sox.

The Sox acquired Jake Peavy from the Padres last year before the trade deadline on July 31, 2009. Now it appears that Peavy is lobbying for GM Kenny Williams to strongly pursue his former teammate, Gonzalez. Peavy said that Gonzalez "can blink his eyes and hit 40 home runs in our park".

Contrary to what many people believe, Joey Votto is going to remain the Cincinnati Reds first baseman for a long time.

Some think that once Yonder Alonso is ready for the big leagues, he will play first and send Joey Votto to left field.

That is, of course, if you believe GM Walt Jocketty . Alonso has been working out at third base and the corner outfield spots in spring training.

This past season was rough, to say the least, for Chipper Jones.

For the Giants, their 2009 season was a fantastic surprise, with huge performances from their pitching staff and surprising ones on the offensive side. It brought San Francisco into competitive September baseball for the first time since 2003, and heralded a new era of pitching dominance when Tim Lincecum won his second Cy Young Award in two years.

Looking now to the ever-approaching 2010 regular season, the SWOT outlook is good, and most look to the Giants to be in the running for the National League West title.

After years of taking a backseat to the Angels, it is time for the Mariners to step up and take back control of the AL West.

The team had potential last year, but not exactly enough to get ahead of the Angels or the Rangers.

Trust me, this season will be different.

The Boston Red Sox enter Spring Training with the starting lineup and pitching rotation essentially squared away. With the addition of players like Adrian Beltre, Marco Scutaro and Mike Cameron to the starting nine and the likes of John Lackey to the rotation, the major pieces have fallen into place.
But baseball is most certainly a marathon and not a sprint, and by the end of the season roster spot No. 25 can be as crucial as No. 1.

When Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry set out to trade suspended outfield pariah Milton Bradley this off-season, he must have known he had relatively little chance of obtaining much in return. Bradley was ready to depart his seventh team in ten big-league seasons, and all but one of the divorces had been messy affairs.

Considering his predicament, then, Hendry could have done worse than he did. Chicago acquired pitcher Carlos Silva, a contractual pariah with the Seattle Mariners, and saved money in doing so.

It's March, so it's once again time to get out the glove oil and rubber bands, clean off or buy new spikes, remember where the lucky batting gloves went, and wonder if you're too fat to play softball.

It's also time to wonder if your favorite player will stay on your favorite team throughout the entire season.