Baseball

Although he was born in the Bronx, right in the shadow of Yankee Stadium, Rich Chaynee never liked the New York Yankees. He complained that the crowds disrupted his life.

The next five weeks will go a long way in determining if J.R. Towles will begin to hit or go down like Robbie Wine in the history of once-promising Houston Astros catching prospects who end up more slag than successful.

Towles enters the spring entrenched in a duel with fellow good field-no hit backstop Humberto Quintero for the right to keep the starting seat warm long enough for top farmhand Jason Castro to hone his skills before wresting the position.

For Towles, the stakes couldn't be higher.

At the age of 37, Raul Ibañez put up some of the best numbers of his career, hitting .272, with 34 home runs, and 93 RBI.  

At the age of 30, Jayson Werth put up some of the best numbers of his career, hitting .268, with 36 home runs, and 99 RBI.

Look, we all know that fantasy owners covet the elusive 30/30 player. One can build an entire team around a player who puts up 30/30, but finding that player is a rarity. Ian Kinsler is the only player to reach 30/30 in 2009. Since 1999, only eleven players have reached the fantasy elite. Bobby Abreu and Vladimir Guerrero actually did it twice. Matt Kemp and Justin Upton are early favorites to sniff this fantasy milestone in 2010, but what about Justin's big brother, Bossman Jr.? 

The Yankees experienced a magical 2009 season that resulted in their 27th championship. Everything fell into place in just the right way, and they avoided any and all unfortunate mishaps.

Alex Rodriguez was able to break out of his October nightmare, even after a crippling hip injury nearly derailed his season before it began.

Every season is different and provides a whole new set of obstacles, and this 2010 Yankee team is no different.

Living in San Diego for the better part of eight years, I got a chance to watch Khalil Greene come out of Clemson University and become arguably the best shortstop the Padres had seen since Ozzie Smith.

In 2004, his first year as a starter for the Padres, Greene hit .273 with 15 home runs, and 65 runs batted in. But it wasn't his offense that fans came to enjoy, it was his incredible highlight-reel defensive plays.

Would Lance Berkman seriously retire after the 2010 season?

The Braves franchise has had its up and downs since its inception in 1876. The Braves have won three World Series since then and at least one player from each of those teams is represented on this All-Defensive team. I wonder if that is a coincidence?

The Braves have had some great defensive players from Andruw Jones and Dale Murphy in the outfield to Glenn Hubbard, Felix Milan, and current shortstop Yunel Escobar in the infield.

Why would the New York Yankees neglect to re-sign Derek Jeter before now?

At the end of this season he will be a free agent. This is the final year of a 10-year $189M contract.

It is not good to send you franchise hit leader into Spring Training with the thought of free agency on his mind. There is more than one team that would be delighted to have the future Hall of Famer (I hate it when people say that) anchoring their infield.

Jeter, 35, had one of his better years in 2009 batting .334 with 18 homers, 66 RBI, 212 hits, 107 runs and an OBP of .406.

Chris Davis is a player that everybody clamored for last year.

Why wouldn’t you? He hit .285 with 51 runs, 17 HRs, and 55 RBIs in 80 games as a rookie in 2008.