Baseball

On April 4, the new baseball season will open on a Sunday night in Fenway Park. The visitors will be the New York Yankees, renewing the greatest rivalry in sports against the hometown Boston Red Sox.

Most baseball analysts will tell you that the key to winning in baseball is pitching.

"My plan is definitely to win the World Series," answered Johan Santana after being questioned on the Mets expectations for the upcoming season. "That's what we want to do, and that's what we have in mind."

The day before it was David Wright telling a small contingency of reporters, "We feel like we're going to go out there and win the National League East and go deep in the playoffs and win the World Series."

For the first time that I can remember in the Mark Shapiro-era of the Cleveland Indians, the team might have actually made a sound free agent signing that didn't involve the term "low-risk."

Granted, the reported deal that Russell Branyan has accepted is a one-year deal worth $2 million dollars, this isn't a typical garbage heap signing Shapiro has pulled off in the past.

This is more along the lines of Kerry Wood, David Dellucci, and Roberto Hernandez being signed to major league deals. This is a player expected to come in and earn his salary, even if it is at a bargain.

Everth Cabrera has the makings of an elite base stealer.

Not only did he have 25 stolen bases in 103 games last year (which projects to 39 in a full season), but he had 73 for Single-A Asheville in 2008. 

The problem is: you’re getting zero power from him.

110 years, nine playoff appearances, seven American League pennants, three World Series titles all wrapped into five performances.

The games are different, the stadiums are different, the uniforms are different, but the performances remain impressive.

These are the performances that, although may not have always brought a winner to the city of Chicago and, in one case, is a reminder of a black day for baseball, raised eyebrows.

It is easy to pick the stars among winners, but there are stars in those who are on the smaller end of the score as well.

Southpaw Jon Lester has evolved into the ace of the Boston Red Sox pitching staff. 

Two winters ago, there were many fans who urged the Sox to trade a package of players including Lester and Jacoby Ellsbury to Minnesota in exchange for then-Twins lefty Johan Santana. Potential, they argued, was not as valuable as production. Many of us pleaded with Red Sox GM Theo Epstein from afar to hold onto Lester in the belief he would develop into an ace. 

Clubhouse chemistry seems to be a bit of the "chicken or the egg" debate. Does winning breed good chemistry or does good chemistry lead to winning?

Last year, manager Lou Piniella lamented a lack of chemistry, and many observers pointed the finger at recalcitrant right fielder Milton Bradley for poisoning the well.

Houston Astros fans, no doubt, are excited at the prospect of both Lance Berkman and Roy Oswalt returning at full strength, healed, fit, healthy, and ready to go in 2010. Just as 2010 was—on the silver screen—the year we make contact, 'Stros fans are hoping 2010 will be the year the team makes contact with an October champagne shower.

Is that realistic to believe?

Call me a glass-is-bone-dry guy, but no.

If I were Russell Branyan, I would seriously consider firing my agent.

The Seattle Mariners offered Branyan at the beginning of the offseason, a one-year contract in the neighborhood of $6 million-$7 million. Branyan’s camp turned that offer down because they thought they could get a two- or three-year deal somewhere else.

Big mistake.

What planet was Branyan’s agent on where he thought he could get a multi-year deal for a 34-year-old with a bad back in a down economy?

The 2009 season didn't go exactly like the White Sox planned. After winning the AL Central in 2008, the Sox won just enough games to stay in the race in the first half.