Baseball

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, things looked pretty good for the St. Louis Cardinals. After all, it looked as if they were about to tie up the division series with the L.A. Dodgers.

The Yankees' pitchers and catchers officially reported to Tampa, Florida today to begin spring training. The Mets will begin camp tomorrow when pitchers and catchers report in Port St. Lucie.

The Yankees come in to spring training as the defending World Series champions. As they look to repeat, some changes have been made this offseason. Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, and Melky Cabrera are out. Curtis Granderson Nick Johnson are in. And Javier Vasquez is back.

The Braves are reporting to Spring Camp on Friday, and after an off-season full of moves, hopes are high heading into the 2010 season.

With a strong starting rotation, and a revamped offense and bullpen, the Braves think that 2010 will be the year that they return to the post-season.

Here are 5 Bold Predictions for the Braves in 2010, 5 things that might have a slim chance of occurring, but would be fantastic for the Braves organization.

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On Monday, I gave potential spring training goers a fan’s guide to the Cactus League.

It’s only fitting to give everyone a fan’s guide to the Grapefruit League in Florida as well.

This guide will have the team, address of the ballpark, and a link where you can purchase tickets. Here you go.

Florida Marlins: Roger Dean Stadium

4751 Main Street

Jupiter, FL 33458

Purchase Tickets Here

Full Name
Darrell Wayne Evans

DOB
5/26/47

College
None (John Muir High School, Pasadena, CA)

Drafted
1967, 7th Round, Kansas City Athletics

MLB Seasons
1969-1989

Tiger Seasons
1984-1988

Career Stats
.248 Avg, 414 HR, 1354 RBI, .792 OPS, 119 OPS+, 1605 BB

Career Leaderboard
2 time All-Star (1973, 1983)
12th all time in walks (1605)
42nd all time in HR (414)

Update

Good news for Atlanta Braves fans.

Jari Jurrjens went for an MRI on Tuesday, and the results showed no structural damage in his shoulder. Everything checked out with his labrum and rotator cuff.

Jurrjens was just suffering from shoulder inflammation and will rest for the remainder of this week before beginning a throwing program next week.

All signs point to Jurrjens being ready for Opening Day.

Original Post

So much for being a good employee. Sometimes it pays to be like George Costanza.

This offseason the Minnesota Twins were not only beleaguered with the task of making several key roster moves in hopes of finding the right fit for the 2010 season, but with another critical move for their franchise as well—to outdoor baseball. In Minnesota, and even around the MLB community, the  exhilaration and restlessness for opening day is like never before. 

But have the Twins stepped up to the task and made the right key moves to ensure that their opening season won't be washed into the Mississippi Rivers? 

Spring Training is literally a day away, so what better time than now to make some bold predictions about the 2010 season for the Chicago Cubs.

The signing of Matt Holliday by the St. Louis Cardinals made them the overwhelming favorites to win the NL Central and they might be the team to beat in the National League. However, the Cubs made several moves as well, and look to be a better team than they were last season. How much better remains to be seen.

What follows are 10 predictions that I would say fall into the category of bold.

In the bleak mid-winter of February in Chicago, it is hard to imagine that baseball's Opening Day is less than seven weeks from this gray, wintry afternoon on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Such is the case, though, and so, as pitchers and catchers congregate in Arizona to prepare for the upcoming 2010 season, it is time to look at some of the most pressing questions facing the Cubbies this year.