Baseball

I was eight-years-old when I attended my first Senators baseball game. It’s not like I wanted to or anything. But I was a fan of Channel five’s “Countdown Carnival” with Bill Gormley, and he asked me—through the television of course—to have a carnival for Muscular Dystrophy. We didn’t get anything for doing it and we didn’t get to keep the money.

But we did get tickets to Senators’ games. Lots and lots of tickets. And so I went.

Another Angel has been given his halo far too soon.

Rory Markas passed away at his home in Palmdale. He was 54.

Markas spent the last eight years as the primary radio and television play-by-play man for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He also called games for USC's men's basketball team and served as a reporter for FOX 11 KTTV in Los Angeles.

From 1994-97, Markas lead the radio broadcast team for the Los Angeles Clippers. Certainly, he was a true broadcasting veteran and lent his voice to several different sporting realms.

With the Marlon Byrd signing shoring up the center field situation, the biggest weakness in the Cubs lineup, provided Geovanny Soto turns things around, is now at second base.

It seems as though the Cubs are content to open the season with the trio of Jeff Baker, Mike Fontenot, and Andres Blanco set to man second base, with Baker in position to get the bulk of the playing time. While there are worse options than Baker, there is a better option currently sitting in free agency, and that is Felipe Lopez.

The Philadelphia Phillies have announced that they have signed Danys Baez to a two-year, $5.25 million contract. He jumped the final hurdle, which was a physical examination.

Baez, 32, went 4-6 with a 4.02 ERA in 59 appearances last season with the Baltimore Orioles. He held right-handed hitters to a .197 average and opposing hitters to a .222 average in 71.2 innings.

In his 10-year career in the majors, Baez has played for six teams, including the Phillies. He broke into the league with the Cleveland Indians when Charlie Manuel managed the Tribe.

I am not an A's fan. Have nothing against them but I instead cheer for the Phillies. The past few seasons I’ve done top 10 prospect lists for the Phillies and decided I would do one for the entire league to better expand my horizon on the prospects in MLB so here we go. Oakland’s top prospects from a Phillies fan:

1) Chris Carter-1B

Every season a handful of young players take the next step in their career. Something clicks, and they go from good ballplayers, to All Stars.

In 2008, it was Dustin Pedroia, Nate McLouth, and Ryan Ludwick who made that step.

Last year it was Felix Hernandez, Aaron Hill, and of course, Zack Greinke.

Who will it be on 2010? Well, I have compiled a list of the top ten most likely players to have breakout seasons, in my opinion of course.

You'll agree with some, disagree with others perhaps, but what is the fun if everybody agrees with everything?

Enjoy.

The momentum of the 2010 fantasy baseball season is slowly picking up, and one of the things that will be increasingly occupying rental space in everybody’s crawl will be just whom to select as the first overall draft pick.

While we enter this year with a handful of players that seem to be no-brainers, there are just as many players lurking in the distance that could actually wind up being better picks than those we think.

Are you an owner in a two-catcher format who likes to wait until the last few rounds to fill out one or two of your catching spots?  While it’s not a strategy that I’m in favor of (which we’ll discuss soon), here are two players that are worth eyeing who are going in Round 18 or later of 12-team formats:

Jesus Flores - Washington Nationals

Pots atop the Hot Stove have been boiling furiously over the past few days.

Jason Bay signed with the Mets. Adrian Beltre signed with the Red Sox. Matt Holliday is nearing a contract with the Cardinals. The market’s best offerings are suddenly disappearing.

Lost in all this was the news about the Cleveland Indians.

After three months of ranking among the most stagnant teams in baseball, the Tribe has quietly signed two free agents in 24 hours.