Baseball

Disclaimer: I am an enormous Cubs fan who still spends months dreaming about Opening Day at Wrigley Field. I love the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs have an incredible fan base, one that many teams would give their best player to have at any home game.  No matter the weather or the team's record, over the last 15 years the team has packed the house almost every single day.

But I have a beef with Cubs' Nation.

There are a lot of Cubs fans that love the game of baseball.

A year removed from the team's first postseason berth in a quarter century, the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers finished a disappointing 80-82, good for third in the National League Central behind the St. Louis Cardinals and the Chicago Cubs.

Here's a look back at The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly from the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers season...

Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla can flat-out hit.

Uggla has a .826 OPS in his first four Major League seasons and has clubbed 121 home runs, more than any middle infielder in history over the first four years of a career.

As the Milwaukee Brewers look toward a long off-season filled with projects, one objective that will have priority is their effort to trade 27-year-old shortstop J.J. Hardy.

Hardy, just two years removed from a 2007 National League All-Star selection, watched his production and value to the club drop sharply in 2009. After a 2008 campaign in which he batted .283/.343/.478, and saved the Brewers 16 runs with his glove alone, Hardy sank into futility as the season wore on.

Hey Jim Hendry, don’t mean to wake you, but I have something to tell you:

It’s only 174 days until opening day 2010!

Yeah, I know, that sounds like a long time. But when you are trying to do a chemistry makeover on a team with so many expensive, long-term contracts, there's no time like the present. 

The Arizona Fall League began today, with the first pitch at 12:35 in a matchup between the Surprise Rafters and Peoria Javelinas. The Yankees have seven players on the Rafters, most of whom are worth keeping an eye on. Here's a very quick rundown on which Yankee prospects to watch for in the AzFL: