Baseball

The Philadelphia Phillies are noticeably and understandably excited about the start of spring training in Clearwater, Fla.:

Given the painfully dull and disappointing offseason, it is no wonder the Phillies want to talk about something else. 

The Texas Rangers are just a few weeks away from opening up spring training in Surprise, Ariz.

Luckily for the club, most of its roster is filled with healthy players getting ready for the day-to-day grind. However, there are a few players who will not be joining the Rangers. There are some who will have a tougher time getting back into the groove because of injuries.

With the Super Bowl now in the past and trucks already being shipped to Florida and Arizona filled with baseball gear, it’s time to officially start thinking about baseball season again.

While spring training will be filled with all of the usual suspects—Yadier Molina, Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright to name a few—there will also be a number of new faces.

It's been rough going for the Seattle Mariners of late, as they have posted four straight losing seasons and have not reached the postseason since 2001.

After going 71-91 in 2013, they kicked off their offseason with a bang, signing superstar second baseman Robinson Cano to a massive 10-year, $240 million deal prior to the winter meetings. That's been far from their only notable addition, though.

The Atlanta Braves had a difficult offseason. Star catcher Brian McCann and veteran pitcher Tim Hudson both left Atlanta and instead of replacing those players, the Braves stood pat.

Fans were restless.

Freddie Freeman should feel special on this fine day in February, as the word is he's the first $100 million player in Atlanta Braves history.

Good for him, but even better for the Braves. They just locked up a young, talented player who's on the rise for money that's really not all that absurd by today's standards.

First of all, the news itself. As the Braves happily announced on Twitter:

With spring training right around the corner, the New York Mets will have a number of sleeper prospects for fans to watch throughout February and March.

If all you're looking for is a typical 150-200-word blurb, then this should do the trick.

After Murphy’s Law wrecked their 2012 season, everything went the Boston Red Sox’s way in 2013. They won 97 games, the AL East title, the American League pennant and, of course, the World Series.

There's no doubt that the bold move of luring Theo Epstein away from the Boston Red Sox to become the Chicago Cubs' president of baseball operations changed the culture of baseball on the north side of Chicago. Instantly, there was a change in organizational philosophy and for the first time in seemingly forever, the Cubs were preparing to undergo a rebuild.

A successful baseball season usually consists of a team having a lot more players meeting or exceeding expectations than those who fall short. In most cases, at least one or two of those players will perform way above and beyond what anyone could have imagined.