Baseball

Chicago Cubs team president Theo Epstein may say that the 2013 season will be considered a failure if the team doesn't qualify for the playoffs.

The saga of Sammy Sosa could have gone much differently had the Cubs traded him to the Yankees in 2000. At the time, Sosa was coming off of two historic seasons in which he hit 66 and 63 home runs, respectively. 

The Baltimore Orioles are taking a chance on 26-year-old right-hander Jair Jurrjens, and there's a fair chance that it will pay off in a big way for them.

Delmon Young has been a Phillie for a very short time, and per Ruben Amaro Jr., already Young is being penned in as the Phillies' starting right fielder in 2013 (h/t hardba

The Arizona Diamondbacks have extended the contract for newly acquired infielder Cliff Pennington, keeping him in Phoenix on a two-year, $5 million deal. The signing was reported by Buster Olney of ESPN via his Twitter feed.

The Miami Marlins and owner Jeffrey Loria ticked off a lot of people by gutting their roster and trading five of their best players to the Toronto Blue Jays in one of the blockbuster deals of the offseason.

With nearly their entire World Series roster returning for the 2013 season, the San Francisco Giants have the luxury of allowing their top prospects to marinate in the minor leagues a bit longer. Frankly, it is better that way, since their farm system isn't exactly ready to pop out a slew of major league stars.

But there are a few promising players, in particular an exciting outfielder—who could be contributing to the big club sometime this season.

Getting a right-handed bat for the outfield was one of the offseason priorities for the Philadelphia Phillies.

They were taken in the 2007 MLB Amateur Draft. Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman consider themselves best friends on and off the field. They are expected to do big things again for the Atlanta Braves in 2013.

When the Giants non-tendered reliever Brian Wilson earlier this offseason, the chance remained that he could return to the team on a more reasonable contract.