Baseball

Curtis Granderson's debut season with the New York Yankees can best be described as one filled with many peaks and valleys.  Judging by his strong second half and impressive postseason numbers, it wouldn't be surprising if Granderson has a 2011 similar to his breakout 2007 season with the Detroit Tigers.

His Yankee career couldn't have gotten off to a finer start.  In his first at bat of the season, he crushed a Josh Beckett pitch into the right-center field bleachers at Fenway Park. 

The 2010 season was a one for Gordon Beckham and White Sox fans alike. After a stellar rookie year, expectations for Beckham's sophomore year were through the roof.

After all, Beckham was moving to his natural position of second base, he was going to have a full season under his belt and a full spring training with the club; the sky was the limit for Beckham in 2010.

Spring Training battles are just beginning, yet that doesn't mean there isn’t plenty to talk about in terms of prospects trying to win jobs.  Let's take a look at some of the latest news:

Last season, it was Adrian Gonzalez and Cliff Lee.  This year, trade deadline talks will most likely center around the biggest hitter in the game, Prince Fielder.

We all know that being talked about at the deadline is not a guarantee that you will be shipped out; just look at Adrian Gonzalez.

I think catcher is the most overrated position in fantasy baseball, and every year a majority of players in each league will make the same mistakes. Yes, having Joe Mauer on your team will be great if you can get him, but I don’t know anyone who sits there and says they won their league because they had Ramon Hernandez or Kurt Suzuki as their catcher.

Adrian Gonzalez? Gone. David Eckstein? History. The Hairstons? Adios.

Miguel Tejada? Auf Weidersehen. Yorvit Torrealba? Movin on..

You get the picture. The Padres will be a different team in 2011.

The question becomes "Is different better?" I know that what I see on paper right now looks much better than the last two seasons teams did at this same point. Lets take a look at what should be the Padres starting line up for opening day.

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Outfielder Jim Edmonds has announced his retirement from baseball after 17 major league seasons. The 40-year-old signed a minor-league deal with the Cardinals with an invite to training camp, but he felt that the progress he was making from offseason Achilles surgery was not where he wanted to be at this point in time.

St. Louis team doctors told Edmonds the injury was so severe that he would not be medically cleared to play, and he could hurt himself even more.

For those of you who think the AL East is just too competitive for the lowly Toronto Blue Jays to do any damage, think again. General manager Alex Anthopoulos has been quietly putting together a nice team that will continue to be good for years to come.

Offense

Justin Upton is coming off a year in which he took a considerable step backwards. Through his first 3 seasons in the big leagues, he had consistently improved his statistics as his playing time increased:

After hearing the Red Sox pitchers talk about it, you wouldn't know the catcher position remains one of the biggest question marks on a retooled squad heading into the 2011 season.

As Spring Training gets underway and people in Boston are left to daydream of warmth and baseball, the Sox hurlers have spent their time heaping praise on expected starter Jarrod Saltalamacchia, rewarding him with the highest possible compliment to give a Beantown backstop.

They're comparing him to Jason Varitek.