Baseball

With pitchers and catchers set to report next week and full workouts to take place a week later, it's time to turn our attention to the boys of summer.

Baseball is America's past time—a game that spans more than a century of tradition and excitement. No other sport in America can claim that kind of longevity and devoted following.

The best sports movies are about baseball (with apologies to "Hoosiers" and "Rudy"), and if you haven't seen "The Natural," "Bull Durham," or "The Sandlot" you are just letting the best in quality sports movies pass you by.

Josh Beckett, John Lackey and Jonathan Papelbon each face the daunting challenge of regaining the old velocity and movement on their fastballs.  That's a hard thing for any pitcher to do when their fastball has begun to decline.  

By all accounts, Michael Young has been the ideal soldier for the Texas Rangers for 10 years. He has been asked to play second base, right field, shortstop, third base, and now designated hitter/first base/utility player.

He has suffered through ownership misfortunes, last-place teams, the heat of Texas, being third fiddle to the Cowboys and Mavericks, and at times fighting the Stars for that third slot.

With spring training just days away now, it's getting awfully tough to generate interesting topics surrounding the Blue Jays. Luckily, an interesting player has reportedly become available in the last day or so that should interest the Blue Jays. It's not Michael Young either, although the where, if and how of him coming to the Jays will be kicked around some more below.

For the 2012 season, it should be a reasonable assumption that the Philadelphia Phillies will contain both Jimmy Rollins and Roy Oswalt.  In 2010, Rollins had a down year due to the fact that he spent nearly half of the season on the disabled list.  However, it is safe to assume that he will return to form in 2010.

Dexter Fowler had a decent April that saw him hit .256, with 12 runs and four stolen bases in 82 at-bats. He hit the skids in May, batting .158, with six runs and two stolen bases in 57 at-bats.

MLB Countdown Till Pitchers and Catchers Report: Five days.

The man that Philadelphia Phillies fans love to call “Chooch” has just turned 32, and has never been voted onto an all-star team or honored with a Gold Glove award.

Unless the Blue Jays sign Jose Bautista to an extension or trade for Michael Young there doesn't figure to be much Blue Jay related issues to discuss this week. There is also still the possibility the Jays could add another free agent on a minor league deal before spring training opens next week. Guys like Willy Aybar, Russell Branyan and Hank Blalock are still out there looking for work.

The other day, we wrote a post looking at the “10 Breakout Candidates for 2011.” Today, we are going to look at five players who potentially could bounce back from relatively poor seasons in 2010.

These are guys who looked like they were headed for fantasy stardom after the 2009 season, but for some reason or another, had a down 2010. These are also guys that you might be able to get later in the draft because some of the other owners in your league are down on them. But you shouldn’t be.

Justin Masterson went 6-13 with a 4.70 ERA, a 1.50 WHIP and 140 strikeouts in 180 innings pitched.

The main culprits for his struggles were control, as he walked 3.65 batters per nine innings, his inability to get lefties out and inconsistency.

They hit .290 against him with 10 HRs and a .784 OPS in 389 at bats. Righties hit .263 with four HRs and a .681 OPS in 320 at bats.