Baseball

My big knock on the Washington Nationals’ offseason so far has been their failure to upgrade their starting rotation or bullpen.

If there is a position that is deeper than first base, you will be hard pressed to find it. The number of home runs, RBI, and runs scored from the corner is astounding. Take these numbers.

Here’s an early look at the 2011 Second Base rankings.


1. Robinson Cano, New York Yankees:  Last year I ranked Cano at No. 2. All he did was go out and hit .319 with 103 runs, 29 HRs and 109 RBI. He still doesn’t have the SBs that the other elite second basemen possess, but that can be made up elsewhere.

The magic number is 762, set by the great Barry Bonds.

He banged out 762 home runs over the course of 21 phenomenal seasons. And as soon as Bonds hit 756, baseball players all over the world aspired to be the one guy who "caught Bonds" the way Bonds "caught Hammerin Hank Aaron."

While 762 may be a long, and I mean very long shot for almost everyone, there are a few chasers still going.

Many say Alex Rodriguez who sits at 35 years of age and has 613 homers will be the guy to do it. But he is going to need 150 more and how much longer can he keep up his 30 a year pace?

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.

With the signing of Willie Harris to take over as the team's fourth outfielder and the high possibility of a Chris Young signing soon, it seems as though the Mets have addressed all of their needs heading into the season.

Granted, there are still position battles to be won (second base, bullpen and bench spots) as well as a ton of question marks.

Unless the Mets plan on adding another bullpen arm (maybe a loogy), Sandy Alderson has assembled the pieces of this complex puzzle.

When the Philadelphia Phillies won the World Series in 2008, they did so primarily on the strength of their bullpen. With a weak starting rotation, the Phillies shortened games by bringing in reliever after reliever that could shut down the opposition for a single inning. One of those relievers was right-hander, Ryan Madson.

Every winter, you see it.

A team makes a relatively inexpensive signing of an aging former superstar.  He may not be an everyday solution, but could put up some plate appearances at DH, get new life as a pinch hitter, or become a late-inning defensive replacement.

Jim Thome was that kind of a guy with the Twins last season.  Heck, the White Sox got 19 homers out of Andruw Jones in 2010.  Happens all the time.

Joey Votto is to Cincinnati what Albert Pujols is to St. Louis.  The Cincinnati Reds are trying to negotiate a long-term deal with Votto but so far, nothing has been signed.  They have already signed outfielder Jay Bruce to a long-term deal and Colorado’s Carlos González also signed a seven-year, $80 million deal; so why hasn’t Joey Votto signed? 

Rafael Soriano, the best relief pitcher on the free-agent market this year, has reached a three-year deal with the New York Yankees worth about $35 million. The Yankees have opted for Soriano since their initial interest in Kerry Wood didn’t develop into a deal and they’re better off for it.