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After weeks of speculation, the fifth starter competition is finally over and the A’s have their rotation set heading into the final week of spring training.

Injuries and ineffectiveness removed Rich Harden, Josh Outman and Bobby Cramer from the competition, leaving Brandon McCarthy and Tyson Ross to battle it out as the Cactus League came to a close.

I had the good fortune of connecting with the Milwaukee Brewers 2009 Minor League Player of the Year, Logan Schafer, and asked if he would have time for a quick interview. He didn't at the time but we agreed to connect somewhere around the beginning to middle of spring training.

We had originally thought that we could do a phone interview but that had been discussed just prior to Schafer's thumb injury which he suffered during a spring training game.

On Saturday, Yankees' manager Joe Girardi announced the final spot in his rotation would go to Freddy Garcia, effectively ending the spring training battle between Garcia and fellow offseason signing, Bartolo Colon. Colon will start the year in the bullpen as the long reliever. 

It was recently announced that the Milwaukee Brewers acquired Yankees' pitcher Sergio Mitre in a deal that sent outfielder Chris Dickerson to New York in return.

At the moment, this seems like a win-win situation for both teams: New York announced that Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia will round out the rotation, and Bartolo Colon will move to the bullpen, most likely as a long reliever, a role which Mitre possessed last season.

There hasn't been this much anticipation for a Reds season in years, but for anyone who has been paying attention to spring training, the news hasn't been very good and it continues to get worse as starting pitcher Homer Bailey was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a shoulder impingement.

For Bailey, who has shown flashes but is still seeking consistency over the course of an entire season, it's another setback.

An injury to a starter before the season even starts is never a good sign.

However, the 2011 San Francisco Giants are one of the few teams this year that can absorb the blow.

Blessed with incredible outfield depth and player versatility, there is no reason to believe that the current personnel can't hold down the fort for the first two weeks of the season.

After he struggled to produce at the plate all spring, while unable to play acceptable defense at second base, Blake DeWitt has officially lost his role as the starter.

He was never starting full-time to begin with, as Jeff Baker was the plan when lefties were on the mound. Now though, DeWitt has played at such a lackluster level that it forced manager Quade's hand in the removal process.

Despite a tough, injury-plagued spring training, today’s Philadelphia Phillies are about to break camp surrounded by the type of lofty expectations that are attached to very few ballclubs.

Yes, injuries to Chase Utley and Brad Lidge have scaled down some of the unchecked optimism about the regular season (okay, they won’t win 115 or so games), but they are still the odds-on choice to advance to the World Series for the third time in the last four years.

Weeks of speculation have finally come to an end.

The rotation shuffling that saw the A’s top four starters all in the running to make the opening night start over the past two weeks finally concluded when manager Bob Geren named Trevor Cahill his opening day starter this morning.

Just last season, Cahill battled through spring for the fifth and final spot in the rotation before he finally found himself starting the season in Sacramento on a rehab assignment.

The San Francisco Giants of 2010 were a great story. They had amazing pitching, solid hitting and a great cast of characters. You had the freak Tim Lincecum, the bearded Brian Wilson, the man whose contract is fun to rip nonstop, Barry Zito, and Kung Fu Panda himself, Pablo Sandoval.

Now, this cast of characters will have their own reality show. A trailer for the Giants' new reality show, "The Franchise", has been released, with a special preview of the show airing April 13 on Showtime.