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As spring training approaches, there is one question on the mind of Minnesota Twin fans: Will first baseman Justin Morneau be ready for Opening Day?

GM Bill Smith believes so.

The New York Yankees have signed 35-year-old Freddy Garcia to a minor league contract, according to multiple reports.

Garcia was 12-6 with a 4.64 ERA, a 1.38 WHIP, and averaged 5.1 Ks/9 in 157 innings for the Chicago White Sox in 2010.

The New York Yankees has agreed to a one-year, minor league contract with starting pitcher Freddy Garcia, according to ESPN's Jerry Crasnick.

Just after a few days of expressing interest in pitching for the Yankees, Garcia gets what he wants and Brian Cashman has made his best move this offseason by signing Garcia.

While the major deals of the MLB offseason have long since had all their i's dotted and their t's crossed, there are still some last rounds of spring cleaning that need to take place before everything is set.

A bit of moving the furniture around, if you would.  Contract extensions to be signed, arbitration hearings to be avoided, and few free agent stragglers here and there.

So without further ado, here's a rundown of the latest news of the day in baseball.

If anybody has got it made in the game of baseball today, it's Albert Pujols.  He is currently the hot topic of debate in the newspapers, on websites, on television, and even in conversation.  He's currently entering the final year of his current contra - as if you all didn't already know that - and he's contemplating on taking his unmatched skill elsewhere.

The Orioles have agreed to sign free-agent starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer to a one-year deal that could be worth up to $4.5 million, according to Jerry Crasnick of ESPN.

Duchscherer will make a base salary of $700K guaranteed, and another $1.1 million when he makes the roster, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun. To obtain the entire $4.5 million on the contract, he'll then have to make at least 30 starts at the major-league level.

The Mets have skipped arbitration with starting pitcher R.A. Dickey, and both sides have agreed to a two-year, $7.5 million deal.

This is a move that I advocated for earlier this year, and I feel that the Mets made a good decision. It was included as one of my top 10 moves that Sandy Alderson should consider for this offseason.

When a baseball franchise signs a 36-year-old pitcher who has a career record of 33-37 with a 4.70 ERA, it usually doesn’t qualify as making noise in the offseason. But, relatively speaking, this is the second-biggest splash the New York Mets have made since the end of last season.

Michael Jordan, Brett Favre and Roger Clemens have all been indecisive about retirement.  Each has retired, made a comeback, then retired again and made yet another comeback.  It got to be rather annoying.

Hopefully, Jim Edmonds doesn't follow the trend of his fellow athletes. 

Pitchers and catchers report in a few weeks, but there are still some big stories simmering on the MLB Hot Stove as we get closer and closer to the start of the 2011 regular season.

There are still some high-profile free agents, such as Vladimir Guerrero to name just one, out there looking for work. As spring training approaches, the time to find a new team is dwindling for some of the key guys left on the open market, so I'll cover all the possibilities for unsigned players expected to latch on somewhere they can make an impact in 2011.