MLB

"Now batting for the New York Yankees, number two, Derek Jeter, number two." These are the unforgettable words that stay in the minds of fans at Yankee Stadium. Those words have been spoken by nobody other than the Voice of God.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are rapidly approaching a breaking point within the front office. 

Yesterday, I detailed how Frank McCourt's diminishing bank account could have a pulverizing effect on the Dodgers' organization. 

Which brings me to Mark Cuban, the possible savior for the future of the club. 

I keep reading and hearing from both Cubs fans and the media alike that Jeff Baker is likely to be the starting second baseman for the Cubs in 2010. If that happens, I think it will be a mistake.

You see, Baker has never done anything outside of Coors Field. It would be a leap of faith by Cubs general manager Jim Hendry to expect Baker to post the same numbers over a full season as he did during his time with the team in 2009.

Welcome to another edition of Thaddeus' Tampa Bay Rays Offseason Report. Each and every Friday, we're going to recap the moves, trades, signings, and other nonsense of the previous week in the wonderful world of Tampa Bay baseball; keeping you, Dear Reader, up to date with the team until Opening Day in April 2010 against the Baltimore Orioles.

With things so quiet on the trade front, you have to assume that the winter meetings will start the momentum of the offseason going—someone will overpay for a reliever that had a career year or a position player that was great two years ago but has been injured since.  The question for us is, what will Jim Hendry do?

The off-season is a funny time for baseball fans, especially when your pro football team is not setting the world on fire.

Following last year's World Series win by the Philadelphia Phillies, one player stood out in my mind in the off-season: Chase Utley.

In their six-game loss to the New York Yankees last season, Utley again stood tall.

Crowd cheering, chest-pounding, fire-eating, kill your best starter, hide your momma, where's Obama, we ain't lying performance.

While some writers might think decent relievers are worthy of MVP votes, I tend to disagree. OK, to be fair, it was just one writer. Still, how anyone could think Jeremy Affeldt was the 10th most valuable player in the National League is something I find to be utterly ridiculous.

You have to wonder if Theo Epstein knew Toronto was going to sign Alex Gonzalez and just let it happen, or if he was blindsided by it?

14. Tyler Robertson, LHP, 21 years old

2009 stats: 3.33 ERA, 143.1 IP, 103/51 K/BB, 1.326 WHIP at Ft. Myers (A+)

Last year’s rank: 7

Acquired: Third-round selection of the Minnesota Twins in the 2006 draft.

Every week, the Top Seven column will be enhanced by the newest addition to the JoeSportsFan Radio Network, Seven Minutes with Jason Major, where our Top Seven guru rants on the current topic, touches on previous lists and also vehemently defends his Cardinals bias...all in around seven minutes.