NL Central

Watching highlights of new Chicago Cub centerfielder Marlon Byrd running the bases makes me wonder if the Cubs are trying out for “The Biggest Loser.”

If you have ever had your girlfriend ask you, “Honey, does my butt look big in these jeans,” you know where I’m coming from. We all know what the politically correct answer is, but boy does Marlon Byrd look big in his baseball pants.

Last year, I ran what I hoped to become a tradition here at Cubbie Nation, the current team captured in pictures.

The premise is pretty simple. Teams and seasons come and go, and for as much time as we give to being with them, there's something wrong about the notion that many of these guys are gone, if not altogether forgotten, by the time the playoffs have ended.

The new year is looming around the corner, and with 2010 comes the knowledge that Spring Training will begin in just a couple short months.

It’s insanity. That’s what fantasy football is when it comes to the playoffs. Jonathan Stewart and Jerome Harrison become huge fantasy steals in the final two games, and studs that you’ve depending on all season like Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers clam up and shut down early, even in blowout wins. At least Chris Johnson has continued to be magical every week.

I forget how bizarre it really becomes until it’s this time of year again.

Maybe Albert Haynesworth hates Greg Blache , and maybe he’s exactly right to require a better system by which the Redskins can wreak havoc. And yes, maybe $100 million dollars should buy him a little more input on how to improve a system that is pretty darn good.

But even if the Redskins’ defensive scheme was the worst in the league, is it a stretch to ask one of the best defensive players in the league toiling in it to suck it up and roll with the punches?

Grabbed with the seventh overall pick in the 2008 amateur draft, Yonder Alonso is the face of the Reds minor league system.  And for good reason.  The kid can flat-out hit a baseball.

Alonso is another left-handed bat hoping to make an already lefty laden lineup.  His 6'3", 215 pound frame is reminiscent of another Reds' first baseman...fan favorite, Sean "The Mayor" Casey.

In the offseason, much is made of the comings and goings of established major league players in free agency.

But many often overlook the same thing happening in the minor leagues.

In the "Recapping Minor League Free Agent Losses" series, I'll be looking at what, if anything, each team is losing at the minor league levels.

I'm not going to bother covering every player, because not all of them are very important and I have little to say about many of them. I'll just be touching on those who I think could be of value to another team in free agency.