NL Central

The second part of the Two-for-One MLB Previews covers the two teams that made the most even trade of the past offseason, Texas and Cincinnati.

Past Previews: TB/SD

Current Standings

ALE: 1, Tampa Bay*, 3, 4, 5

ALC: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

ALW: 1, 2, 3, 4

With all the drama this spring over who will be starting and who is healthy, and all the other mumbo-jumbo going on with the starting rotation, it seems I had forgotten all about the real question: Who's gonna close?

"The process now," said Tony La Russa, "is to give guys appearances, make evaluations, and then sort it out at some point at the end." TLR has told the media he has narrowed his options down to five. That sounds like a lot, but a few months ago there were about a million. I'll break down his options one by one.

With age comes maturity...hopefully. At least that is what Jim Hendry and the Cubs are hoping will be the case with notorious hothead Milton Bradley.

Bradley was inked to a three-year, $30 million contract this offseason, the first multi-year contract of his career. The reason for teams' hesitance to commit? Bradley, aside from his short fuse, has battled injury after injury after injury throughout his playing days.

Perhaps no Brewers player was ready for Spring Training to start as much as JJ Hardy. Hardy's name was very popular in hot stove discussions over the winter. Many people wanted Hardy traded for young pitching.

Others wanted him to move over to third base to make room for top prospect Alcides Escobar at shortstop. In the end, he will be right where he belongs in 2009, playing shortstop for the Milwaukee Brewers.