Opinion

With all these soft openings, the Marlins are starting to realize their interesting creation in left-center field might pose a problem for batters. 

Already, the batter's eye in straight-away center field has been repainted black from the green color that is evident throughout the walls of the outfield. 

Talk about beating a dead horse, right?

Just when I was fully prepared to turn the page on the whole Roy Oswalt coming to Boston notion, the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo had to lure me back into the saga.

I'm like Michael Corleone, just when I thought I was out...

The last calendar year has been an eventful one for the St. Louis Cardinals.

This time last year, the Cardinals were being written off by many thanks to Adam Wainwright's elbow woes, which ultimately led to Tommy John surgery. The team ended up flying under the radar for much of the 2011 season, only to get hot in September, finally clinching a playoff berth on the final day of the regular season.

Then they won the World Series.

Coming into the 2012 season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to pitch their way back into relevance. Behind the dominance of Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, the consistency of Ted Lilly and the hopeful reemergence of Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers added two quality free agent starting pitchers this offseason.

Jay Bruce emerged as a bona fide slugger for the Cincinnati Reds last season, clubbing 32 home runs and racking up an impressive 97 RBI.

That said, the young outfielder still has plenty of room for improvement.

If Bruce can bolster these three aspects of his game this season, he could legitimately become an MLB superstar...

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In the past few years, the Phillies have been incredibly aggressive and competitive when it comes to attracting big-name players. In order to do so, however, they had to make some pretty big trades in which they parted with some of their best and most highly touted prospects. 

It is for that reason that Domonic Brown is even more important to the Phillies organization.

Some baseball players are loved, and other baseball players are hated. There is just something about the way that certain players carry themselves that causes the public to have a poor opinion of them.

With the 2012 season nearing, many fantasy baseball owners are trying to pick up on any clues as to which young, late-round picks have the potential to breakout this season.

Fantasy owners know very well that championships are not won in the early rounds of a fantasy baseball draft. It is about how owners can find the diamonds in the rough that nobody is talking about in the mid-to-late rounds of the draft.

This slideshow will point out a young stud at each position that has the potential for a breakout season, and can lead your fantasy team to a championship.

Being a rookie in Major League Baseball is all about adjustments. Pitchers are facing hitters far better than anything they have in the minors, and vice versa. 

It's even more difficult for first-year players because they have likely never faced any adversity before. When you are a top prospect, more often than not you are going to dominate every level you play.

But that won't be the case in the big leagues. 

In his first start of spring training and as a member of the New York Yankees, Michael Pineda looked very strong over the two scoreless innings of work he put in against the Philadelphia Phillies today.