Opinion

The ten Biggest MLB Hall Of Fame Voting Surprises in MLB History is the task at hand as we get ready to dive into the Great Cooperstown Debate (corny rhyme not intended).

It's one of the greatest debates in sports, the Hall of Fame. Who deserves to be in and who shouldn't be in. And baseball is no exception, where there always seems to be debates about who should be in and who shouldn't be in the Hall.

A year ago, there was a great void at catcher for the Washington Nationals. It was like a black hole, a huge expanse of nothingness with nary a star in sight.

Brian Schneider seemed to be the answer when the team moved from Montreal but did little in his three seasons with Washington.

In 2009, Josh Bard and Wil Nieves got most of the at-bats but combined to hit just .240/.305/.330.

What would you pay for a 6'3", 190 lb pitcher with a mid 90s fastball, who was ranked as the 5th best prospect in Indiana by Baseball America?  The Yankees decided that the price was the 440th pick in the 2008 amateur draft.

According to Adam Rubin of ESPNNewYork.com, former New York Met and current free agent pitcher John Maine's agent Rex Gary has been contacted by NL East rival Philadelphia Phillies along with a few other teams.

Gary has said, "We have spoken to a lot of teams and there is a lot of interest."

I'm about to do something unheard of in sports journalism.  I am going to write an entire article about Marcus Thames.  Yes, that Marcus Thames, the 33-year-old outfielder who hit .288 with 12 HR for the Yankees last year.  The one the Yankees haven't re-signed.

When you play for the Bronx Bombers, or the Cubbies, or even the Christmas Sox, you get treated a certain way: You're a baseball god.

When you play for a team like the San Diego Padres, well, you're a nice complement to the palm trees and blue skies surrounding the baseball diamond. (When they win a World Series, I'll change that mentality, I promise.)

Imagine this scene...

Somewhere in a  south Boston neighborhood, Little Johnny is walking through the living room with his Nintendo DS in hand when he sees Grampa sitting in Dad's recliner, half napping, half watching some random news program. The story Grampa is paying no attention to is about the latest YouTube sensation, the homeless Ohio fellow named Ted Williams, the man with the golden pipes.

"Hey, Grampa. Do you know who this Ted Williams is?"

After missing out on Zack Greinke, though it was unlikely he’d be traded in-division, who is a second top SP the Twins can get to team with Francisco Liriano (assuming the Twins sign him long-term)?

The Twins have enough power to win with good pitching and defense, but they need another postseason-dominant pitcher as opposed to their typical control-based rotation.

The following are 10 starting pitchers that would look good as the No. 1 guy ahead of Liriano or behind him in the No. 2 slot.

With the Fab Four of Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels already locked up in their starting rotation, do the Phillies still need Joe Blanton? 

The righty has two years left on his contract, which will earn him a total of $17 million dollars.

In his two and a half years with the Phillies, Blanton has a combined record of 25-14 with an average 4.36 ERA in 72 starts. For a fifth starter in the rotation, these are pretty good numbers.

When the offseason began (and Jazz Hands Uribe bolted for a multi-year deal in LA), talk trended towards the San Francisco Giants going after Tampa Bay SS Jason Bartlett, Minnesota SS JJ Hardy or free-agent Miguel Tejada.