Opinion

If in 2006, you told the New York Mets that they held two of the future's top closers in their grasp in Heath Bell and Billy Wagner, they would have questioned your sanity.

Before the 2010 season began, the Minnesota Twins took a conservative approach when signing Jim Thome to a one year $1.5 million contract. After all, it would be hard to conceive a scenario where a team would pay anywhere near the $13 million that Thome was paid in 2009.

Thome would outperform his contract by leaps and bounds in 2010 as the slugger batted .283, slugged .627 and hit 25 home runs while driving in 59 runs.

The Major League Baseball free agency period is beginning to wind down. Adrian Beltre has signed with the Texas Rangers, Matt Garza is now a Chicago Cub after a big trade and many teams have wrapped up signing players for the 2011 season.

The Mariners continued their expected bargain shopping today by signing infielder Adam Kennedy to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

Kennedy, who turned 35 today, is coming off a poor season with the Nationals where he hit .249/.327/.327 with only three home runs. Although, he's only one season removed from his last productive season, where in 2009 he hit .289/.348/.48 with 11 homers.

"No" is not a familiar word heard in the New York Yankees front office.

General manager Brian Cashman has the resources to woo players to come play in the Bronx, so what happened this offseason?

It has to be expected that the Yankees sans Mr. George Steinbrenner lost a little bit of their appeal.

As we approach the 2011 season, it seems as though several teams in the NL East have significantly improved this offseason.

The Phillies brought back Cliff Lee to set up one of the best pitching staffs, at least on paper, in recent history.

The Braves added Dan Uggla to solidify the middle of their order.

The Nationals signed Jayson Werth, Adam LaRoche, and Rick Ankiel in an attempt to improve their offense.

Now that we've had time to digest the latest results of the Baseball Hall of Fame voting which welcomed two new members, Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyeven, we examine the possible solutions to fixing the voting system.

Last week, controversy surrounded the steroid users or suspected users and therefore they got in some cases surprisingly low percentages, like Jeff Bagwell's 40 percent and Rafael Palmeiro's 11 percent. 

As spring training draws closer and baseball aficionados dream of pitchers and catchers reporting, one begins to salivate as he or she await another season of 162 games.

During this long stretch into the spring, fans begin to dissect their rosters, and debate potential trades, signings, and call-ups. Due to the fact that it is impossible to compare pitchers to outfielders to infielders, the players will be listed in no order and by team.

Washington Nationals

The New York Yankees' offseason has been marked by inactivity, as they have sat on the sidelines and watched teams like the Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies load up with big-name free agents.

Other than the signings of their two key free agents, Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, the Yankees' two main signings have been lefty reliever Pedro Feliciano and catcher Russell Martin. The team has been on a downward spiral that started right after the Yankees won the 2009 World Series. The man most responsible is general manager Brian Cashman.

The Cubs acquired Matt Garza and two non-factor minor leaguers from the Rays, in case you've been living under a rock. While there has been much gnashing of teeth about whether the Cubs gave up too much in return for Garza, the real question is what will be the next move for Jim Hendry and the Cubs?