Opinion

"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, then you are wasting your time on this Earth." - Roberto Clemente

While most of us baseball fans are finishing our Christmas Shopping and scheduling for Holiday Festivities which will run into the New Year, I wanted to take a moment to remind you about Pittsburgh Pirate Great, Roberto Clemente.

Chien-Mang Wang is a National again this year.  To many it may be surprising that he even was a National last year considering he never pitched an inning.  Wang must have made strides rehabbing last year though because he was offered and accepted a $1 million contract (with $5 million in incentives) from the Nationals.  

Shortly after former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke didn't get traded to the Washington Nationals on Sunday, I wrote a story about the Denny McLain trade back in 1970 and suggested that had Greinke come to Washington, things would have turned out just as bad for the Nationals as it did for the Senators some 40 years earlier.

When 2008 AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee signed with the Phillies to boost an already stacked starting rotation, many people started handing them the 2011 World Series championship.

Not so fast though. Another very good team has also made some huge moves this offseason. Of course, I am speaking of the Boston Red Sox, who traded for All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and signed All-Star outfielder Carl Crawford.

In a somewhat surprise turn of events, the Blue Jays, who were believed to be the strongest bidders for Zack Greinke, lost out on his services earlier in the week as the Milwaukee Brewers wound up being the best suitors.

In acquiring the 2009 AL Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke, Milwaukee Brewers GM Doug Melvin signaled to his team and fanbase that he has extremely high hopes for the 2011 season. The move not only solidified a greatly improved rotation, but assured Prince Fielder will remain in Milwaukee and not be traded.

Are the Brewers now the class of the NL Central or just one of several contenders for the division crown?

In the 2010 World Series, the San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers in five games. 

After the immediate celebration, shortstop Edgar Renteria was named World Series MVP, and rightfully so. Over those five games, Renteria batted .412 with two home runs and six RBI.

It was nice to see Renteria win, as he had missed nearly half of the regular season with various injuries. Rather than retire, he chose to come back for one more year, hopefully with the Giants.

As soon as free agent starting pitcher Cliff Lee signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, all eyes shifted to Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke.

Amid questions of anxiety disorder, the list of teams able to trade for the 2009 Cy Young winner was short.

The New York Yankees, having lost out on signing Lee, seemed likely to target Greinke, but the idea of Greinke being able to handle pitching in New York was a bit far-fetched.

Zack Greinke was traded to the Brewers for a host of minor league prospects on Sunday, and if that doesn't do much for you, don't sweat it. Nobody else seemed to care much either.

Viewed through the prism of pure talent, Greinke should have been seen as every bit Lee's equal in terms of desirability this offseason. They're both Cy Young Award winners, each gifted with pitching repertoires that straddle the fine line between power and finesse.

Well it seems things are changing in Brewer-land. The powers that be have, once and for all, determined that starting pitching may just be the way to win games and possibly even championships. Apparently, it took the San Francisco Giants winning big to hammer that point home.

So now that Zack Greinke is a Brewer, what makes it a good fit? You see it all the time where free-agents or traded players struggle in their new surroundings.