Rankings/List

The 2010 MLB offseason has provided lots of excitement, surprises and shock. The money that's been thrown around is upsetting to G.M.'s across the sport.

Cliff Lee to the Phillies, Jason Werth to the Nationals, Carl Crawford to the Red Sox and plenty of other players have switched teams.

The roller coaster ride isn't over yet. Pitchers and catchers don't report for another two months, which means the hot stove is still burning red hot.

Your club (yes, even the Phillies) still have holes that need to be filled on their roster.

Here are the needs for every team.

As 2010 comes to a close, the free agent market is no longer what it was just a month ago. Cliff Lee and Jayson Werth have signed, and several top relievers from Bobby Jenks to Pedro Feleciano are now off the market. This thinning of available talent can be dangerous for teams in need a boost. While Adrian Beltre, Carl Pavano, and Rafael Soriano can help just about any team, few teams want to get into a bidding war over their services.

Ah, the art of pitching.

Most coaches teach their little-leaguers the most standard of pitching wind-ups, hoping that mimicking the mechanics of the majority will grant them success.

But while the top pitchers of today—the Cliff Lees, C.C. Sabathias and Felix Hernandezes—might all have pretty standard deliveries, for every few of them there's always a Tim Lincecum—a guy who achieves success with a wind-up unlike anything we've ever seen.

And in the 100-plus year history of MLB, guys like Lincecum are nothing new.

And the answer issss no. We'll never see asterisks to mark some of the blatantly questionable performances of the denoted, approximate 15-year period ranging from the early 1990s until at least midway through the first decade of this century, because to do so is as much an indictment of Bud Selig and league ownership as it is many of the supersized players themselves.

New Year's Day is nearly upon us, and perhaps no MLB team is looking forward to a fresh start in 2011 more than the Los Angeles Dodgers.

From the ugly proceedings of the McCourt divorce to the departure of Manny Ramirez to the retirement of Joe Torre, the Dodgers had their fair share of pitfalls in a year that saw them fail to capture a third consecutive NL West division title.

2010 was the "Year of the Pitcher," so I thought it might be interesting to take a look at the top pitchers in each league and compare them. 

The addition of a DH in an American League lineup makes it impossible to know for sure who is the better pitcher between aces in each league, but I have tried nonetheless. 

The following article is purely opinion, and I expect to hear the wrath of many a sabermetrician who thinks that so and so's GDIPGLCTF (sarcasm) is the explanation behind their struggles and or achievements. 

Yes, I know the Brewers just traded ostensibly their top four prospects. Getting Greinke and Shaun Marcum in return was the shocker. I've been beating my head against the wall for a while, trying to get people to understand what the meaning of the word prospect is. At least the Brewers finally got it.

Even though the very top tier of the Brewers' system is now virtually bare, the big club is stocked. With the Brewers' 2010 first round pick, Dylan Covey, opting to stay close to home as a result of a medical condition, they will receive an additional first round pick in 2011.

When Cliff Lee signed with the Philadelphia Phillies for five years and $120 million earlier this offseason, he left a little bit of money and a couple years on the table.

The Texas Rangers and the New York Yankees both would have given Lee more money and seven years on a contract.

But Lee felt more comfortable in Philly, so he gave them a discount (though once you are over $100 million, what's it matter if you make an extra $10 million?).

Lee certainly isn't the first baseball player who has left money on the table during contract negotiations.

Christmas Day, 2010: Is there a better day to present you with a list of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history?

Please note: I have picked the best player for each given letter, so some players lucked out by having a name starting with an unusual letter. How else can a pretty good player like Carlos Quentin have the same odds of making my list as Stan Musial, a true all-time great.

One more note: Neither player made my list. Sorry to upset all the Carlos Quentin fans out there. Do read on.

The New York Yankees have made small signings this year, especially after they missed out on the Cliff Lee Sweepstakes.

Players include Russell Martin, Luis Vizcaino, and Pedro Feliciano.

And if you look at it in a positive way, this is still a similar lineup compared to the 2010 team when they reached the American League Championship Series.

Adding to that, there is money that can be spent on even more signings, which can be critical.

But for now, here is the projected lineup and starting rotation of the New York Yankees, for the 2011 season.