Rankings/List

If the Florida Marlins brass thought they were in the driver's seat in order to compete with the Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves, think again.

After Philadelphia remained fairly quiet in the news last week after their former outfielder Jayson Werth signed a mega deal with the Washington Nationals, they now have attracted the spotlight for all the right reasons.

The Cliff Lee signing really shook up a few things, but the biggest effects should be on American League teams like the Yankees and Rangers, who now must turn to the Royals, Rays and Twins for a backup plan.

Over in the National League, things are a little quieter. 

A few big trades have already gone down. The Padres got a huge haul of top-notch talent in exchange for Adrian Gonzalez. The Braves added slugger Dan Uggla and a solid bullpen piece in Scott Linebrink. And the Brewers bolstered their rotation by swapping top infield prospect Brett Lawrie for Shaun Marcum.

Late Monday night, word came out that not only was there a mystery team in the Cliff Lee sweepstakes, but that they had won his services.

The Phillies got back the piece they sorely missed last post-season, and in the process put another 500 pounds of pain on the Yankees off-season.

This is about the time of year when baseball fans start getting antsy every season. 

It's about midway between the World Series and the beginning of spring training, but this off-season has given us plenty to talk about. 

Jayson Werth, Carl Crawford, and Cliff Lee's $100 million contracts have kept us busy.

But now it's time to start thinking about spring training, and one of the more interesting elements of spring training is non-roster invitees.

If there's one team that has history, it's the New York Yankees. For over 100 years, a myriad of players have passed through New York, many of which have ended up in the Hall of Fame. However, while fans give all of their attention to the Jeters, Mantles, and DiMaggios, many forget the effective players who put up great numbers, but stayed out of the spotlight. That being said, I'm giving you readers a list of the 10 most underrated Yankees of the past 20 years!

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Cliff Lee just shocked the baseball world by going back to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Texas Rangers and New York Yankees were widely thought to have been the front-runners for his services, but they're now left in the dark after his signing.

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Well, after a much ballyhooed week of throwing money on the table at Cliff Lee, both the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers ended up coming home empty handed as the Philadelphia Phillies came out of nowhere to win the sweepstakes.

Now, the world seems to have stopped considering the fact that four nine-figure contracts have been doled out so far this offseason, and none of them are being paid for by the Yankees.

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

It's not the most original statement, but for baseball fans, especially those of middle-of-the-road teams, there are few times of the year that hold as much excitement as the months leading up to spring training.

Hope is alive (even for my Orioles) and everyone is on (somewhat) even footing. Teams like the Padres and Royals have the ability to become headline news-makers, even if it's just for a day, and teams like the Brewers and Blue Jays can give the Yankees and Red Sox a run for their money in terms of "offseason rankings."

Free agency is quite often crucial to a team's short- and long-term success. While many players are drafted and brought through an organization's farm system, more times than not it comes down to the ability of a team to bring in top-end free agents. 

However, the risks involved with signing free agents are apparent in every Major League Baseball season. Year in and year out, players fail to live up to their multi-million dollar contracts.

There has been a lot of focus on the 2010 free agent signings during the "hot stove" season.

But what about a good old-fashioned trade?

Now that Cliff Lee is off the board, the pool of free agents has begun to slither away.

Here is a look at 10 teams that could potentially be involved in a blockbuster trade that might shift the course of power in both the American and National League.