Rankings/List

Cliff Lee is by far the most attractive, and at the same time, most expensive option on the market this off-season. But after Lee, there's a big drop off in the market.

There are still a couple of pitchers who have the potential to be a solid top of the rotation starter available though, who are far cheaper than Lee. Unfortunately, they haven't shown any of that in recent seasons.

While baseball is America's Pastime, the game has extensive roots and deep tradition in the country to its north as well. The first documented evidence of baseball in Canada dates back to 1838 shortly after it became popular in the United States. As has been stereotyped, we Canadians are certainly very proud of our fellow compatriots in the game.

Going into the 2011 season, the Boston Red Sox need to add a power bat. That's stating the obvious, but how will they do it?

Victor Martinez has since left to sign a four-year, $50 million contract with Detroit. That leaves Jarrod Saltalamacchia, a catcher who has never had a full season in the big leagues, to run the team.

Although Boston has said they feel comfortable giving him the job to start off in 2011, there's something about me that doubts this.

Thus, I have a couple catchers on here for Boston to go after.

As the Giants remain in the hangover stages of a World Series championship campaign, the questions are beginning to swirl in the Bay Area over who will replace the World Series' most valuable player, shortstop Edgar Renteria, in the upcoming 2011 season.

With Juan Uribe as a high candidate for moving teams, one thing is for certain. The Giants are going with the young guns: There is always room for improvement.

Will the Giants try to reel in Derek Jeter, or will they make a trade for another big name infielder?

Only time will tell.

A glaring hole in the Atlanta Braves' lineup since Rafael Furcal left for free agency after the 2005 season has been consistent on-base percentage and speed. Not coincidentally, the Braves' postseason hopes have been mostly held in check since that time.

Derek Jeter has been the subject of much debate in the off-season so far, ranging from his value as a fielder in the Gold Glove voting to his overall value as a player and icon to the New York Yankees.

Here's a debate that won't rage long with respect to Jeter: there can be no doubt that Derek Jeter is a no-brainer, first ballot Hall of Famer.

Now that the 2010 season, playoffs, post-season, and award season are all in the books, we have everything we need to take an extended team-by-team look at today's players and their Hall of Fame potential.

The sports industry is an odd one.

You can give your heart and soul to a team and its fans, and they can want no part of you when it comes to a new contract. 

There have been several instances where a player has chosen to move on, or a team chooses to trade a player and at least get something for their star player.

But, in rare instances, a player wants nothing more in the world than to remain with his team. Only to find out that the team doesn't feel the same, but some other team is more than willing to take them in.

Josh Hamilton won the 2010 American League Most Valuable Player award this week, and it would be difficult to argue against the selection.

Hamilton led the Texas Rangers to an incredibly rare playoff appearance and in the process continued one of the great comeback stories in sports.

He hit 32 home runs with 100 RBI and 95 runs scored in only 133 games and won the batting and OPS titles as he threatened to win the Triple Crown.

Josh Hamilton won the American League Most Valuable Player Award this week, putting the cap on an amazing year and an amazing comeback.

Hamilton has firmly established himself as one of the great hitters in Major League Baseball.

Hamilton's accomplishment is unique for an interesting reason: Hamilton becomes just the sixth player in the history of the June amateur player draft to be picked number one overall, and then go on to win the Most Valuable Player award.

Small-market stars are few and far between in today's modern MLB. Sure there are plenty of players who come up with the league's have-nots: Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Milwaukee.

But they don't seem to stay there for very long. Do we really expect Prince Fielder to stay in Milwaukee forever? Or Zack Grienke in Kansas City? We just saw Dan Uggla shipped to Atlanta for very little in return, partly because the Marlins didn't want to pay him a huge, long-term deal.