Fan News

Despite an offseason full of free agent splashes, the Yankees could be in for another April belly flop. 

Sure, the additions of Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia, and A.J. Burnett automatically make the Yankees an improved team, but there are substantial questions as the calendar flips.

A distracted Alex Rodriguez is one thing, but putting him on the shelf for the season’s first six to nine weeks is quite another. General manager Brian Cashman is sticking with farmhand Cody Ransom for, if nothing else, the lack of available free agent third basemen.

I've spent my time pondering what things make me happy that I'm a Cubs fan. This year I've come up with 10, actually maybe 12 things if you split two of them up, that make me happy to be a "Waveland Warrior" this season.

10. CC Sabathia is in New York and not Milwaukee

Reason this makes me happy: That's four to six wins against the Brew Crew this season. Sabathia ate us up like he does so many hot dogs every year. Let us all rejoice that Milwaukee wasn't willing to pay him by the pound, like the Yankees were willing to.

The World Baseball Classic has taken many players around the major league away from their teams this spring and in some cases it has been viewed as a very negative thing. For Mark Teixeira that was not going to be an issue during his first spring training with the Yankees.

The Philadelphia Phillies are currently the World Series champions and deserve the title. But in only a short time, the Phillies will have to defend their title against 29 other teams. It seems like it was only yesterday that they won the World Series, but sadly, it wasn't.

Sky Kalkman of Beyond the Boxscore wrote a great article this week covering the major league teams and their optimal lineups and what he had to say about the Yankees was very interesting.

Ahhh yes, once again, hope springs eternal for the Chicago Cubs. The 2009 version of the team, seems to have an even better chance of capturing the ever-elusive World Series title, even better than last year's 97-win team.

The offseason was a very busy one for the Cubs. Jim Hendry has had his hands full. Making trades, and signing free agents. Gone are Kerry Wood, Mark DeRosa, Henry Blanco, Jim Edmonds, Jason Marquis, and others. 

Brett Gardner and Melky Cabrera came to camp this spring battling for the center field job that has been Melky’s for the past couple of years.

After watching the Seattle Mariners on "30 Clubs in 30 Days," I picked up a few tidbits of information that I wanted to pass along regarding the Mariners' offseason and the high hopes the team has for 2009.

This is an article I wrote for RBI Magazine, which can be found here.

Key Additions

SS Adam Everett, C Gerald Laird, RHP Edwin Jackson, RHP Brandon Lyon, C Matt Treanor, RHP Juan Rincon

Key Subtractions

OF Matt Joyce, LHP Kenny Rogers, SS Edgar Renteria, RP Kyle Farnsworth, CL Todd Jones

In June 2008, the Giants' young lefty Jonathan Sanchez recorded a 5-1 record with an ERA below three. However, in the rest of his starts that came in other months, the Giants hurler went 4-11, including a 1-7 mark in his last eight decisions. For the year Sanchez finished 9-12 with a 5.01 ERA.

I admit to riding the Sanchez bandwagon back in June 2008, but I was also the first one off come July. Apparently I was one of the few that jumped off.