Fan News

One of the oldest adages in baseball is “You must be strong up the middle.” The Astros are far from strong in several key positions, such as catcher, center field, and starting pitching.

Manager Cecil Cooper did a marvelous job the second half of last year getting the Astros into playoff contention, especially with Carlos Lee missing the final seven weeks. But Houston needs a couple of its starters, beyond bell cow Roy Oswalt, to turn in strong seasons.

Listing the 10 best Hall of Fame (HOF) ballplayers of all time is difficult enough; to actually rank them would be darn near impossible, so the following list is not intended to be in any sort of order. In fact, ranking Babe Ruth at number one is the only certainty I can imagine.

There has been great debate as to how the Giants will look in the 2009 season.

Players and fans accept the fact that the Giants must rely on their pitching to survive and become a force in the weak National League West.

Preseason rankings have the Giants fluctuating between second and third place, behind the Dodgers and Diamondbacks.

However, with their pitching staff I think they will trail only a little behind the Dodgers.

According to a report published by the AP, Hideki Matsui is not likely to play in the outfield at all at least until interleague play in June, when the Yankees will be without a DH for the first time.

Hindsight is always 20/20, says an old English proverb.

At the very best, signing a free agent is a crapshoot. Sometimes, you strike gold. Sometimes, you strike out.

The Minnesota Twins have excelled in the amateur baseball draft. Witness the selections of Justin Morneau (1999), Jason Kubel (2000), Joe Mauer (2001), Denard Span and Pat Neshek (2002), Scott Baker (2003), and Matt Garza and Kevin Slowey (2005).

Can the same be said about the Twins' involvement in the free-agent market?

Decide for yourself.

The Worst

Joe Girardi says that Hideki Matsui will not play the outfield until June this season, according to the Associated Press.

In yesterday’s article, No Room in Yankees Pen for Joba Anyways, I wrote about the current state of the Yankees' bullpen and the depth that they have now that they didn’t a year ago.

One player I left out of the article was Steven Jackson. Jackson is a 27-year-old reliever who was left out because his upside isn’t as high as some of the other pitchers, but I should have included him because of his spot on the 40-man roster.

Extra Bases is reporting that the Red Sox have cut catcher Josh Bard.

Bard signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox worth $1.7 million in late December, with a team option for a second year. But his contract was not guaranteed, and by releasing him now the Red Sox are obligated to pay only one-sixth ($283,333) of his 2009 salary.

Too many times as fans we see professional athletes as above human. We yell at the TV screen when our favorite player or team fails to put out a solid effort. Lost in this is the fact that athletes are human too. They have bad days and good days just like any one of us.

Then there's a story like that of Aaron Boone.

Here are the lineups:

Yankees
Johnny Damon LF
Robinson Cano DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Cody Ransom SS
Jose Molina C
Melky Cabrera CF
Angel Berroa 2B
Justin Leone 3B

Pitching: Chien-Ming Wang, Brett Tomko, Jose Veras, Phil Coke, and Jon Albaladejo

Astros
Michael Bourn CF
Jason Smith 2B
Lance Berkman 1B