Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle is tired of all the fan bellyaching down south in Big Texas , and he has decided to offer the fans a forum to give management their advice. 

He won't turn 26 until January, but Josh Johnson might be one of the better pitchers to become available this winter.

Johnson stands to receive a substantial raise from his 2009 salary of $1.4 million after posting a 15-5 record with 191 strikeouts in 209 innings pitched. Standing 6-7 and weighing 240 pounds, Johnson is physically intimidating and backs it up with phenomenal stuff.

While every one now is pondering why Roy Halladay is needed on the Yankees (he isn't), I want to focus on the first important deal that Brian Cashman will attempt to get done.

The rumors that the Boston Red Sox are interested in former Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Marco Scutaro.

I prefer Scutaro to almost every other shortstop on the market for the Red Sox. Boston has already let their shortstop from last season's stretch, Alex Gonzalez, go to Toronto.

Scutrao's defense is not as good as Gonzalez's defense, but it's passable compared to some of the other shortstops the Red Sox had since the traded Nomar Garciaparra back in 2004.

Both Scutaro and the Red Sox brass have expressed very serious interest in each other.

Bert Blyleven belongs in the Hall of Fame.

In fact, he’s belonged in the Hall of Fame for 12 years.

Yet, for 12 years in a row, the Baseball Writers Association of American has erred by leaving him out in the cold when the voting results are announced.

Did Mark McGwire cheat? Did he use steroids to build his massive home run hitting frame? Is he little more than a liar when it comes to admitting what we all know is the truth?

The collective answer is obvious to anyone taking a step back from the emotional brink.

We don’t know.

And the 2009 Cy Young Award goes to...Tim Lincecum.

For the second year in a row Tim "The Freak" Lincecum, took home the hardware, earning the Cy Young Award for the National League, given to the finest pitcher in the league.

But was Lincecum truly deserving of the award in 2009?

In '08 he seemed the most dominant pitcher far and away and rightfully so he was voted the award winner. This year, Cardinal pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright had good arguments in favor of, well, themselves. 

The strangest thing just happened to me.

A few minutes ago, I received a call from Nationals’ team President Stan Kasten. He said that Mike Rizzo was fired by the Lerner family, after being found walking aimlessly along the Beltway, wearing nothing but a Mets’ cap.

Kasten told me Rizzo could have survived the “naked” part, but wearing the oppositions’ colors was a deal breaker.

Whenever performance-enhancing drugs rear their head, you often see the phrase "innocent until proven guilty" thrown around the discussion. It's a fine idea and one that deserves respect, but there's a significant snag to borrowing legal phrases for generic debate—it sounds very authoritative and conclusive, but the reality is much messier.

There are very few universals in law. Like many legal rules, the aforementioned presumption of innocence is defined by its context.