When Los Angeles Angels' manager Mike Scioscia announced last Thursday that starting pitcher Scott Kazmir would open the season as a member of the starting rotation, he was asked by reporters whether or not Kazmir had earned the spot.

“Earned?” Scioscia said. “Define ‘earned.’”

Not exactly a stirring vote of confidence.

However, Kazmir, who struggled last season with a 9-15 record and a 5.94 ERA, is owed $14.5 million this season.

Brad Lidge is the latest closer to go down with an injury and how long he will be out is completely unknown. The pain in his shoulder has yet to be identified, meaning he could be out a week, a month or maybe more. It was just a few days ago that I questioned if Lidge was even worth owning (click here to view) and now things look even more dubious. 

First Base:  Freddie Freeman, Atlanta Braves

Freeman struggled in his cup of coffee last year hitting .167 in 20 games (24 at bats). The Braves are committed to him at first base, though. He has the pedigree, hitting .319 with 18 HRs, 87 RBI and a .899 OPS for Triple-A Gwinnett last year. I’m not as confident in Freeman (this year) as I am in some of the other players, but the majority of first basemen have already made a name for themselves.

Last Year

85-77, 4th in AL East 

Manager: John Farrell 

PROJECTED LINEUP

C - JP Arencibia (R)

1B - Adam Lind (L)

2B - Aaron Hill (R)

3B - Jose Bautista (R)

SS - Yunel Escobar (R)

LF - Travis Snider (L)

CF - Rajai Davis (R)

RF - Juan Rivera (R)

DH - Edwin Encarnacion (R)

I know I've hardly been a beacon glowing in the otherwise dark night of the Chicago Cubs. In fact, you might say I'm much more of a realist than most Cubs fans.

Still, always looking at the grim realities can become downright boring and so, in an attempt to liven up my day, allow me to put on the ol' rose-colored glasses and search out reasons to be hopeful that 2011 will be a better year than 2010 for us Cubs fans.

After weeks of speculation, the fifth starter competition is finally over and the A’s have their rotation set heading into the final week of spring training.

Injuries and ineffectiveness removed Rich Harden, Josh Outman and Bobby Cramer from the competition, leaving Brandon McCarthy and Tyson Ross to battle it out as the Cactus League came to a close.

The San Francisco Giants have this division in the bag.

Or at least they should.

The Giants won the World Series on the strength of their pitching and timely hitting. With the players still on roster and some other additions, San Francisco should be able to reproduce most of its success from 2010.

The Yankees usually get who they want during the offseason, but this past offseason, they missed out on the Cliff Lee sweepstakes.  They threw more money at him than Philadelphia, but Lee said no thanks.

So, instead of going after a starting pitcher, the Yanks went out and acquired Rafael Soriano. In many ways, the signing is better than any starter they would've acquired.  With Soriano and Mariano Rivera now anchoring the eighth and ninth innings, it takes pressure off the starting rotation.

I had the good fortune of connecting with the Milwaukee Brewers 2009 Minor League Player of the Year, Logan Schafer, and asked if he would have time for a quick interview. He didn't at the time but we agreed to connect somewhere around the beginning to middle of spring training.

We had originally thought that we could do a phone interview but that had been discussed just prior to Schafer's thumb injury which he suffered during a spring training game.

The Barry Bonds trial just concluded its first week of testimony after eight years of buildup, and honestly, nobody should care.

Bonds is not facing trial because of any crime that caused physical harm to another person; he did not perpetrate some great social injustice. No, Barry Bonds is on trial because he took steroids to elevate his game in his quest to rewrite the baseball record books and then lied about it.