I had such high hopes for Freddy Garcia. He won a championship and was such a workhorse throughout his career, until his injuries in 2006.

Late April on the Major League Baseball front is the time when teams, successful or not, begin to fine-tune their lineups.

So, here's a few modest proposals for Major League teams to consider.

Cincinnati Reds

Take Micah Owings off the mound and install him as an everyday player.

Holy Babe Ruth, the kid can crush the ball.

In 126 Major League at-bats, Owings is hitting .325 with 19 extra-base hits and 23 RBI.

For those of you who may already be giving up on your team, and wondering what can be done to fix your team, know this: There are solutions.

Although there are few marquee names, a solid cast is available to revamp your Nationals, Indians, Rockies, or Astros. Think about this, trade every player on your roster for whatever minor league talent you can scrape together, then go out and sign a new team, an all-star team, the all free-agent team. Here they are:

Starting Lineup

Here is a short list of what I have deemed to be the best names in baseball. The important thing to remember is that mothers and fathers actually sat down and decided to name their kids these names. These names will definitely not be featured in any baby book. OK, so not all of these names are that bad, but some of them are just downright funny.
Feel free to leave any others that you know in the comment box.

When Troy Glaus went down this winter with shoulder surgery, Cardinals fans started to count the days until his return.

There was much speculation as to who could start in absence of Glaus, and names such as Joe Mather and David Freese arose. Mather ended up being optioned to AAA, and Freese has only managed 19 at-bats and a couple of hits.

But the dynamic rookie duo of Joe Thurston and Brian Barden have excelled so far this season, leaving myself and other Cardinal fans worrying less and less about Glaus' return date.

When Jose Morales made the club out of spring training as Joe Mauer's replacement, the assumption was that Morales would fill in until Mauer was ready to return. It was a fair assumption because, after all, with a tight bench to begin with, making room for three catchers would be a difficult task.

Much in the same manner as the Twins did with their 11-man pitching staff idea, the team has rethought the plan to ship Morales to triple-A when their All-Star catcher returns to the lineup Friday, in the Metrodome against the Kansas City Royals.

Enter Sandman by Metallica starts blasting through the Yankee Stadium loud speakers at the top of the ninth inning. If there ever was a song opposing players of any team wished they would never have to listen to, this would be their choice.

The crowd gets up and roars its approval as the inevitable is about to happen. The Yankees have the lead and are about to give the ball to their 39 year old one pitch closer. Just so happens, Mariano Rivera is as dominating as ever.

(Author's note: This article was originally posted here at www.aarontorres-sports.com)

Growing up in central Connecticut, the start of baseball season was as exciting as any time of year. 

This offseason the Rockies acquired Jason Marquis for Luis Vizcaino from the Chicago Cubs. It was a move that the Rockies made in an effort to provide quality depth in the starting rotation.

Marquis was on the outs in Chicago. Cubs fans were down on Marquis after rumors that he did not get along well with manager Lou Piniella, especially after being left off of the NLDS roster.

Sometimes you don't know what you have until it's gone.Marquis has won no less than 11 games in the last five seasons.