AL East

Playing in the World Baseball Classic every three or four years for your respective country is a great honor that every major league ballplayer has to have in the back of his mind. 

This March, the third annual World Baseball Classic will take place. Spring training begins on March 1 for the Orioles, and the first game of the WBC is on March 8.

The Baltimore Orioles are taking a chance on 26-year-old right-hander Jair Jurrjens, and there's a fair chance that it will pay off in a big way for them.

While the level of excitement in Toronto about baseball has not been this high since the World Series runs of 1992 and 1993, the level of expectation is considerably high. For close to two decades, franchises like the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers continuously had very high payrolls with no championship to show for it.

Just when it seemed the Boston Red Sox couldn't get any lower than fried chicken and beer in the club house, the baseball world witnessed Jon Lester’s career-worst 11 runs against Toronto, Daniel Bard’s transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation and Josh Beckett’s golf game.

The Philadelphia Phillies have signed right-handed hitting outfielder Delmon Young to a one-year deal worth $750,000, and Buster Olney opines that this could leave left-handed outfielder Domonic Brown out of the loop in Philly.

Finally, the Mike Napoli saga is coming to an end well over a month after it was first announced that he was going to sign with the Boston Red Sox, according to this

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• Mike Napoli
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