Mark Prior

See if this sounds familiar: A young power pitcher has a career year for a division-winning National League club. The next season, however, his performance drops off precipitously, injuries bite and the hand-wringing begins.

The Mark Prior comeback trail simply will not stop. In a deal that was first reported by MLB.com's Mark Sheldon, the Cincinnati Reds signed Prior to a minor-league contract on Friday:

Everyone loves a comeback story, and right-handed pitcher Mark Prior hopes he can make his own, having signed a free-agent contract with the Cincinnati Reds.

Chicago Cubs fans will always remember 2003.  Most will not have particularly fond memories of that season.  With the 10 year anniversary of that season just around the corner, Cubs fans still think about what might have been without injuries and that wretched curse.

A lot of questions surrounding the New York Yankees pitching rotation entering spring training are being answered half-way in.

The biggest question mark had to do with starting pitching.

Many experts felt as though after C.C. Sabathia, Phil Hughes and AJ Burnett, the Yankees really had no one one on their roster to fill the final two spots of the rotation.

Spring training started last weekend.  In some cases, fans were glued to their televisions or radios to tune into games that meant absolutely nothing.

I, for one, enjoy spring training.  This season's sure to be a good one, as my beloved New York Yankees look to put together the puzzle that will send them back to the World Series and bring home title No. 28.

It happens every year.

Minor league players, sometimes as young as 18, are hyped up to be the "next big thing" in baseball. 

As fans and fantasy baseball participants, we either watch these young talents blow up and become stars or unfortunately bear witness to them being thrown into the fire.

Is it just me, or are there any other people scratching their heads over the Yankees' personnel decisions this offseason?

This is the time of the year that the Pinstripes are supposed to re-tool for another run at another World Series crown, isn't it?

So far the Yanks have failed to sign a top-tier free agent outside of Rafael Soriano who will be paid $10 million to pitch the eighth inning in front of Mariano Rivera.

The New York Yankees have an abundant amount of money to spend after losing out on signing Cliff Lee, who went to the Philadelphia Phillies.

All possible options will be tried, as cash is never short in New York and especially when the team is in need. Nobody puts Baby in the corner; not the Phillies, not Lee and certainly not a lack of free agents.

We all love a comeback story.

Weeks back I wrote a story about Mark Prior, the former first-round pick forced to suck up his pride and start from scratch.

Prior was the next big thing. 

Before Stephen Strasburg, before Aroldis Chapman and his 200 mph fastball, there was Mark Prior.