MLB

During the entire offseason, the Braves rotation has been touted as one of the most solid in baseball. In the past couple of weeks, though, they have been excluded from many top lists.

MLB.com picked the Phillies to have the top rotation in the NL East. The Boston Globe's Tony Massarotti picked the Cardinals, Phillies, and Giants over the Braves in the NL. These are just a couple of examples.

It has perplexed me how the Braves' impressive pitching could be ranked so low. How does a team with few problems over spring training go from tops to glossed over?

The San Francisco Giants Jonathan Sanchez had a year of great improvement in 2009, which featured a no-hitter and an amazing second half of the season. 

His electric stuff led to a lot of strikeouts, but also a fair amount of walks.  He struck out 177 batters in 163.1 innings pitched (for a K/9 of 9.75), which is seventh best among Major League Baseball starting pitchers with a minimum of 100 IP. 

Unlike his counterpart on the other side of town, you’re not going to find Lou Piniella tweeting any time soon.

As you probably already know, Piniella responded to a minor Twitter controversy early in the spring sparked by White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who joined the social networking site to communicate with fans.

Sweet Lou has never been tagged as a web-junky, and do not expect to find the old-school manager updating his Facebook status at your local Starbucks.

Over the last couple of days, there have been a lot of star players who have hit the disabled list and won’t be ready for Opening Day.

When you look at this list of players, they would be a good foundation for any All-Star team.

Here are the players who have recently landed, or will land, on the DL prior to Opening Day.

Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers

How do you decide which division in Major League Baseball is the best?

Last year, I attempted to do this and went as far as ranking the divisions, from worst to first. My pick for best team was unpopular, and I’m here to say I was wrong.

The American League Central should be an interesting division in 2010. You could make the argument that three teams could win the division, but none of them would be considered great teams.

Let’s take a look at the “key” player for each team in this division and the player who could perhaps propel that team into October baseball.

Minnesota Twins —Francisco Liriano

Doesn’t it seem like Liriano is the key for the Twins every year?

Yesterday, I looked at the updated starting rotations of each American League East team.

Today, I will look at the updated starting rotations for each American League Central team.

The American League Central is home to some of the best young pitchers in the game. As a matter of fact, five out of the last six AL Cy Young Award winners have come from the Central.

Here are the updated starting rotations of each American League Central team.

Minnesota Twins

1. Scott Baker, RHP

2. Nick Blackburn, RHP

With the baseball season just around the corner, here’s a look at my 2010 preseason predictions.

American League Champions:

Yesterday, I took a look at the updated starting nine position players for each American League East team. Today, I will cover the updated starting nine position players for each American League Central team.

Minnesota Twins

1. Denard Span, CF

2. Orlando Hudson, 2B

3. Joe Mauer, C

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Michael Cuddyer, RF

6. Jason Kubel, DH

7. Delmon Young, LF

8. J.J. Hardy, SS

9. Nick Punto, 3B

It’s been a long and winding road for the San Diego Padres’ Chris Young.  He is just two years removed from posting a 3.12 ERA and 1.10 WHIP over 30 starts. 

In the subsequent two seasons, he’s made a total of 32 starts thanks to a slew of injuries:

• In 2008, he missed time after taking a line drive off the bat of Albert Pujols to the face (he would spend more time on the DL later in the year).

• His 2009 season ended in mid-June, ultimately requiring surgery for a torn labrum