MLB

Believe it or not, the New York Yankees have had a very quiet offseason. There has been nobody busted for steroids, the manager isn’t on a short leash, and there is no drama surrounding the team.

And in other news of the bizarre, the University of Kentucky has dropped their basketball program.

Just because the Yankees have had a quiet offseason by their standards, doesn’t mean things are happening in Yankee land. Here are some news and notes from Yankees’ camp.

Phil Hughes is named No. 5 starter

As Phillies fans, we all remember Joe Blanton going yard against the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2008 World Series.

Looking at the batting averages, however, Blanton is only a .111 lifetime hitter, so he musta been feed a real juicy fastball to hit.

Most Phillies historians remember that Hall of Fame pitcher Steve Carlton was traded for Rick Wise.

Both however, were pretty good hitting pitchers.

In his presentation, I will pick the top Phillies pitching hitters.

Criteria includes that they played for more than one season for the Phillies and unless they had an awesome display of power one game,

Dan McCutchen has won the "fifth starter" job for the Pittsburgh Pirates beating out Kevin Hart. The FIRST fifth starter role, that is.

But if history holds, there will be plenty more "fifth starter" chances for people like Hart, and even Jeff Karstens.

Last year, according to FanGraph's Marc Hulet, only two teams, the Colorado Rockies and Chicago Cubs, had five full time starters who all pitched in 24 or more games.

Like the American League East, I expect the West to be much of a three-horse race.

You've got three clubs that could all win the division and would all be decent playoff teams if they did so, because everything would have come together.

Unlike the East though, the West may only have one representative in the playoffs, which makes this division race all the more interesting. Los Angeles, Seattle, and Texas all had great seasons, winning 85 games or more.

BUSTER POSEY, SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

Posey has the tools, but it’s a matter of opportunity.

He did struggle with his brief taste of the bigs last year going 2-for-17 (.118). He did however, go a combined 137-for-422 (.325) for A+ San Jose and Triple-A Fresno last year.

There was something to be said for growing up in the 1960s and only being able to hear San Francisco Giants exhibition games on my transistor radio.

I felt all the hope of spring without actually seeing Jim Ray Hart butchering ground balls at third base or the parade of inadequate starting pitchers behind Juan Marichal.

When Street and Smith's baseball annual had the Giants picked to win the National League, I knew everything I needed to know about the club and the glorious summer that was surely ahead.

As we embark on another season in which the Kansas City Royals look to be competing for fourth place in the American League Central, there were only a few things that we Royals fans had to look forward to.

It's the classic dilemma in sports: What do you do when all of your options result in a no-win situation? Well, I don't claim to have the answer, but that is what is facing the Cardinals with Albert Pujols.

Look, no matter what they do, they lose. If they fail to sign Albert, St. Louis fans will revolt and may come to the park brandishing weapons.

Yet if they trade The Machine, no matter how good the bounty received, there will be many fans and media around the nation criticizing the deal.

So Battle of the Blogs Fantasy Baseball League had its draft last night. My team, Double G Sports , had the sixth pick in the first round—and each round after that was done in a snake format.

March 21, 2010: a date that will forever be considered one of the most important in Minnesota Twins history.

A time in the baseball calendar that is generally reserved for spring training updates and fantasy buzz was dominated by the news that Joe Mauer and his hometown Twins had agreed on an 8-year, $184M contract.

Just add one more layer to a season already full of history, even though it isn't even under way yet.