MLB

Last season Ozzie put together 126 different lineups over the course of the season. If recent rumors are any indication, the White Sox lineup will continue to be in flux this season.

As reported by Mark Gonzales, Ozzie has floated two ideas recently, both of which gave me the same knee-jerk reaction of “SERIOUSLY!?”

1. Batting Mark Kotsay THIRD against right-handed pitchers

Sergio Santos is a name White Sox fans may need to learn going into this season, as he is currently extremely close to taking the final roster spot. Fans of other teams, however, may learn his name as well before the 2010 season starts.

The 26-year-old Santos has been one of the few surprises in White Sox camp striking out nine in five-and-two-thirds of scoreless work. His dominating pitching is only half the Santos surprise (Santos surprise sounds really dirty).

The most surprising part is that Santos has only been a pitcher for 28.2 innings before this spring.

The name of the Cubs spring training facility, HoHoKam, literally means "those who vanished". That is appropriate as we embark on a journey of past Cubs spring training stars and "can't miss kids" who did.

The current spring star is Tyler Colvin, who is ranked third in the National League in hitting this spring, at .440. While this is great for the kid, and Paul Sullivan has Colvin making the Cubs' roster, let me remind you of one thing:

Spring statistics mean nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nada. As predictors for regular season performance, that is.

How does any team replace a player who has averaged 46 doubles over the last six years, 39 stolen bases over the last four, and made two All-Star appearances?

More importantly, how do you replace a guy like that when you are the Orioles, and the player in question is Brian Roberts?

That is the dilemma currently facing the Orioles as they draw ever closer to Opening Day 2010.

Let’s set the debate aside for the moment over the Red Sox's shift in philosophy.

Volumes were written this winter (here and elsewhere) about the front office’s desire to transition the team more towards pitching and defense.

What can be said with near certainty is that once Theo and Company decided to head in this direction, it was clear the club should spend its $80 million on pitcher John Lackey instead of hitter Jason Bay.

The acquisition of Lackey did several things.

This week, the race for the Yankees' fifth starter spot finally ended.

In what started out as a five man race, ended up having one clear winner for the job.

Phil Hughes won the fifth and final starting job for the 2010 season and will be in the rotation with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, and Javier Vazquez.

Say what you want about George Steinbrenner and his management style, but I guarantee that the Joba Chamberlain debacle would not have happened under his watch.

The word came down today that Phil Hughes has won the fifth starter spot over Joba. It's the right decision–I'm not arguing that. The problem is that the Yankees have spent the last three years messing with Joba's head and because of it, he may very well end up needing a one-way ticket out of the Bronx to get his career back on track.

So it was all for nothing.

The innings limits, the pitch limits, the extra days off between starts the Yankees forced Joba Chamberlain to undergo during the second half of 2009—that rendered him impotent come the playoffs—under the guise that they were "protecting his arm" so that he could at long last become a full fledged starter this season...it was all a lie.

Tossed aside because of 3 2/3 spring innings.

Manager Joe Girardi and the Yankees staff evaluated the entire spring training and came to the same conclusion I did: Phil Hughes should be the fifth starter.

Hughes beat out Joba Chamberlain, Alfredo Aceves, Sergio Mitre, and the recently released Chad Gaudin.

Girardi has been very impressed with the much-improved changeup that Hughes has been using and working on throughout the spring.

Chamberlain, Aceves, and Mitre are all now competing for spots in the Yankees bullpen. Nobody, including Chamberlain, is guaranteed a role. Each player will need to earn it.

At this point in spring training the players have settled into their routines.

Starting pitchers are stretching themselves out to five to seven innings, building arm strength as they make their final push to Opening Day.

This is usually the time when position players try to quickly get their work in, hopefully overcome any bad habits, and most importantly, avoid injury.

The last thing a player or the team wants is to lose someone to injury just over a week before the end of spring training.