MLB

As incomprehensible as it may seem, the Red Sox apparently have Kevin Youkilis on the block, according to one major league source.

This source vehemently contends that the Red Sox would “love to dump Youk” and suggests such a move could be part of a deal sending Adrian Gonzalez to Boston.

The 2010 Seattle Mariners feature a new lineup, but much about the team remains the same. Here is the projected lineup:

1. RF Ichiro Suzuki
2. 2B Chone Figgins
3. LF Milton Bradley
4. 3B Jose Lopez
5. DH Ken Griffey Jr.
6. 1B Casey Kotchman
7. CF Franklin Gutierrez
8. C Rob Johnson
9. SS Jack Wilson

Let’s take a look at who will carry the Mariners to success, drag them to despair, or keep them in the same place.

This is a series of posts leading up to the season preview which will be posted sometime next week.

This post will look at the No. 1 and 2 starters for each team in the NL West (other than the Giants, since these posts will concentrate more on what the Giants will be facing in 2010 in various categories).

One thing to note about these posts is that I'm not looking specifically at the No. 1 and 2 pitchers in the rotation according to MLB.com depth charts.

Closers are the most overrated players in fantasy baseball. The good ones deliver strong contributions to one category, but generally pitch less than five innings per week.

During drafts, I usually ignore the position until the late rounds. Despite this strategy, my teams are usually very strong in the saves category. In fact, my teams have finished first, first, and second in saves over the last three seasons in my 10-team roto keeper league.

How is this possible, you ask? It’s simple really. Let me run some numbers by you…

It only seems like Buster Posey has become the center of the San Francisco Giants' universe.

No. No. Wait...

Given that Posey's the top prospect in the organization and that he's hitting the devil out of the ball in spring training, the Giants' universe is spinning around the guy.

No sport uses the word "purity" as much as baseball. Fans are obsessed with the idea and hold its athletes to a higher standard than the NBA, or NFL. So when a player does something to hurt the integrity of the game—outrage ensues.

Pete Rose gambled on the Reds for four plus years as the player/manager of the Reds in the late 1980's. He directly affected the outcome of the game.

Dozens of players in the late 1980's to the mid 2000's used performance-enhancing drugs as a way to stay competitive. Not every player chose to use PED's and there stats and paychecks suffer because of it.

Blake DeWitt is, without a doubt, having no trouble smashing the ball this spring. DeWitt is hitting a strong .368, with 2 home runs, and 5 RBI while playing 14 games and having 38 at-bats.  There is only one small problem that he is having: fielding the ball.

His lack of fielding is quite a problem, considering he is playing second base, which is a position known to get a lot of ground balls and is expected to easily turn double plays. DeWitt has already committed three errors this spring and there are still two weeks until Opening Day.

The Yankees placed Chad Gaudin on waivers today, and I'm not sure that was the right course of action.

After this move, it looks like the bullpen will shape up as follows:

Atlanta Braves (Last Season: 86-76)

Will Bobby Cox’s last season as the Atlanta Braves manager be one worth remembering?

He’s been the one fixture in the Braves’ organization since their run in the 1990s. If the Braves don’t get to the playoffs this year, I would say that Cox’s final year with the team might be considered a failure no matter how close they get.

One thing they must have to make a decent run for the postseason is a decent rotation.

Battle of the Blogs is set to begin. For those of you that do not know what I am talking about, read my article about the baseball league I have started.