MLB

Hank Aaron. Ken Griffey, Jr. Now, Albert Pujols.

Besides being three of the greatest baseball players in the history of the game, these three have been mentioned over the past month in connection with another subject.

Jason Heyward.

The Braves rookie phenom has drawn praise from all over.

Bobby Cox said the pop off his bat when he makes contact reminds him of Hank Aaron. Bobby Cox!  One of the most successful managers in baseball history does not normally throw words around like that.

Reporters have likened the 20-year-old to Ken Griffey, Jr.

With Spring Training baseball getting fully underway, this is the time of year where predictions are made. Who will make the 25-man cut?

I can tell you one young kid who will for the Cubs.

Call me crazy, but Tom Gorzelanny is going to get the fifth starter spot on the Cubs' staff.

We know who the first four are. In no particular order: Zambrano, Lilly, Dempster, and Wells will be the top four. The fifth is up for grabs.

Off-Speed

Baseball Hall of Famer Goose Gossage claimed this past weekend that New York Yankees icon Mariano Rivera is not the best relief pitcher in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Edwin Encarnacion is a funny guy, isn’t he?

Not in the sense of being a prankster, but here you have a guy who has basically fallen off the radar of just about every fantasy owner’s map, and to them, for good reason.

If you give a passing glance at his stats, they suggest he was a one-and-done kind of guy after his breakout 2008 campaign.

Let’s take a look at the potential for run scoring in this year’s version of the Yankees lineup. We’ve done this in the past, even a couple of times this offseason, but now that spring has started and we have a better idea of what their lineup will look like let’s do it again.

Nick Johnson returned to the Yankees lineup today as the DH and went 0-for-2 with a walk and told reporters after the game that “Things feel fine. No grabbing. No nothing. I loosened up before. Felt nothing.”

That’s good news for the Yankees, who no doubt cringed when they heard that he tweaked his back last week.

There are five tools to baseball:

Hitting for average, hitting for power, speed, arm strength, and fielding ability.

In the history of baseball there has only been one man to posses all five tools at an elite level.

His name was Willie Mays.

How many baseball players can you name with 12 gold gloves, 660 career home runs, a .303 career batting average, 338 steals, 3,283 career hits, and 24 All-Star selections?

If you can find me another man with accolades greater than that, I will sell you my soul.

This article was originally published at TheDailyCub.com , my blog covering the Chicago Cubs throughout the season.

This is going to be the first in a four-part series breaking down four positions for the Chicago Cubs.

Part one is going to be break down the Chicago Cubs’ pitching, after this article I will be taking on the infield, outfield, and bullpen.

The Cubs have been known for having solid starting pitching, and this season should be no different. Here is the expected rotation:

I don’t hate Michael Bourn. He’s likely to be among the Major League leaders in stolen bases again next year. Plus, I’m sure he’s a very nice guy. I just hate his ADP.

According to ESPN, Bourn’s ADP, or average draft position, is 123.7, which puts him in the beginning of the 13th round in a 10-team league and the beginning of the 11th round in a 12-team league. It may seem reasonable, since he’s only a one-category stud.

A few weeks back, respected columnist Joe Posnanski took his shot at projecting the 2010 Major League Baseball season. 

He called his projection system perfect, because it was flawed, pointless, and will quickly be forgotten about. 

Hey, that could all be true. 

For now, at least, we'll remember. And we'll talk about one pertinent subject in Posnanski's article. 

No disagreements with Posnanski on his projection that the Phillies will win 96 games; that may even be a little generous.