MLB

If you're anything like me, you were kicking yourself last year for drafting Grady Sizemore in the first round of your fantasy draft.

The three-time All-Star was coming off of a 30-30 season in which he drove in 90 runs and scored over 100 times.

The sky was the limit—or so we thought.

Enter 2009. 

Sizemore suffered through injuries throughout the summer, eventually being shut down in September.

This will begin my 2010 MLB preview. I intend to touch every team in the major leagues in installments by division. The lineups I provide will be what I predict will be the most productive for each team for the MAJORITY of the season (e.g., Jason Heyward will be listed as the Braves RF even though he may not begin the season as the starter).

I will also provide the stereotypical letter grade to each team's lineup, rotation, bullpen, and bench. Though it is trite, I think all baseball fans can identify with the letter grade system.

The AL Central needed 103 games before it was determined the past two years.  In 2008, the White Sox won the one game playoff with a stellar outing from John Danks. Last year, the Twins beat the Tigers to win the AL Central and pull off an amazing run to win the AL Central.

I'm not sure if we will a see a three-peat of one-game playoffs but I am sure that we will see another amazing race that will come down to the wire in 2010. The AL Central is a very exciting division and it shouldn't disappoint this year. 

Projected Rankings

While some of the more devout Red Sox fans may already know everything about the non-roster invitees to 2010 spring training, such knowledge often eludes and frustrates those serious fans who don't understand the farm system's nuances.

Here then is a series of articles designed to introduce you to some of these players whose names and stats will be cluttering up March box scores.

Everyone knows the big guys, the big leaguers. Here are the little guys, the minor leaguers.

A source in the Tampa Bay Rays organization says that outfielder Jermaine Dye is backing off his demand for a contract that promises he’ll get a starting job. The Rays are the only team making that promise, so Dye’s agent Bob Bry is reportedly looking elsewhere and might have contacted the San Francisco Giants.

Dye, 36—yeas old, hit  .302 with 20 home runs for the White Sox in the first half of 2009. When he became the topic of trade talks every single day, he fell to .179 with just seven homers in the second half.

Only in baseball can a 93-69 record and a playoff berth seem like a failure. For the Boston Red Sox, that is just what last season was. Ever since 2004, the Red Sox have had the championship-or-bust mentality and this year will be no different. The Sox are on a never-ending task of keeping up with the Yankees and this offseason was no different. The Yankees won the World Series so what did Boston do? They overhauled much of their lineup. 

Key Arrivals : Marco Scutaro, Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron, John Lackey

Cincinnati Reds' manager Dusty Baker has announced that Aaron Harang will once again take the ball for the first game of the regular season in 2010.

He has been has starter the opener every year since 2006.  Harang's fifth consecutive Opening Day ties the team record set by Pete Donohue (1923-27) and Mario Soto (1982-87).

You really have to pitch well the previous year to receive this honor right? 

Wrong.

What I’m Reading

• The Braves’ 20-year old monster prospect Jason Heyward is already turning heads in camp . The feeling around Kissimmee is that he’ll continue this trend all the way into the regular season. The major league regular season.

The greatest time of the year is upon us. As the weather warms up, so does that spot in our heart for baseball. Spring Training has finally begun!

Thirty MLB teams now begin their preseason games knowing that in under a month, it finally counts again.

So if your favorite team's dreams were crushed last season, you once again have reason to hope. Embrace this chance because, come October, you may just have to wait another year.