NL Central

The already thin starting pitching market took a big hit this morning with the announcement that southpaw Jorge De La Rosa has re-signed with the Colorado Rockies for a deal estimated to be around the $30 million range for three years.

De La Rosa is the latest in a busy week for starting pitchers that saw Javier Vazquez, Jon Garland and Hiroki Kuroda all sign new deals.

Now what? The Pirates hit their 18th straight losing season in 2010. The 105 losses of the 2010 season are six more than 2009, which would lead most people to think they only got worse. That isn't exactly the case. Although they had one of their worst seasons in franchise history, they also showed off a few guys that could really make an impact down the road. Maybe these few guys could even get the Pirates back into the light of a winning season.

We here at Bleacher Report, every Monday throughout this offseason, will be giving fans the inside edge into the lives and history of the Milwaukee Brewers' up-and-coming prospects.

As our honorary first edition, we'll get acquainted with one of Milwaukee's most promising young stars -- none other than third baseman Mat Gamel.

By many accounts, Ryan Braun disappointed in 2010.  A certainty in the first round heading into the year, his performance has left many fantasy owners on the fence on whether they should once again spend an early-round pick on him.

Let’s take a look (please note, when I talk about the first round, I am referring to a standard, 12-team league):

It's no surprise that the Chicago Cubs are looking for an everyday starter at 1st base, especially after they lost Derrek Lee in a trade.

They also lost Micah Hoffpauir after he signed with the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan. Hoffpauir was the front runner for the starting job.

But also adding to this, the Cubs have not won a World Series in over 100 years, making them more desperate to acquire a dependable bat.

There are many candidates for the job, with a good free agent market at 1st base this offseason. But here are the closest possibilities.

While baseball is America's Pastime, the game has extensive roots and deep tradition in the country to its north as well. The first documented evidence of baseball in Canada dates back to 1838 shortly after it became popular in the United States. As has been stereotyped, we Canadians are certainly very proud of our fellow compatriots in the game.

Did Rickie Weeks finally put things together in 2010?  He’s been talked about as a potential breakout star for some time, though injuries and inability perennially short-circuited those hopes.

The 2010 season was the first time Weeks played in more then 129 games as he posted the following impressive line:

Dear Doug,

This will be fairly quick.

One of the more bitter days this Milwaukee ball club has seen in a while just struck it's inevitable peak.  

Brewers closer Trevor Hoffman has declined Milwaukee's arbitration offer, which now positions the Crew to get a compensatory pick in next year's MLB draft.

Hoffman earned more than $7 million during a disappointing 2010 season that saw the Brewers identify a number of younger, cheaper bullpen options that could indeed progress into future stars.

With Trevor Hoffman ticketed out of Milwaukee via free agency, it would appear that John Axford is primed to assume the full-time closing duties. 

Obviously, if that is the case, he is going to be viable in all fantasy formats.  The question, however, is if he is a closer we should target on draft day.

When Hoffman struggled, Axford stepped in and did a solid job as the closer, posting the following line: 8 W, 24 SV, 58.0 IP, 2.48 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 76 K (11.8 K/9), 27 BB (4.2 BB/9), .319 BABIP.