Opinion

Almost all of us who follow the game of baseball have heard the claim that “pitching and defense win championships.”

But is there any truth to that claim in this day and age?

While teams built primarily on pitching and defense may have been more suited to win World Series Championships in past eras, the current age of baseball is built on offense.

I also contemplated the kids game "Red Rover, Red Rover, send the A's offense on over!" The last few years I'd say the offense has bounced harmlessly off of the locked-together arms of the opposing side.

On Tuesday morning, the Minnesota Twins revealed that their closer, Joe Nathan, had a torn ligament in his throwing arm and would likely be shut down for the 2010 season.

The subsequent barrage of texts, tweets, and comments from White Sox fans were overwhelmingly celebratory.

As one Sox fan friend of mine put it, "Hell yeah!"

Just a few short years ago, Hank Blalock stood among the giants of the game. Now he is fighting for his major league career.

When the Rays signed two-time All-Star Hank Blalock to a minor league contract, they gave a 29-year-old player another shot to reclaim a career that was once one of the most promising in the Majors.

Blalock finished the 2005 season as one of baseball's rising stars, batting .263 while belting 25 home runs and 92 RBI. It was Blalock's third straight season with at least 25 homers and 90 or more runs batted in.

Brett Gardner started in center field for the New York Yankees yesterday.

But before all you Brett Gardner fans out there (all 12 of you) get too excited, Curtis Granderson started in center field for the New York Yankees yesterday as well.

The Yankees played split squad games in Florida.

Gardner was 0-for-3 at the plate, dropping his spring training average to .083. He has one bunt hit in 12 times at bat. Meanwhile, headlines out of Tiger land show rave reviews for former Yankee prospect Austin Jackson.

Forget "Who's On First?".

The big question entering the 2010 season for the Indians is: "Who's Going To Lead This Team?".

Sure, we all feel better about the leadership coming from the dugout with the effervescent Manny Acta at the helm instead of the flat-lining Eric Wedge. But the team still needs a leader on the field.

Who is up to the task? Ladies and gentlemen, your candidates...

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Small talk is almost never fun. Small talk while being cornered in an elevator is even less fun.

Such was the case for me yesterday on the way down to the first floor from my job on the eighth floor to go home for the night. I stepped on the elevator and some guy from a different office got on as well.

He saw I was wearing a White Sox hat and lobbed over this grenade, “So you think the Sox will do it this year?”

“If my uniform doesn’t get dirty, I haven’t done anything in the baseball game.”

Players who live by this Ricky Henderson quote play the game like nobody else.

Players who live by this quote hustle every play of the game like it’s the only one they’ll ever make.

And that’s why I love players who play the game that way.

For anyone who enjoys watching young players develop and stars bloom in the majors, Pittsburgh is the place to be the next few years. An organization that seemed hell bent on losing and destroying talent for almost two decades now has something it has not had in many years.

Young talent...and lots of it.

From Low A to the Majors, the Pirates have young players worth watching.

Let's meet five of those players and take a look at what we can expect from them in 2010.

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After finishing their first year in Washington with a .500 record, fans and players alike hoped the Nationals would have a breakout season in 2006.

The key was to get off to a fast start.

It didn’t happen.