Opinion

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.

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).

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.

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. 

Alex Gordon’s make-or-break 2010 season has been derailed .

A big factor in the Philadelphia Phillies run to a World Series Championship in 2008 was their bullpen. Besides having a closer with an unblemished record when handed the ball to nail down a win, each member of the relief corps found success in a defined role.

What I’m Reading

• Uh-oh. Looks like “Broken” Brandon Webb might be starting the year on the DL. Yes, even after spending the past year on the DL.

• And how about Joe Nathan? Might be too early to tell, but this isn’t a good sign for the hopeful Twins.

The Joba Chamberlain-Phil Hughes beauty contest now playing out in the media and sports blogs everywhere is as fine a sham reality show as has ever been produced anywhere on network television. In the end, when the pre-scripted outcome is revealed, everyone who has voiced an opinion or weighed in on it will be forced to tip their cap to this magnificent charade concocted by Joe Girardi and his staff, and I would like to be the first here to do so.

Man, I wish I could have been part of the arbitration process for Jeff Mathis. Mathis asked for $1.3 million, the team offered a measly $700,000. Hey that was an insult. The man hit .211, after all!

Since I wasn’t there, I can only imagine how it went. Maybe something like this: