Opinion

From the headline alone, Yankee haters will crow about buying more all-stars and the rich getting richer. After an explanation of needs, contract status' and an enticing offer to the Tampa Bay Rays, maybe New York acquiring B.J. Upton will seem a little more reasonable.

Pitching wasn't exactly an issue last season for the Boston Red Sox, but as shown in years past, there's no such thing as having too much of it.

Although the offseason has barely begun, the Milwaukee Brewers are already making their plans for this time next year. Rebuilding, retooling, or reloading; call it whatever you like but that's what the Brewers are using the 2010 season to do.

While this may be hard for fans to swallow only a year after making the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, it's a harsh reality of being a small or mid-market team in the current baseball economy. The Brewers simply cannot hope to compete for the playoffs year in and year out.

Yesterday, the American League handed out its Gold Glove awards. Today, the National League handed out its Gold Gloves.

Let’s take a look at who won in the National League:

C. Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals—.995 fielding percentage, 40 percent caught stealing percentage

1B. Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego Padres—.995 fielding percentage, 3.8 UZR

2B. Orlando Hudson, Los Angeles Dodgers—.988 fielding percentage, -3.3 UZR

SS. Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies—.990 fielding percentage, 2.7 UZR

It’s official.  Ken Griffey Jr. is returning to the Seattle Mariners in 2010.  This can only be good news for a team looking to carry over the momentum from 2009, when they rebounded from their first 100-loss season in 25 years and finished 85-77.

Griffey’s statistics in 2009 may not look particularly impressive (.214 batting average, 19 home runs, and 57 RBIs), but there’s no doubting the impact the living legend had on the Mariners last season.

In baseball, it’s not always easy to find the answers.

To this day it seems that almost no pitchers have found the answer to Albert Pujols’ bat and no hitters—except Chase Utley—have found the answer for CC Sabathia’s left arm.

Today, however, there is one question that can be answered unequivocally:

There were very few things that Seattle Mariners centerfielder Franklin Gutierrez couldn’t catch in 2009; so few things that he earned the nickname “Death To Flying Things.”

A Rawlings Gold Glove award, baseball’s highest accolade for defensive prowess, however, was one of those things Gutierrez just couldn’t snag.