Opinion

Disclaimer: I am an enormous Cubs fan who still spends months dreaming about Opening Day at Wrigley Field. I love the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs have an incredible fan base, one that many teams would give their best player to have at any home game.  No matter the weather or the team's record, over the last 15 years the team has packed the house almost every single day.

But I have a beef with Cubs' Nation.

There are a lot of Cubs fans that love the game of baseball.

Florida Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla can flat-out hit.

Uggla has a .826 OPS in his first four Major League seasons and has clubbed 121 home runs, more than any middle infielder in history over the first four years of a career.

As the Milwaukee Brewers look toward a long off-season filled with projects, one objective that will have priority is their effort to trade 27-year-old shortstop J.J. Hardy.

Hardy, just two years removed from a 2007 National League All-Star selection, watched his production and value to the club drop sharply in 2009. After a 2008 campaign in which he batted .283/.343/.478, and saved the Brewers 16 runs with his glove alone, Hardy sank into futility as the season wore on.

Hey Jim Hendry, don’t mean to wake you, but I have something to tell you:

It’s only 174 days until opening day 2010!

Yeah, I know, that sounds like a long time. But when you are trying to do a chemistry makeover on a team with so many expensive, long-term contracts, there's no time like the present. 

In November of 2002, no one knew who Theo Epstein was. He was this 28-year-old kid who made history becoming the youngest to serve as a Major League Baseball General Manager, hired by the Boston Red Sox.

If there was any doubt about who was the best closer in the postseason, last night proved that Mariano Rivera is the man that all managers want to send out in a close game. Last night, the Colorado Rockies lost the third game of a best-of-five series to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Looking back at the game, the blame can easily be put on the closer. Huston Street entered the game with a two-run lead and watched it vanish before his eyes. The day before that game, the Red Sox experienced a similar heart-breaking experience with their closer, Jonathan Papelbon.

The Cincinnati Reds have some holes to fill this off-season. Pitching coach Dick Pole will not return in 2010. There are question marks in the outfield and shortstop. There is also a question mark in the broadcast booth.

George Grande, television voice of the Reds for the last 17 years, announced that he is stepping away from the microphone to spend more time with his family.

It’s do or die now for the Colorado Rockies, who trail the Phillies two-games-to-one in the NLDS. Ubaldo Jimenez faces off against Cliff Lee for the second time in the series.

To win, the Rockies will need to get to touch Lee for at least three runs and Jimenez will need to show that killer instinct. He needs to be an attack dog out there.

This article is the last in a six part series discussing the players on the Atlanta Braves' 25-man roster that will be free agents this offseason.