US Cities

In recent years, the Philadelphia Phillies have made most of their offseason noise in big trades and free agent signings, bringing names like Roy Halladay, Placido Polanco, Raul Ibanez and Brad Lidge to the City of Brotherly Love. However, in the past, the Phillies structured their roster in different ways, including a plethora of minor league deals, trading big names for young potential, spending heavily on the first year player draft and taking a gamble in the Rule 5 Draft. Which, in recent years, has landed All-Star outfielder Shane Victorino and long-relief man David Herndon.

Chicago Cubs icon Ron Santo has passed away due to complications in his struggle against bladder cancer, according to WGN Radio.

Santo was a great third baseman for the Cubs from 1960 to 1973 and later became part of the Cubs radio team in 1990.

Regarded as one of the best players to never earn induction into the MLB Hall of Fame, Santo was a nine time All-Star in his 15 major league seasons.

The clock struck midnight, and the deadline for MLB teams to tender contracts passed. Of course, non-tendering doesn't mean you can't or won't return to that club, but often times it's a good sign that the team, player or both wanted to go in a different direction.

Let's take a look at some of the players who were non-tendered and where they might catch on.

LHP Ryan Rowland-Smith, Seattle Mariners

The St. Louis Cardinals made their first move toward upgrading their offense on Tuesday, trading right-hander Blake Hawksworth to the Los Angeles Dodgers for shortstop Ryan Theriot.

Theriot became expendable earlier this week when Los Angeles signed Juan Uribe, who can play multiple infield positions like Theriot, but has a little more pop.

According to ESPN and the New York Post, the New York Mets are deep in talks with hurler Chris Young.

Today's baseball players simply have no idea the leverage and position they hold in negotiations thanks to sacrifices of some of the game's greatest players such as Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays.

Before Curt Flood and the reserve clause, players either played or sat out.

Ownership held all the cards and ownership wasn't afraid to clench its teeth when it came to salary negotiations with some of the game's most loved and important icons.

The New York Yankees are one of the most decorated and historic franchises in sports.

Names like Mickey Mantel, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Yogi Berra and the Babe are just a handful of the historic names to don pinstripes.

“Winning Championships” is the Yankees motto. Baseball is a team sport, which makes individual accomplishments merely an added bonus. Awards for anything other than a World Series will not absolve a season’s failure.

I've always been a thankful Cleveland Indians fan.  Perhaps the feeling is based in being a fan of this baseball team in the dreadful 1970s.  Not a single Tribe team during between 1970 and 1970 finished above fourth place in A.L. East, and only two teams finished above .500.

No one suspected that New York Yankee captain Derek Jeter’s contract negotiations would start to resemble a page out of the Alex Rodriguez biography.

The new Yankee regime sans “the Boss” has made it very clear that this is a business decision and not a personal one. The rumored offer made was somewhere in $45-$50 million range for a period of three years.

Rumors rumors everywhere.  Where will Cliff Lee land?  The Yankees, duh.

It seems every off season that pitching is the biggest issue for those teams looking to make a big splash in free agency.