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Chicago is spinning with excitement for next off-season, and they haven't even been eliminated yet. Albert Pujols will become a free agent after the conclusion of this season, and some clubs have the rival right in their cross hairs. The Cardinals were unable to strike a deal with their current face of the organization and will now have to compete for his work. Pujols was reportedly seeking a 10-year, 300-million dollar contract and the Cardinals were unwilling to match it. Should the Cubs do what the Cardinals didn't?

Shhh...do you hear that?

If you're a baseball fan, a sports enthusiast, or if you simply happen to hail from the Greater St. Louis area, I'm sure you are hearing the same thing I am.

Silence.

That's right, for the first time in recent memory, the day's sporting headlines have not been dominated by Albert Pujols chatter and, I must say, the silence is deafening.

Curtis Granderson's debut season with the New York Yankees can best be described as one filled with many peaks and valleys.  Judging by his strong second half and impressive postseason numbers, it wouldn't be surprising if Granderson has a 2011 similar to his breakout 2007 season with the Detroit Tigers.

His Yankee career couldn't have gotten off to a finer start.  In his first at bat of the season, he crushed a Josh Beckett pitch into the right-center field bleachers at Fenway Park. 

Adrian Gonzalez? Gone. David Eckstein? History. The Hairstons? Adios.

Miguel Tejada? Auf Weidersehen. Yorvit Torrealba? Movin on..

You get the picture. The Padres will be a different team in 2011.

The question becomes "Is different better?" I know that what I see on paper right now looks much better than the last two seasons teams did at this same point. Lets take a look at what should be the Padres starting line up for opening day.

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2011 is going to be an interesting year for the New York Mets. They definitely have talent in the lineup and potential on the mound, but who knows what's going to happen with this team. They seem to build us up every year only to let us down. But, unlike a lot of people that I'm seeing on this site, I'm going to keep having faith in this team. The grades in this article are not based on the players' 2010 seasons, but on the players themselves looking forward to 2011. Here's a look at the 2011 roster.

"Dear fellow Yankee fan,

Man up.

It's Andy Pettitte after a loss. He's going to be completely out of gas, and find a way to hold them to two runs anyway."

The Pittsburgh Pirates had little reason to smile last season, holding the worst record in Major League Baseball by a full four games. At 57 wins with 105 losses, the Pirates won just 17 games on the road en route to their 18th consecutive losing season. That's right, 18 years in a row they have had a losing season, which also happens to be the longest streak in professional sports today.

Before I get started, a tip of the cap from all of us in Red Sox nation to Theo Epstein, our maverick genius, our watchful protector, our Dark Kni-...never mind. But I stand in awe of what the 37 year old son of Brookline, MA has accomplished.

For the services of Adrian Gonzalez, he still managed to keep Jose Iglesias and our draft picks. Under the cover of darkness, he locked up one of the most complete outfielders in the game and disrupted the Yankee-Lee negotiations with his free hand.

Our 2011 fantasy baseball projections will be released one-by-one until the top 100 players have been revealed. These rankings consider past achievements, current performance and expected future results based on standard 5×5 H2H settings.