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The 40 year old Ken Griffey Jr. retired earlier this week after playing professional baseball since he was 19. He will always be remembered for his time in Seattle, not in Cincinnati. In the late 90's he was the best player in the game and was in the discussion for possibly being the best all around player ever.

The announcement ends a 22-year run in the major leagues that included 13 all-star selections, 630 home runs, 10 Gold Gloves and a .284 career batting average.

Given that the Washington Nationals will likely take power-hitting junior college catcher Bryce Harper with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft on Monday, the Pittsburgh Pirates have a bit more of a dilemma when it comes to their selection.

Even though Harper will be gone, the Pirates still have the cream of the crop to work with—they can choose the best pitcher or the second best position player in the draft.

So who will the Pirates take?

Ken Griffey Jr. is my version of The Beatles.

For every generation there are cultural phenomena that don’t resonate with their predecessors and go unappreciated by their successors.

I spent about two hours attempting to write a fitting sendoff for Junior the morning after he retired.

When Ken Griffey, Jr. retired earlier this week I realized I was officially old. 

I remember a night in 1988 when we took my niece up to Everett, WA to see the then Everett Giants play the Bellingham Mariners featuring an 18-year-old phenom by the name of Ken Griffey, Jr. From that point on I referred to my niece as a Griffey baby. 

She turned 24 earlier this year and works as manager of a sports club. So yeah, I'm getting old.

In 18 seasons spent in the major leagues, perhaps Matt Stairs’ most well-known moment came in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform.

Stairs, the former Phillie and current San Diego Padre, is back in Philadelphia this weekend for the first time since leaving the Phillies this off-season.  

Before Friday night’s game the Phillies held a brief ceremony in Stairs’ honor so that he could officially receive his 2009 National League Champion ring and receive an ovation from an adoring Phillies’ crowd.

While there is no pitcher with the status and promise of a Stephen Strawburg (or Mike Leake for that matter), there are a few top pitching prospects who could get to the majors, a few rather quickly.

This list is not who has the best curveball or will be drafted highest.

This is about who I believe will have the biggest major league impact.

It is a process, isn't it?

This whole "spend your money in the draft in order to rebuild" theory would be a lot easier to stomach with a major league team already in place.

That said, we are beginning to see the fruit of our labors.

One year ago, the Kansas City Royals had zero options for an ailing bullpen. They had to ride the same beat up horses day in and day out. The only direction for the team to turn was toward retreads like Bruce Chen and Lenny DiNardo.

The Chinese Zodiac is a 12-year cycle conceived as the Chinese version of Western astrology. Personally I was born in the Year of the Rooster, so I suppose in 2017 I will have a lucky and/or prosperous year.

That's not to suggest that Major League Baseball operates on any consistent annual calendar in which to predict which players will have good years and good singular performances.

We are now two months into the season. While we are still a long way from the end of the season, those players who are in the MVP and Cy Young races are beginning to fall into place.

In the Cy Young races in particular, there are many candidates who are certainly worthy of the title with how they have been pitching so far. In the National League, there are 16 or so people that should be in the top ten.