In general, baseball players tend to be smarter than their counterparts in other major sports.

Maybe it's that even the best players spend at least a couple years maturing in the minors before they hit the big show.

If you were looking to choose your greatest ever Yankee lineup, based on single-season offensive performances, where would you start?

For a team that has 15 Hall of Famers and dozens more legends, it is no easy task.

Were Joe McCarthy's Yankees from the mid-to-late 1930s superior to the players that Casey Stengel managed in the early 1950s?

How do today's stars—Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez—compare to the heroes of decades past—names like Phil Rizutto, Babe Ruth, and Yogi Berra?

Is power more important than speed? Is the past worth more the present?

Washington, DC—The Washington Nationals unwrapped their shiny new toy today just in time for the holidays.

By tomorrow at 11:00 PM central time, players who are non-tender candidates must be offered a contract by there team or they become free agents. For those who don't understand how this works, a player is a non-tender candidate when they become arbitration eligible and his club determines he is not worth the salary he might command in arbitration.

With the off season in full swing, I thought this would be a good time to take a look back at what baseball fans everywhere were buzzing about ten years ago.

The off season leading up to the 2000 season was a bit short on talented free agents, but was anything but short on blockbuster trades.

I have taken an in depth look at each transaction, given the statistics that the players involved put up in the coming 2000 season, and then ranked them from 1-20.

I hope you enjoy this look back, and I look forward to your comments as you reflect on what your favorite team was doing ten years ago.

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Last year J.J. Putz was traded, and Francisco Rodriguez was signed immediately. So because of last year's big moves during the winter meetings, expectations coming heading into Monday were high, and luckily the GMs delivered some early Christmas gifts.

Some players were given more than we anticipated, while the big names remained on the board as expected. There were a few dozen signings, but mostly minor names who will be seen in the minor leagues this year.

This is a short story I wrote in sixth grade. I thought I might as well post it on here for you to read:

The stadium was filled with people. The Braves were playing the Mets to decide who would dominate the National League East. In the clubhouse, the room was full of uncertainty.

If you want to know why Minnesotans, myself included, get a little defensive when people talk about Joe Mauer leaving for, well, anywhere else, it comes from something beyond the "favorite son" notion. Mauer's been a story in Minnesota for much longer than the six years he's been with the Twins.

Good starting pitching wins championships. 2009 was a great example of that as the New York Yankees had three top of the line starters with CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte.

The Yankees are looking to add to that rotation this winter.

We all know they have been negotiating with the agent of John Lackey and have been discussing a possible trade for Roy Halladay.

However, what happens if the Yankees lose out on both Halladay and Lackey?

This is what we will call the "Plan C."