Excerpt: "Three Pitchers"

"Over the past three seasons, Santana has has a below-average BABIP allowed as well -- .261 total, no higher than .272 in any one season. That .261 mark is fourth among pitchers with at least 400 innings pitched during 2011-13 What you think of Ervin Santana as a free agent comes down to what you think of that number."

Excerpt: "Making a Fresh Start"

"The assumptions that underlie this entire conversation are erroneous. PEDs don't seem to E P in baseball. If these drugs don't change the game on the field, and we're not seeing a generation of ballplayers struck down by steroid use, why is it the only thing we ever talk about? Why are we banishing all-time greats to Elba? Why is MLB pouring time and money into witch hunts that do nothing to help the game? The story of the 2013 season wasn't the Boston Red Sox and it wasn't Mike Trout and it wasn't Matt Harvey. It was Biogenesis."

Excerpt: "Those Left Behind"

"Morris, like Bruce Sutter and Jim Rice and even Bert Blyleven before him, served as a battleground over what the voters are inducting: the player and his accomplishments, or what people at the time thought the player and his accomplishments were. I'm content that they arrived at the correct answer in the end, but the caliber of thought and discussion along the way left much to be desired."

Excerpt: "The Honorees"

"For seven years, Frank Thomas was the best hitter I'd ever seen, batting .330/.452/.604 and walking about 200 more times than he struck out. He won consecutive AL MVP awards and finished in the top ten every year from 1991 through '97. He had a case for being the best player in baseball, which is an incredibly high standard given that he was a poor first baseman. He was just a beast in the batter's box, patient enough to work deep counts and take his walks, strong enough to destroy pitches when he decided to swing, coordinated enough to combine those talents and still not strike out much. We've seen a lot of amazing batters over the past 20 years, but it was Thomas who came first."

Excerpt: "Offseason Catchup, AL Central"

"The other big move the Twins made was turning Joe Mauer into a first baseman. Last year's concussion sped up a conversation that was likely to happen anyway. Mauer loses value in the deal; outside of DH, there's no larger gap than moving from behind the plate to first base, and it's not like Mauer was a liability behind the plate. Mauer, however, had always been something of a part-time catcher. Since reaching the majors at the start of the 2004 season, Mauer has started 885 of the Twins' 1622 games at catcher -- 55%. Whether major injuries, minor injuries or an effort to avoid both, Mauer hadn't carried the workload of a full-time catcher since 2008. This is a change for the Twins, but it's not as radical a one as it seems. If this means Mauer plays in 155 games, if it means he keeps cranking out .400 OBP seasons, if it means he develops into a good defensive first baseman, they'll likely do all right in the exchange."

Excerpt: "Offseason Catchup, AL East"

"This ain't 2008. Not only did the Yankees sign a lesser group of players, relative to what they got five years ago, but they add those players to an older, diminished core. They also lost a great player, Cano, in the process, taking a chunk out of whatever gains they made by adding Ellsbury, McCann and Beltran. The Yankees couldn't really do much else -- they played the 2013 season with scars at too many positions and took hits in actual attendance and TV ratings for doing so. However, the team they have after all those moves still doesn't look like a top-tier favorite in the AL, and because of the age and injury concerns at first base, shortstop, third base and left field, still has more downside risk than upside."