It's January and I'm already talking baseball!

Just 3 months removed from one of the most memorable World Series runs ever, I find myself already getting the itch for the return of baseball.

After reading some of my brother Brian's pre-season musings, I thought I should perhaps chime in with some of my own.

It has no doubt been another off-season to remember in Major League Baseball. The past couple seasons it looked as though teams were returning to a certain degree of fiscal sanity when it came to the amount of money that was being spent on free agents. This year though all that sanity got blown out the window as many owner's tore open the wallets in hopes of getting that prized free agent who would take them to the promised land.

Some day soon I would love to see a small market team go on to win the World Series and prove that you don't need to have a $200 million dollar pay roll to be the best. The parity that has been created in Major League baseball is making it so that you almost need to have the league separated not by geographic location, but by payroll.

You could have the high-rollers division:
Yankees
Red Sox
Dodgers
Mets
Angels
Cubs
Mariners
Diamondbacks
Expos (just kidding)

Followed by the Wish I Were Richer Division:
Cardinals
Astros
White Sox
Giants
Padres
Braves
Twins

Next you could have the I'm Doing The Best I Can With What I've Been Given division:
A's
Tigers
Indians
Blue Jays
Reds
Marlins
Orioles

And finally you could have the, I'm Just Here To Have Fun division:
Devil Rays
Rockies
Pirates
Royals
Brewers
Expos (for real this time)

I think that might be a more realistic way to reallign the division in this day and age.

Anyways, on to some random thoughts from this off season.

Winners in the off-season:

Mets- Carlos Beltran is the real deal. Whether the "real deal" justifies a 7-year, $119 million dollar contract is still heavily debatable. Regardless, he will make the Mets better just as he made the Astros better.

Red Sox- Bringing back their backbone in Jason Varitek was key even if he's vastly overpaid as a $10 million dollar/yr player. Adding Matt Clement and Wade Miller to the starting rotation will help make up for the loss of Mr. Soul Glo himself, Pedro Martinez. Edgar Renteria I think will be a good pick-up too.

Seattle Mariners- Richie Sexson at first and Adrian Beltre at third. Wow. If Sexson stays healthy and Beltre proves that his stats were real and not just because he was in his last year of a contract, then Seattle is going to score a lot of runs. The biggest impact could be what having these two in the lineup does for Brett Boone. Ichiro could score 1000 runs this season with those three batting behind him.

Losers-
New York Yankees- in spite of my older brothers optimism that his Yankees have done good things this off-season, I think they're greed for championships is leading them to the grave. Randy Johnson is one cold day away from retirement (and New York has plenty of those in the early going). Carl Pavano and Jaret Wright are one-year wonders. My guess is that they turn out to be the next Esteban Loaiza.

Chicago Cubs- no new closer. Haven't rid themselves of Sammy Sosa. No replacement for Matt Clement (unless they think that will be Glendon Rusch). Cubbies still have lots of work to do.

Arizona Diamondbacks- Vastly overpaid for Shawn Green who appears to be on the downward curve of his career; vastly overpaid for Troy Glaus. He has to be the most expensive bandaid ever bought. Vastly overpaid for Russ Ortiz. And of course, the biggest mistake was the hole Wally Backman fiasco. What was up with that?

New York Mets- wait a minute, didn't I have them listed as one of my winners? Yep, they fit into both categories. Good for getting Beltran; bad for vastly overpaying Pedro. If he gives them more then this season I'll be shocked.

Anyways, it's been a fun off-season for baseball fans. I'm looking forward to the new season and to witnessing another chapter of New York Yankees vs. Boston Red Sox Baseball, I mean, Major League Baseball. I sometimes forget that there's more then just those two teams.