Aubrey Huff did not resign but instead, re-signed for the San Francisco Giants. The Giants completed 1 of their major goals this MLB off-season, re-signing their significant first baseman/outfielder Aubrey Huff to a 2-year contract worth a guaranteed $22M. The deal comes with a club option for 2013.

Huff hit .290/.385/.506 with 26 home runs and 86 RBI, all of which led San Francisco. He also became the 1st player from the team to score 100 runs in a season since Barry Bonds in 2004. Huff was 5th in NL with 28 go-ahead RBI, and 7th with 14 game-winning RBI. Based on the full results, he got 70 points and ended up 7th National League Most Valuable Player for the previous season voting, the highest finish by a San Francisco Giants baseball player, in results that were announced earlier this week.

“We’re extremely excited to be able to re-sign Aubrey,” General Manager Brian Sabean stated in a news release. “He was an integral part in the team’s success last season, not only with his outstanding play in the field, but also providing a great clubhouse presence.”

GM Sabean talked with Huff’s representatives only hours after the victory parade for winning the World Series. He gets a substantial raise from the $3M he made the past MLB season, when San Francisco signed him out of the unwanted bin after Adam LaRoche turned down a much larger offer.

The 33 year old Huff wished to come back and San Francisco truly could not afford to let him leave. The giants are seeking to be more left-handed this winter, and it would have been a bad beginning if they did not bring back their leading left-handed hitter.

The deal is not without risk for San Francisco. Huff has not put together consecutive powerful seasons for a certain period, and he will turn 34 in a month. The team probably would have given pause to getting him back if he were limited to first base, since top hitting prospect Brandon Belt is rocketing through the system. However, Huff proved great versatility by moving to left field when Buster Posey broke in at first base starting the month of May, and he even showed serviceable in AT&T Park’s tough right field when Pat Burrell joined the club and became the daily guy in left.

As mentioned earlier, the Baseball Writers Association of America will declare this week the NL Most Valuable Player Award winner for this year. There were three great MLB players that were mentioned who will most likely be the MVP for the previous season – Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals, Colorado Rockies’ Carlos Gonzalez and Joey Votto of Cincinatti Reds. Among the three candinates, Reds’ first baseman – Pujols is the favorite and was expected by many to be the possible winner. However, it came out to be that Joey Votto is this year’s National League Most Valuable Player. Yes, the 27 year old Votto topped the two players and is recognized as the 10th Red to win the NL MVP Award which was announced last earlier this week.

Votto is the 1st awardee for the Cincinatti’s since Barry Larkin won in 1995. He won over the reigning 2-time MVP Albert Pujols and Carlos Gonzales, obtaining 31 out of 321st place votes for the award.

Votto, 27, hit .324 with 37 home runs and 113 RBI. Pujols led the National League in home runs (42) and RBI (118). However, this year’s winner led the league in on-base percentage (.424) and slugging percentage (.600). He ended 2nd in NL in batting average to Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez (.336) and third in home runs to Pujols and Nationals’ Adam Dunn (38) and 3rd RBI to Pujols and Gonzalez (117).

Votto was in just his 3rd full year in the major leagues. He was the Cincinatti’s 2nd round draft pick in 2002, out of Toronto. He ended up as 2nd the 2008 Rookie of the Year voting.

Votto hit .322 with 25 home runs and 84 RBI in 2009. However, he missed a total of 31 games and had to leave to others with issues of stemming from depression and anxiety. He was able to keep away from any such conditions this season.

Votto is driven, never satisfied.

“When I was in high school, I was never the best player,” Votto said earlier this year. “When I was in the minor leagues, I was never the best player. Even when I was called up, I didn’t get a lot of attention. Nothing was given to me. I’ve always earned it. I’ve always worked hard since I was very young.

“I learned that from my parents. I learned that from trial and error. I tried to get by before, and that didn’t work well for me. I’m driven. I want to be the best. I want to reach my potential. The times when I feel myself giving in, getting sluggish or lazy, that’s when I know I’m not doing the right thing.”

Job well done, Joey! Congratulations and we hope you join Cincinatti Reds legends – Johnny Bench and Joe Morgan as a 2-time winner next year!

A 36 year old baseball player debuted his career with the New York Yankees, served as the team’s shortstop and currently a free agent now. Jeter will go in history as 1 of the all time best Yankees to ever have stepped on the Bronx baseball field. Even though the former team captain just ended his worst year in his sixteen year profession with New York – hitting .270 with a .340 on-base percentage and .370 slugging percentage – some were saying that he will get a 3 year offer worth $45 million from the former team to remain on-board.

Last year was Jeter’s final season in his 10 year, $189 million contract with his first and last team, the New York Yankees.

I have this feeling that we might be seeing Jeter plays again as a short stop for the next 3 years.

Do you feel the same way?

The Baseball Writers Association of America is expected to declare within this week the winner of the NL Most Valuable Player Award for this year. There are 3 top baseball players who are candidates to receive the title, however the favorite could possibly be Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals.

St. Louis first baseman took part in 159 games this previous season, finishing tied for 5th in the league with a .312 average while leading the league in both home runs and RBI with 42 and 118, respectively. Pujols already received a Silver Slugger for his work at the plate – the 6th of his career – and a Gold Glove for his work in the field – the 2nd of his career. He also batted .343 with runners in scoring position and .339 in clutch situations, just strengthening his case.

However, Pujols will face competition from Cincinnati Reds’ first baseman, Joey Votto and Colorado Rockies’ left fielder, Carlos Gonzalez. While the 30-year old Pujols posted a .312 average, a .414 OBP, and a .596 slugging percentage, Votto posted a .324 average, a .424 OBP, and a .600 slugging percentage. The 27 year old Votto also finished just behind Pujols with 37 home runs and 113 RBI, and Votto’s Cincinatti made the playoffs, which has historically helped athletes in the Most Valuable Player voting. Votto batted .369 with runners in scoring position and .355 in clutch situations, with the only real drawback being that he missed 12 games.

And CarGo (Carlos Gonzalez) rivaled both Pujols and Votto in average, slugging, home runs, and RBI and at the same time playing also center field for the Colorado. While the Little Pony (Gonzalez) will lose points for playing in a very hitter-friendly ballpark, he will obtain points for his defense and the fact that he batted .363 in the 2nd half of the season and, along with Troy Tulowitzki, nearly pushed the Rockies into the playoff picture. Gonzalez drew lots of attention to himself down the stretch, and even though Colorado eventually came up short, their brief run should only help CarGo’s case.

Other baseball players, like Phillie’s Roy Halladay and Padres’ Adrian Gonzalez, should end up pretty high on some ballots, but the MVP will end up being 1 of the 3 talked about above. If it is going to be Pujols, it will be his 3rd in a row and 4th overall. Votto and Gonzalez would be 1st time winners, with Barry Larkin being the last Cincinatti player to win way back in 1995, and Larry Walker being the only Colorado’s player to win in 1997.

During the early months of the MLB previous season, it was assumed that Atlanta Braves’ right fielder, Jason Heyward and Detroit Tigers’ center field, Austin Jackson would be the tandem to win the Rookie of the Year Award for this year. Fast forward to November and the story is very different as Giants catcher Buster Posey and Rangers closer Neftali Feliz win the NL & AL Rookie of the Year Awards for 2010.

Based on ESPN, Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants’ catcher and Neftali Feliz, Texas Rangers’ closer have recognized and awarded as the 2010 Rookies of the Year in their respective leagues – American League and National League.

Posey of the Giants won the NL Rookie of the Year award by drawing 20 out of a possible 32 first place votes. San Francisco called up the 23-year old Catcher in late May and the blue chip prospect responded by hitting .305 with 18 home runs, 58 Runs, and 67 RBIs in 108 games during the 2010 World Series championships.

On the other hand, Rangers’ Feliz established an MLB rookie record by recording 40 saves on the season and was a key cog in the Rangers run to the World Series. The Rangers’ righty reliever finished first on 20 out of a possible 28 ballots. The 22-year old AL Rookie 2010 Awardee finished the season with a 4-3 record, 2.73 ERA, 40 saves, and struck out 71 batters in 69.1 innings.

Voting was completed by two BBWAA members in each league city after the conclusion of the 2010 regular season.

I’d certainly think that throwing a perfect game and a playoff no-hitter will give you certain acknowledgment as one of the best players in MLB. Roy Halladay, the Philadelphia Phillies’ #34 player and starting pitcher did both of these. For this reason, he has been chosen to grace the cover of Major League Baseball – MLB 2k11 from 2k Sports.

Yes, it has been announced by 2k Sports last November 15 in New York City that they have named Philadelpha Phillies expert pitcher, Doc Holliday (Roy Halladay’s nickname) as the cover player for their upcoming video game Major League Baseball® 2K11.

“In the ‘Year of the Pitcher’, Roy has truly distinguished himself as the best pitcher in baseball,” according to Greg Thomas, 2K’s Senior VP for sports development. “Between his dominating season that included baseball’s 20th perfect game, and his exciting performance during the postseason, we believe there is no player more worthy of representing our revolutionary pitching mechanic on the cover of Major League Baseball 2K11 than Roy Halladay.”

Last year, 2K Sports granted a million bucks to the 1st person who pitched a perfect game in MLB 2K10. Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game in real life on May 29, 2010, the 20th such feat in baseball history.

2K’s Major League Baseball 2K11 is scheduled to be released on 2011 during the spring season on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 computer entertainment systems, PSP, Wii, and Windows PC (Nintendo DS version not included).

According to CSNNE.com the Philadelphia Phillies showed some interest in making veteran catcher Jason Andrew Varitek their back up catcher. The 38yo, free agent has not hit above .260 in the past 5 seasons and has observed his playing time decreased dramatically in the last 3 seasons.

Varitek is an excellent clubhouse player and is effective with his pitchers, but is no longer an option with the bat (at least everyday), and cannot withstand the grind of a full season. He hit .232 with 7 home runs in 112 at-bats this season for the Red Sox.

The Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals, and Houston Astros have all shown their interest in Jason Varitek as a possible mentor to a younger catcher who’s getting close to a full workload in the majors. American League sources thinksVaritek has certainly played his last game with the Boston Red Sox and will find for new job this MLB offseason.

The question will be if he is able to land a major league contract, because recent history indicates when your rate is so high, teams will flat out disregard you.

With regards to pitching statistics, wins are nearly as unimportant as saves. That is why it is silly to exclude the starting pitcher of the Seattle Mariners, Felix Hernandez from the AL Cy Young Award race considering the terrible team he serves for permitted him to win only thirteen games.

Hernandez’s 2.27 ERA led baseball and his 249 2/3 innings were tops in the American League. His 232 strikeouts and 1.06 WHIP were the 2nd best form the league and he completed 3rd with 6 complete games.

If you think that no team in the designated hitter era obtained lower than the Mariners’ 3.17 runs per game this previous season, it is so simple to throw wins and losses out the window.

Taking that one step further, King Felix led the Majors in ERA and he did not even able to pad his statistics by facing 1 of the many worst offenses of all time.

Clay Buchholz (17-7, 2.33) gone 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA towards Seattle, Oakland Athletics’ Trevor Cahill (18-8, 2.97) was 1-0 with a 0.00 mark vs. Seattle and CC Sabathia, who led the league with 21 wins but had an ERA nearly a run higher than Felix Hernandez, was 3-0 with a 0.86 ERA against Mariners.

Actually, if you remove Sabathia’s stats against the Mariners, his ERA rises from 3.18 to 3.57. King Felix, on the other hand, was 3-0 with a 0.35 ERA vs. the New York in 2010.

That is correct, the Mariners hurler had a lower ERA over the best offense in baseball than CC had against the worst.

Felix was dead last among 92 qualifying pitchers in MLB at 3.75 runs of support per game; Sabathia was 15th at 7.31.

A few critics prefer to say King Felix hardly ever had to pitch in a pressure situation since his team did not play a significant game all season. However you can say he was under more pressure than any pitcher since he knew that when he gave up a run, his team had pretty much no shot at winning.

In fact, Hernandez faced more batters in high leverage situations this season than Sabathia did and had better results.

Opponents hit just .205 off the right-hander in those spots, while they batted .258 vs. the lefty.

CC Sabathia had a tremendous season as he completed second in the league in winning percentage (.750) and innings pitched (237 2/3) and placed sixth with 197 strikeouts, seventh in ERA and 10th with a 1.19 WHIP.

But the choice is very clear when it comes to picking an AL League Cy Young.

The American Gold Glove awards were announced yesterday. Some of the awards are surprises, others are not!

For instance, Ichiro Suzuki, Carl Crawford, and Franklin Gutierrez all won an award for their OF play. I cannot question much with this, as the three of them are most likely the best defensive OF in the American League. Brett Gardner of New York was a great choice as well, but again, it is difficult to argue with the three who did win. For the popular right fielder – Ichiro Suzuki, this is his tenth award, tying an AL record. Only Roberto Clemente and Willy Mays have won more.

Yankees former Shortstop, Derek Jeter is the big surprise – sort of. 2009 was a surprisingly powerful MLB season for Jeter in the field, but this recent 2010 season was maybe a “makeup” for the previous season’s better fielding. This is Jeter’s fifth Gold Glove, 4 more than he should have, if Rob Neyer has anything to say about it. It makes you wonder what managers are looking at, and it makes me quiver in fear for Troy Tulowitzki’s chances tomorrow.

Below are the AL Gold Glove Awardees and their number of awards received:

Joe Mauer, Twins, 3
Mark Teixeira, Yankees, 2
Robinson Cano, Yankees, 1
Evan Longoria, Rays, 2
Derek Jeter, Yankees, 5
Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners, 10
Carl Crawford, Rays, 1
Franklin Gutierrez, Mariners, 1
Mark Buehrle, White Sox, 2

Born on June 26, 1974, Derek Jeter, son of Charles and Dorothy, swiftly developed his innate capability for sports. Since his father worked like a drug/alcohol abuse counselor, Derek’s life was a healthy 1, kept away from vice and unhealthy diet. In 1992 he joined the Minor Leagues and struggled for 3 years to advance until, in 1995, be caught a break and was given a spot from the Major Leagues. This really is a special second for Derek, as he in now playing with the huge boys, education harder and much better.

From 1995 to 1999 Derek went on a winning streak, as his batting average stored rising and he helped his team go via a lot of hardships and gaining several victories. Nevertheless, in 2000, he won the Derek Jeter World Series award and, later on, became a single from the couple of gamers to ever own each an All Star Game MVP award and a World Series MVP award for that exact same season. In 2004 he suffered a shoulder injury and his game started to fade away effortlessly, as his recovery went along very slow. Even though Derek was injured, he stored on playing and helped the New York Yankees rack up several points from the championships they got to play and even secure a few titles.

His reputation grew stronger and endorsement deals came along, as he even assisted release a baseball education machine to the market: the Derek Jeter batting trainer. The machine resembled his initial instruction apparatus and was designed to assist children all around the country enhance their swinging arm, while increasing both their batting regular and strength.

Derek Jeter is, for that second, considered to be one particular of the greatest players of his generation. He is the all-time hit leader among the position of shortstops and his.317 job batting common, for your 2009 season, ranks him as the fifth-highest amongst active players. He has been amongst the American League (AL) leaders in hit counts and runs scored for your past ten many years. He’s the all-time Yankees hit leader, passing the Hall of Fame member Lou Gehrig, in the year of 2009.