A lot has happened in Major League Baseball since the last Hanging Curve, including an injury to a future Hall of Famer (Mariano Rivera), the benching of another (Albert Pujols) and a career-week for a slugger (Josh Hamilton) on a path that could lead to Cooperstown.
If the Jays front office thinks they can form a starting rotation worthy of contending in the East in the next couple seasons, there is no reason to believe that they will not make a run at Prince Fielder.
Ryan Braun and Troy Tulowitzki talked to RealGM about LeBron James and starting their own big three.
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Over the next few weeks as the NCAA Tournament and Spring Training dominate the month of March, we have combined the two for our own March Madness, which will determine who the readers of RealGM will select in the second edition of our 'Be The GM' series.
Though there are many different potential answers, the question is simple; If you were to start a MLB franchise from scratch and had the option to pick any player in the world, who would you pick?
The Pirates have not been in the playoffs since 1992 and it was 1981 for the Expos/Nationals, but they hope these two third basemen can be the center of rebuilt teams.
Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, Washington Nationals
Other players considered from the Nationals: Jordan Zimmerman, Lastings Milledge, John Lannan
Why he's a franchise player: Through his first three seasons, Zimmerman topped out as a rookie when he hit .287/.351/.471 with 20 homers and 110 RBIs. He was injured for much of 2008 and hit .283/.333/.442.
Zimmerman is a very good hitter against lefties, but has continually had problems against righties, with a career OPS of .758.
He hasn't played in the most hitter-friendly home ballparks, but he has a home OPS of .839 compared to .766 on the road.
I really wish i could slot Stephen Strasburg into this slot, because I would like his chances against Alvarez, but I can't fully trust the Nationals to draft and sign him.
Pedro Alvarez, 3B, Pittsburgh Pirates
Other players considered from the Pirates: Ryan Doumit, Nate McLouth, Paul Maholm
Why he's a franchise player: Alvarez cost the Pirates $6M as a junior coming out of Vanderbilt, so he better be a franchise player, or close to it. He is one of the highest touted players to come out of the New York area since Manny Ramirez.
He is a preternatural hitter and very cerebral person in general. There aren't a whole lot of holes in his swing and while he probably won't be a 40+ homer player, he should be a .300 hitter with 20-30 jacks.
Defensively, he is not very gifted but is more than adequate now.
Alvarez probably would have been the top overall pick in the 2008 draft if not for the broken hamate bone and the looming presence of Scott Boras.
