Go East, middle-aged man

Former White Sox, Phillies and Padres infielder Tad Iguchi is apparently out of the MLB market and heading back to Japan. With a .232 average last year and declining numbers over the past few seasons, this makes sense. He's hit just 11 home runs since 2006.

Fantasy Impact:Iguchi was becoming a marginal player at best. He lost his starting job in Chicago, then failed to earn one in Philadelphia or San Diego. The 34-year-old is a backup when he's in the States, but it looks like he won't be this season.

That's last year's headline!

Forgive me, MLB.com, but your Yankees headline for today, "Reloaded Yankees have high expectations," could've been used in any of the past 12 January's. That is all.

Jagged little pill

Rob Neyer must've finally watched the Matrix after getting it stashed in his Christmas stocking. How else can he be referencing that nine-year-old film with a column on hall of fame voting? That said, I'm always the red pill type of guy.

Florida On My Mind

ESPN lists what to watch in MLB for 2009. The list is a good one, but perhaps the best item on it is the Florida Marlins and their pitching staff.

I can't get Bobby Cox's words out of my head. It was the last week of September. And here's what he said: "You know who's got the best starting pitching in our division? It's the Marlins. And it's not even close." Nobody, of course, was saying that about that team a year ago, when the Fish were getting ready to roll out a rotation that had won a total of 23 games the year before. But now, they have Ricky Nolasco, Josh Johnson, Chris Volstad, Anibal Sanchez and Andrew Miller lined up.

They have a collection of supersonic bullpen arms. They have Cameron Maybin moving into center. And Logan Morrison is just over the horizon, with the minor-league teenage home-run champ, Mike Stanton, right behind him. So despite all the Marlins' questions and inexperience, this is one dangerous team. I'm not sure if an 84-78 team qualifies as a "surprise" the way, say, the 2008 Rays did. But when a franchise with a sub-$40 million payroll looms as a major contender, that's always a "surprise" in my dictionary.
-- Jayson Stark

What team reinvents itself year after troubling year like the Florida Marlins? I think back to James Earl Jones soliloquy about America and baseball in Field of Dreams.

America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again.

So have the Marlins, and they're still coming up with ways of reinventing themselves.