For the past two seasons, no player has provided a better surplus value than Evan Longoria. In that span he produced 14.2 WAR, which was second to only Albert Pujols among all MLB players. Considering he made just $1.5 million in those two years, he clearly becomes the team-friendliest player in the league. That probably won’t be the case this year. While Longoria will earn only $2 million in 2011, there are a number of younger players who could make a quarter, or less, of what Longoria will earn and could turn in similar numbers.

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For the Pirates, 2010 was the worst of times. The team’s struggles are well documented. They haven’t finished above .500 since 1992, a year they went to a seventh game in the NLCS. The closest they came to respectability during that span was in 1997, when they finished 79-83, second in the NL Central. The furthest they came was in 2010, when they won just 57 games and finished their fourth straight season in the NL Central cellar.

There is room for hope, though. The team has a number of promising young players already in the majors, and another crop that could help in the years to come. The rebuilding process might take a few more years, but it is certainly under way.

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It’s not often that a 28-year-old pitcher with a 4.11 career xFIP goes untouched as a free agent. Yet that’s what Jeremy Bonderman experienced this winter. Some teams apparently showed interest, but not to the level that Bonderman apparently deemed acceptable. Even as spring training has begun and some teams have realized needs in the rotation, we haven’t seen Bonderman strongly connected to anyone. As it turns out, he’s thinking about sitting out the season. That seems like a shame for a relatively young pitcher who once showed so much promise.

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In 2009, Adam Lind led a Blue Jays offense that finished eighth in the majors in runs scored. His .394 wOBA topped the team by a significant margin, and his .257 ISO was unrivaled by any player with more than 150 PA (sorry, Randy Ruiz). It stood to reason that Lind, a highly touted prospect whom the Blue Jays brought along slowly, had experienced a breakout year and would continue to lead the team’s offense through its rebuilding years. Yet in 2010 we saw a completely different Lind. It has led to many questions about him heading into 2011. But looking at how his season unfolded, it appears as though he could be in for another high-powered 2011 campaign.

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Q: Which Tigers outfielder has produced the most value at the plate during the last two seasons?

A: Magglio Ordonez.

That was easy. What might not seem as obvious is the player who trails Ordonez by just 4.5 batting runs, and 0.2 WAR, during that span. That’s Ryan Raburn. In fact, during the last two seasons no Detroit outfielder has come close to his production at the plate. In 2011, with the team’s outfield lacking depth, Raburn should finally get his shot as a full-time starter. Given his career performance, he doesn’t figure to disappoint.

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Just because a team has pitching depth doesn’t mean that they need to trade it. It might be easier for them to swap an arm for a bat, but it is often not a necessity. Pitching depth can be one of the most valuable assets in the game. The Dodgers learned that first hand this week. Yesterday reports circulated that Vicente Padilla was heading back to LA in order to undergo an MRI on his right elbow. While Padilla will not require Tommy John surgery, he will miss an undisclosed amount of time as he recovers from surgery to “free up [a] nerve that is entrapped in his forearm.” Now imagine how good the Dodgers feel about not having dealt any of their six starting pitchers.

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The comparisons to Brady Anderson and Davey Johnson grew old before the 2010 season ended. Any time a player hits far more home runs than we expect, he’ll draw those comparisons. It’s not without merit, since both of those players did have one season that stood out among the rest in terms of power. But those were different times. The 2010 season was unlike the previous few seasons for one notable reason: the lack of home runs. Yet Jose Bautista managed to completely reverse that league-wide trend.

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So often in our baseball debates we’re searching for the best something: The best hitter of the 80s, the best pitcher of the pre-WWII era, etc. Yet rare is the occasion where we search out the worst player in a particular category or era. Sometimes that player jumps out at us and makes us notice; it’s the only reason that anyone knows Neifi Perez’s name. But unless it is blatantly obvious the worst player often goes ignored. Until I ran a random Play Index search last week, I had never heard the name Bill Bergen, the man you see to your right. Now that I’ve found him, though, I’m confident that he is the worst hitter in baseball history.

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Two years ago the Red Sox made a good situation better. They had a young left-hander, Jon Lester, who, after helping the team during its 2007 World Series run, turned in a stellar 2008 campaign. After the season Lester had just two full years of service time, meaning he’d pitch in 2009 for relative peanuts. That is, until the Red Sox stepped in with a five-year, $30 million extension, which included a sixth year option at $13 million. The deal upped Lester’s 2009 salary to $1 million, but more importantly it promised to keep him in Boston for a reasonable price through at least the 2013 season.

Now the Sox have a similar opportunity on the table with right-handed Clay Buchholz. We’re not quite to the two-year anniversary of the Lester extension, but by then the Sox could have another young pitcher locked up for the forseeable future.

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Jack has a point. Russell Branyan could certainly help the Rays add a win or two to their 2011 total. That additional production might make a difference in a tight AL East race. It’s easy to forget, though, that there’s another team looming in the East. The Blue Jays surprised everyone last year, and they’re bringing back much of the same cast this season. They’d do well to bring in Branyan and add that win or two themselves.

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