Matthew Leach , Sports on Earth: "Just last week, baseball celebrated the life and career of perhaps the greatest right-handed hitter who ever played the game. Hank Aaron 's 82nd birthday offered yet another opportunity to appreciate a brilliant career, one filled to the brim with "black ink" -- representing times he led the league in various categories. Now, as Spring Training 2016 approaches, we turn our eyes to the greats of the game today. And while it's easy to focus on the staggering wave of young talent, let's take a moment to appreciate the man who is by nearly any reasonable measure the best right-handed hitter since Aaron hung them up. No, that's not Miguel Cabrera -- not yet, at least. And while A-Rod is certainly in the conversation, it's not him either. It's Albert Pujols . Somehow, despite 560 home runs and an eye-popping contract, Pujols doesn't seem to get the reverence he's due these days. But even as Cabrera has thrived into his early 30s, and even as Pujols has begun his decline phase, Cabrera has not yet caught up to Pujols."

Cliff Corcoran, SI.com: The Pirates’ first order of business this off-season was replacing the retiring A.J. Burnett in their starting rotation. They did so by trading 30-year-old second baseman Neil Walker, who is entering his walk year, to the Mets for 29-year-old lefty Jonathon Niese, who will make $1.55 million less than Walker this year and can be controlled through 2018 via a pair of affordable club options ($10 million for '17, $11 million for '18). That was a solid move, but Niese has never thrown 200 innings in a season and has only twice in six full years posted an ERA+ at or above league average. Barring yet another miracle from pitching coach Ray Searage, Niese is a back-end starter, but right now, he's slotted in as the No. 3 starter in the Pirates' rotation. With valuable deadline addition J.A. Happ also gone, the Pirates needed to do more than add Niese to patch their rotation, but so far, they’ve only done less. Just before Christmas, Pittsburgh signed 38-year-old Ryan Vogelsong to a one-year deal with a $2 million base and lots of incentives. The team also purchased lefty Kyle Lobstein (3–8, 5.94 ERA in 11 starts and two relief appearances as a rookie last year) from the Tigers and claimed A.J. Schugel off waivers from the Mariners (who had claimed him off waivers from the Diamondbacks just a month earlier). None of those three is a clear upgrade on Charlie Morton, who was traded to the Phillies for righthanded non-prospect David Whitehead, who will be 24 in April and was lousy in high A ball last year. As things stand now, Niese, lefty Jeff Locke and Vogelsong are in line to fill the final three spots in the rotation and fight an in-season battle over who will be bumped by the eventual arrival of top prospect Tyler Glasnow."