Check out what ESPN.com baseball writer Jayson Stark wrote a few days ago about one of my favorite baseball players, Turk Wendell:

There are very few people we've ever met in baseball like Turk Wendell. He proved again this week how unique he is -- when he actually turned down a guaranteed major-league contract from another National League team to sign an unguaranteed minor-league contract with the Rockies.

In other words, he opted to take a lesser contract to pitch in the worst hitter's park in the solar system over a guaranteed deal with a team that won many more games last year and plays in a much more pitcher-friendly ballpark. So what the heck was he thinking?

Well, unlike a lot of guys, he wasn't thinking about money. He told friends he took the Colorado deal because his family lives in Colorado, because GM Dan O'Dowd and manager Clint Hurdle showed consistent interest in him all winter and because (obviously) he loves a challenge. Amazing.

"I have never known or heard of a single player who chose a minor-league contract, with an invitation to major-league spring training, over a guaranteed major-league contract," says one agent. "Never. Not ever. Not a single player."