2008 National League Preview

In 2007, the National League had many fascinating stories towards the end of the season. The foremost being the historic collapse of the New York Mets and their failure to make the playoffs. Paired with that, you have the unexpected success of the Colorado Rockies. Will 2008 bring another surprise ending? Again, we look into the crystal ball too see what’s in store.

Looking to put the dismal failings of last season behind them, the 2008 version of the New York Mets made a bunch of off-season moves in attempt to improve and prevent another disaster. Departing from Flushing was troubled outfielder Lastings Millegde and veteran catcher Paul LoDuca. The two were sent to the Washington Nationals in exchange for outfielder Ryan Church and defensive catcher Brian Schneider. The other of their major moves would be the acquisition of pitching ace Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins. Commonly referred as the current best pitcher in all of baseball, The Mets are hoping that Santana’s talent can provide a boost to an aging pitching rotation. Pedro is nearing 40 years of age and no one really knows how old “El Duqué” Orlando Hernandez is. One would expect that both Carlos’ (Beltran and Delgado) would make at least one trip to the DL. The key to the Mets success would lie in the squad maintaining their health throughout the season.

The Philadelphia Phillies made some off season moves to help their case to repeat as National League East Champions. They traded for closer Brad Lidge and signed So Taguchi. Both of these acquisitions should give MVP short stop Jimmy Rollins something new to run his mouth about. Providing even more competition to the east will be perennial powerhouse Atlanta Braves. Tom Glavine returns to the place where he made a name for himself. Although Andruw Jones has hopped town for Los Angeles, you would think slugger Mark Teixeira can fill the offensive void left by Jones. Expect the NL East race to be a dogfight going deep into the end of September.

Moving to the central, the Chicago Cubs can only improve upon their first round playoff departure during the 2007 season. With solid hitting and Carlos Zambrano no longer pitching for a contract, the Cubs look to be the team to beat in the Central Division. In that same breath, do not by any means count out Prince Fielder and the Milwaukee Brewers. If Ben Sheets can avoid time on the DL, the Brewers can be one of the best teams in the NL.

Lastly out west, a regime change has taken place in Los Angeles. Former Yankee manager Joe Torre has taken over the helm for the boys in blue. Add to the mix a new face in the above mentioned Andruw Jones and some big moves took place this off season. However, it won’t prove to be enough with the rest of their aging team. Former stars like Nomar Garciaparra and Jeff Kent won’t produce enough for new team members to make a difference. Coming off their miracle run to the World Series, the Colorado Rockies aim to make another post season appearance in 2008. The Rockies are defensively one of the best teams in the majors.

Ken Griffey Junior starts the season seven homeruns short of the 600 club. Many are left to just imagining where his numbers could have been if he stayed healthy for his entire career. Former ace Randy Johnson is 16 wins away from reaching 500 lifetime wins. His chances of hitting this number rest in the condition of his troublesome back.

The season begins Sunday in Washington DC as the Nationals unveil their new ballpark against division rivals the Atlanta Braves. Let the games begin. See you in October!

-Matt Armstrong

Mets Close in on Santana

ESPN's Peter Gammons and USA Today are reporting that Johan Santana is very close to joining the New York Mets. Here is the story.

Day 2 Loopty Loo?

Ok, day two has just about ended in Nashville and one major deal has gone down. A preliminary agreement has been made that would send four time all-star 3rd Basemen Miguel Cabrera and 2003 rookie of the year pitcher Dontrelle Willis to the Detroit Tigers for catcher Mike Rabelo, outfielder Cameron Maybin and pitchers Andrew Miller, Eulogio De La Cruz, Burke Badenhop and Dallas Trahern.

Umm...look at the line up and rotation for the Tigers now.

Curtis Granderson
Placido Polanco
Gary Sheffield
Magglio Ordonez
Miguel Cabrera
Edgar Renteria
Carlos Guillen
Pudge Rodriguez
Jacque Jones

Their pitching rotation isn't that bad either: Justin Verlander, Nate Robertson, Jeremy Bonderman, Kenny Rogers and Dontrelle Willis.

Their current lineup looks just as strong as last years Red Sox lineup. Speaking of the Sox...The Sox and Twins are hammering out the particulars of the Johan Santana deal. Jon Lester, Coco Crisp and two other minor leaguers are reportedly part of the package for the former Cy Young winner.

The Mets are sitting on their hands currently, no one is biting at anything they put on the table.

The Yankees seem to be out of the Santana talks. Expect them to show interest in Erik Bedard or Oaklands Dan Harren.

Anything else that is going to happen will go down either tonight or tomorrow. Winter meetings end Wednesday.

-Matt Armstrong

Ever touch a hot stove?

So, what happens when you place all of the Major League Baseball general managers in the same building for three days? What you get my friends are what as known as the winter meetings. During these next few days (Dec 3-5) plenty of high stakes wheeling and dealing will take place to settle any off season needs that your team might be in need of. Looking for a pitcher? Chances are that you can find someone who would be willing to help you out...for the right price.

At the end of day one there have only been two transactions. The Washington Nationals acquire Elijah Dukes from the Tampa Bay (Devil-less) Rays for minor leaguer Glenn Gibson. Also the Chicago White Sox swapped minor league first baseman Chris Carter for D-backs outfielder Carlos Quentin. Quentin was injury plagued for the majority of the 2007 season and has a batting avg of .230 in two limited years of playing time. Gibson is considered to be one of the top 10 Chi-Sox prospects.

Other notes: No movement yet on the Johan Santana front. Many, including myself believe Santana will be traded by the end of the day tomorrow, the Red Sox and Yankees are considered to be front runners in this sweepstakes. The Mets are exploring what it would take to land Oakland right hander Dan Haren or Baltimore Orioles strikeout machine Erik Bedard.

More tomorrow....

-Matt Armstrong

Yanks and Twins Talk Santana

The New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins have entered into preliminary trade talks involving Johan Santana. The Mets, Red Sox, and Dodgers are also believed to be interested in Santana and his two Cy Youngs, 3.22 career ERA, and 93-44 career record. Santana is eligible to become a free agent after next season and the Twins have been unsuccessful in attempting to resign him. Santana became disgruntled with the Twins organization after they traded Luis Castillo to the Mets in July for a couple of prospects.

If the Yankees want to have a shot at Santana, you have to think they'll have to dip into their talented pitching prospect pool. The Yankees have said that the only untouchable is Joba Chamberalin, meaning Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes could be had. The Twins will also be looking to fill the void at 2nd created after the Castillo trade and the gaping hole left by All-Star center fielder Tori Hunter who left town for LA. Second basemen Robinson Cano and center fielder Melky Cabrera will certainly be mentioned by the Twins. It's likely the Yankees will have to give up at least two of those four and probably more.

After much speculation that the Yankees would enter a bit of a rebuilding period and would part with A-Rod and either Mariano Rivera or Jorge Posada, that does not seem to be the case. All three will likely be back in pinstripes again next season and the Yankees are back to their old tricks; that is going after expensive veterans and trading away their younger prospects to build a team to win now. I was looking forward to a time when the Evil Empire would be a little less evil, but it appears that time is far off indeed.

Andrew Rohlin

MLB Hot Stove Season Begins

Ahh yes boys and girls... tis the season where all the failures of the previous year are forgotten. All the pain seems to vanish when the new star, the "savior" is introduced to their new team. O, how I love the MLB off-season.

Where do we start. Last week we talked about the monstrosity that was Scott Boras and Alex Rodriguez. He's still not signed by anyone and I reall don't have anything else left to say as far as A-Rod is concerned. I expect to see him playing for some west coast team next season. Anything else would be unexpected. So what is Mr. Rodriguez' team going to do about the significant hole left by his departure from the Bronx? Lets take a look and see who's available...not much. When the talent pool consists of the likes of Russell Branyan and Chris Woodward, there are some pretty slim pickin's for the pinstripes to choose from. The only notable name is Mike Lowell. Yes, that's World Series MVP, Mike Lowell, Mr-I-had-a-career -rebirth-playing-in-Boston, Mike Lowell. Smart money says he's not going anywhere.

But the Yankees did do something right. Jorge Posada was just resigned by the boys in the Bronx. Now they just have to re-sign Mariano Rivera and Yankee nation will not be crying foul.
As a whole, the free agent pool this year is one of the slim-est in a long time. Pitching is sparse, outfield position players are suspect. This means that trades are always a possibility.

The biggest names on the trade front are third baseman Miguel Cabrera and pitching god Johan Santana. Both of these deals would require multiple farm hands being exchanged along with cash and other considerations. Everyone would like both of these studs, its just a matter of where they end up at the end of the winter, if they even move at all.

This is just barely scratching the surface. Deadline deals are abound and ridiculous trade scenarios are almost inevitably going to be discussed. Anything can happen from now until the end of December, that's what really makes this "The most wonderful time of the year."

Matt Armstrong