BigbadB

The Padres will have a nice stockpile of 3b's. Of course, Kouzmanoff will be too pricey for them in another year, so he'll be nontendered when Baltimore won't offer Garrett Olson for him.

Greene will be a free agent after the '09 season. For some mysterious reason, many players tend to put up pretty good seasons right before their walk year. Not always, but it does seem to happen more often than not. I'm sure Anaheim wishes that Gary Matthews Jr. didn't have that flukish season the year before they signed him. This will be there year that Greene will need to prove that his bat belongs at the major league level. I'd rather it be with a team not named the Cardinals, but oh well. Defensively, Greene will bring back memories of Ozzie Smith. There probably hasn't been a shortstop with more web gems on Sportscenter during Greene's tenure. Most of his errors actually come from the simplest of plays, where he seems to lack focus. He's excellent at preventing hits and turning routine outs into double plays. I won't predict that Greene will have a Ryan Ludwick like resurgence with the Cardinals, but I wouldn't completely bet against it. I live in San Diego and I cannot explain why Greene was so bad last year. If I had to make a guess, he plays the way he feels. If he is playing on a bad team, he will play bad. If he is playing on a good team, he'll play good. All in all, he's a very strange dude. He is very quiet, keeps to himself and doesn't say much of anything, on or off the field. Moving to the NL Central is exactly what Greene needs. His flyball tendencies should generate a lot more home runs playing most of his games in all of the hitter friendly parks in that division compared to playing most of his games in Petco, Dodger Stadium, Giants Stadium, and the BOB. Not to mention that the NL West featured a lot of really good starters, like Lincecum, Cain, Billingsley, Lowe, Webb and Haren. Outside of the Cubs, there won't be a significant amoun of dominant starters who make even the best hitters in the league look mediocre at best.

You can't suck and go 10-6. This team isn't great by any stretch. But teams that go 10-6 in the NFL are absolutely legit playoff teams and going 4-0 down the stretch is in no way shape or form "backing into" the playoffs. You can't suck, but you can be mediocre and be 10-6. See 2007 Cleveland Browns. They won over: Bengals (7-9) Ravens (5-11) Dolphins (1-15) Rams (3-13) Seahawks (10-6) Ravens (5-11) Texans (8-8) Jets (4-12) Bills (7-9) 49ers (5-11) Winning % of teams they beat: .343 (55-105) Bears have beat: Colts (8-4) Eagles (6-5-1) Lions (0-12) Vikings (7-5) Lions (0-12) Rams (2-10) Winning % of teams they beat: .326 (23.5-48.5) If they won out that would include a 4-8 team, a 6-6 team, a 5-7 team and another 5-7 team. I'm not doubting their deficiencies. I'm saying it's absurd to say that a 10-6 Bears team sucks, if they end up 10-6. And winning 4 straight to end the season isn't backing into the playoffs. Take a look at the AFC East teams who have fattened up on incredibly weak divisions. Arizona is going to have the benefit of having nobody in their division, and whoever the heck wins the AFC West will have benefitted as well. The competition is the competition, if the Bears win 10 games they will be a legit playoff team. If they lose some more games and still win because Minnesota falls apart, then that would be backing in. But that's a different story. You're right. Your previous comment just caused me to think about and create a comparison between the 2007 Browns and this years Bears. In the NFC, I can only definitively say that the Giants, Cowboys, Redskins, Panthers, and Buccaneers have better rosters top to bottom than the Bears. There might be a few more (Eagles, Vikings, Packers, Cardinals, Saints are up there). Did you forget about the Falcons or do you think it's all been smoke and mirrors?

That's odd. I probably wouldn't rank Jeter in the top 53 offensive players for 2008, let alone all time.

This is right on point. You don't just give up on a guy like Peavy. My personal feelings on this is that a deal is already in place for Peavy to go to the Cubs. The Padres are just waiting now for Hendry to: A) Finish a deal with a 3rd team that will give San Diego a major league ready starter to complete the package B) Move Marquis I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if both of those events happen within minutes of each other.

west coast not-withstanding, I can't imagine Lee lifting his NTC to go to that crap team He lives in the bay area. i know this. I still don't think he'll trade sleeping in his own bed for playing for a last place team They will be better than the Padres.

Absolutely. But, it wouldn't hurt to ask. The Giants front office could probably use a good laugh about now. Good call. They're gonna need to get their laughs in before the season starts Nah. They'll still be able to laugh at the Padres.

I've wanted him for years, although he continues to prove the naysayers right about never being healthy. I finally turned myself off on him as the offseason began, but looking at the current outfield situation, I actually like Bradley a lot once again. If you can go into the '09 season with Soriano, Fukudome, Bradley, Johnson and Hoffpauir, with DeRosa as a spot starter on occasion as well, I think you have all the depth you really need and you don't have to count on Bradley to be healthy for the full year. When he's in there, he sure can produce. He's now another full season removed from his knee injury, so maybe you can get a solid 120-130 games out of him. That might be all you can expect from the aging guys like Ibanez or Abreu as well. Actually, Ibanez is completely off my radar since Seattle offered him arbitration. He only played 20 games in the field last year. But, it sounded like he wasn't happy to be DHing as often as he was. Texas just wanted to make sure he didn't reinjure that knee. Bradley did steal 5 bases last year, which is a sign that the knee felt good enough to run.

Absolutely. But, it wouldn't hurt to ask. The Giants front office could probably use a good laugh about now.

Who will the Giants be trading Howry to for that to happen? Back to the Cubs, obviously. More obvious would be the team playing the Cubs in the '09 NLDS since the Cubs don't win games in the NLDS very often.

Who will the Giants be trading Howry to for that to happen?

I guess the Peavy deal won't be happening today. Don't want to spoil Chad's day in the sun.

How can you portray a GM who is holding Omar Vizquel's place at SS until Omar's grandson is ready to take over as this horrible person?

Nevermind. Schierholtz has zero experience at 1b. I could have sworn he was playing 1b in their minor league system.

Holy crap would that be a steal for Florida. What can we give to SF instead? I really don't think Cantu is much better than Hoffpauir, to be honest. Derrek Lee to San Fran for Sanchez and Schierholtz. Sanchez is then included in the package to get Peavy. Trade Marquis for anyone willing to pick up most of his contract, sign Wood AND Milton Bradley and bring back Blanco for about a million and call it an offseason. Derrek Lee to San Fran for Sanchez and (1 of Bumgarner or Alderson). No less than that as we'll have a big hole at 1B if we trade Lee. I wouldn't call it a big hole. Schierholtz is someone who I think could provide the production Lee does on offense. I'm not sure how handy he is with a glove, but it looks like he has decent enough power and hits for a pretty good average. He hits lefty. I like him over Bowker, who K's a ton and really doesn't provide much outside of HR power.

Here is the current value I place on the players that you list as potential pieces to acquire Peavy: Pie (not good enough to crack the Cubs outfield starting line up and has no place on this team) Cedeno (not good enough to crack the Cubs starting infield) Marshall (currently the Cubs 6th starter) Vitters (the only valuable blue chip prospect in the entire system, but still somewhat of an unknown on whether he can be a productive major league player) Unknown prospect (who in the current Cubs farm system has the potential to be an impact player at the major league level?) If you honestly believe the Padres are getting a steal for one of the top starters in MLB (with a long term contract attached, meaning the Cubs will control him for several years) for a guy who can't make the team, a back up infielder, a back up starter, 1 good prospect and some other unknown prospect, I'm not sure what to say. I'd make that deal today, tomorrow and yesterday.

Holy crap would that be a steal for Florida. What can we give to SF instead? I really don't think Cantu is much better than Hoffpauir, to be honest. Derrek Lee to San Fran for Sanchez and Schierholtz. Sanchez is then included in the package to get Peavy. Trade Marquis for anyone willing to pick up most of his contract, sign Wood AND Milton Bradley and bring back Blanco for about a million and call it an offseason.

haha. Makes me wonder what Mark Prior is doing today.

I doubt that Ronny is a deal breaker. Besides, Towers has probably moved on to someone like Vitters over Ronny.

I was happy to see that Thome has had the main thoroughfare through Alpha Park in Bartonville was named after him. Very cool. I was there over Thanksgiving.

I'm going to disagree with Callis on this one, although I really hope he's right. Veal is probably already destined to become a bullpen arm at this point anyway, and the demand for lefty bullpen help is pretty high. There are just too many teams that could use a guy like Veal in their bullpen. Too many pitching coaches will think they know what can make him an effective short inning reliever. Heck, the Cubs are lacking in that very same department. I'm not saying the Cubs should pencil him in for a 25 man roster spot. But, I certainly don't like seeing him exposed to Rule 5 when there are other players less valuable who are being protected. With an already depleted farm system (and even further depleted if Peavy gets traded to the Cubs) and absolutely zero compensation for losing a guy like Wood makes this Donald Veal exclusion from the 40 man roster a real head scratcher. I'm not happy.

Probably the most underrated player of recent times. Seriously? Jay Bell must have been one of Brady Anderson's best students in the school of "how to extend your career by roidin' up".

Actually, I believe they are. I believe they have a small window of opportunity to win at this point because they looked to veteran players to build the powerhouse they currently have, rather than build from within. The big league team is aging and the farm system is in complete disarray. These are not the traits of a team who can maintain a perennial foothold atop the NL Central standings. That's not to say that new ownership and a GM can't turn things around in a hurry. As long as you can keep throwing money around, you probably won't see them battling Pittsburgh for 6th place. In a sense, I kind of feel like the biggest reason St. Louis isn't making a splash right now is because their farm system isn't very strong right now, either. It's like they are storing nuts for the winter. Develop the farm, trade for young talent and then take the available cash to make a strong run next year or the year after that. It's just odd that they would sit on their hands with one of the best players in the league, who is not getting any younger. At the same time, Atlanta is going against their own business model of developing young talent and then filling in the holes where necessary. They are spending unnecessary resources for a team that probably isn't really going to be ready to contend until 2010. I'd be pissed if I was a Braves fan and watched this latest Vasquez trade go down.

Yeah, I think that it will happen eventually, though I really hate getting my hopes up only to see Hendry stomp on my throat while I'm down. On a related note, I listen to a little bit of San Diego sports radio and this year is going down (according to the sports talk guys here) as the worst in San Diego history. Aztec football, Padres baseball, Chargers football. The Hoffman situation. The Peavy situation. The Moores situation. I think the only thing that would really stop Peavy from being traded is if the Moores situation clears up somehow. And that's not likely to happen. Padres fans actually seem okay with Peavy being traded, as they see having Peavy on a bottom feeder team for the next several years as a waste of resources. They view Peavy as someone who can fetch enough talent to turn the lousy farm system around. I don't see it that way since Peavy has an NTC and everyone knows the Padres are cutting payroll in half, but I'm absolutely shocked that the people here aren't completely outraged. It will probably be a very long time before another young up and comer in the Padres ranks will be extended an NTC, that's for sure.

I get scared every time someone posts in this thread. I guess I'm the guilty party this time. That is all.