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Block UserAtlanta Braves - Earlier this week, the Braves finally found a replacement for Andruw Jones in CF. However, Mark Kotsay is only half of a replacement. When Kotsay isn't playing, who's going to take his place? The Braves are hoping that Kotsay can stay healthy until Jordan Schafer is ready to take his place. Other than coming up with creative solutions for Kotsay's inevitable injury, the Braves need to try to ink Mark Teixeira to an extension. He'll probably wait for free agency at the end of the season, but it's worth a shot.
Florida Marlins - The Marlins just signed their most expensive player on the '08 roster: Mark Hendrickson. Let me repeat that: a one-year, $1.5M contract is currently the most expensive contract on the roster. The only other player making over $1M is Andrew Miller. Only Kevin Gregg, Alfredo Amezaga, and Sergio Mitre are arbitration-eligible with a shot at joining them. Since they probably weren't going to win the division either this year or next, I don't blame them for trading away their two best players, but isn't this a bit ridiculous? Anyway, my only suggestion for them is to start Cameron Maybin at AAA. I know he's their best center fielder, but he still needs some developmental work in the minors. Plus, his service clock will move a little slower this way. Once he's proven he can hit AAA pitching, bring him up. In the meantime, put Cody Ross in center and close your eyes when the other team hits a fly ball.
New York Mets - Aside from dumping Guillermo Mota on the Brewers and Lastings Milledge on the Nationals, the Mets' biggest move was signing Luis Castillo to a four-year deal. Good luck with that. I'm not a fan of their offseason moves to this point. I liked trading Mota for Johnny Estrada, but then they non-tendered him. Trading a potential star in Milledge for an okay Brian Schneider and a good yet past-his-prime Ryan Church just screams that they don't think Milledge's personality will make it in a big market. Even if that's the case, couldn't you have waited for a better offer? Moving past that, do they have enough starting pitching? Will Pedro Martinez and Orlando Hernandez stay healthy? Will Oliver Perez remain effective? Will Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber step up to claim the fifth spot and provide insurance against one of the other rotation members? That's a lot of question marks. With the pending return of Duaner Sanchez, the signing of Matt Wise, and most of last year's bullpen returning, the Mets should consider moving Aaron Heilman back to a starting role. All considered though, they still have a strong shot at winning the division.
Philadelphia Phillies - Rightfully, the Phillies recognized that Jayson Werth can't hit righties well (.249/.342/.408 career), but is Geoff Jenkins worth a two-year deal? Jenkins only hit righties to the tune of .262/.326/.482 last year. Kenny Lofton will surely only get a one-year deal for less money, and he hit righties for a .313/.386/.452 line. In addition, he won't strangely start appearing in the lineup against lefties like Jenkins tends to do, and he provides more than Jenkins - other than starting and pinch hitting against righties, Lofton can pinch run and give Shane Victorino an off-day in center every once in a while. If Charlie Manuel can keep Jenkins on the bench against lefties, then it won't be too bad of a signing, but I have my doubts. Of course, they have also not fixed the 3B spot. There are a few options out on the trade market, but Joe Crede would be my choice. He's got back problems, but he could rediscover his power swing and then some in Citizens Bank Park. As for the future, Philly fans won't like this, but they should try to sign Pat Burrell to an extension. He's not liked, but he has been very consistently good the last three years: .389, .388, and .400 in OBP and .504, .504, and .502 in SLG. The Phillies need to be playing for it all each of the next three years. Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, and Burrell are already 28, 29, 29, and 31, respectively. That's prime/post-prime for all four. It's basically now or never.
Washington Nationals - The Nationals have done a good job of acquiring top-of-the-line talent this offseason. Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes have a lot of potential, but it has been well-documented that their behavior hasn't quite risen to the levels their previous employers expected. Unfortunately, the Nationals need to become a little more diverse in their talent. Among their hitting talent, they have a great, young third baseman in Ryan Zimmerman, an 18-year old shortstop prospect in Esmailyn Gonzalez, and quite a bit of talent in the outfield. The Nationals have come pretty far from when they were in the hands of MLB, but they still have a lot of ground to cover. Their major trade chip right now is Chad Cordero. As he'll be a free agent after the '09 season, he might as well be traded sooner rather than later. Luis Ayala shouldn't be far behind either. The Nats also have a lot of players coming back from injury that once healthy, could spark a few trades. When Nick Johnson is healthy, either he or Dmitri Young could be traded. If Cristian Guzman can come back healthy and productive, he should be traded. With Wily Mo Pena, Milledge, and Dukes on the roster, I thought that would make Austin Kearns expendable, but Wily Mo actually becomes a free agent first. If Wily Mo can get on base enough to warrant another team wanting to make him a starter on their team, he should be the expendable outfielder. Overall, the Nationals are in a strange place - they don't have the talent to compete now, they don't have many significant major league players under team control past 2009 (Jesus Flores, Zimmerman, Dukes, Milledge, Kearns, and Jon Rauch), and they don't have many prospects ready to graduate to the majors. Sometimes, it's a long trip from the basement, but at least you can see that a plan is in place and incremental progress is being made.
Once again, thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the contract info, and I hope to post the NL Central write-up sometime this weekend.