Baseball season is well underway and we've got a few things to think about. Anyone who thinks that the Tampa Rays or Florida Marlins will be in it to win it down the stretch raise your hands? That's what I thought.

That said, there are some teams that could use some help and others that have help to give. No one is out of it, and no one is making the playoff push, so these have to be good, old fashioned trades rather than the salary dumps we've become used to. Anyway, without any further ado - here we go:

1. New York Yankees get Ted Lilly. Chicago Cubs get Hideki Matsui or Bobby Abreu.
Why New York does the deal: Kei Igawa is awful, I mean unwatchably awful. Ted Lilly is mediocre at his best but even mediocre is better than awful. Matsui has been one of the Yankees only reliable hitters but the bottom line is that he's a DH on a team with too many DHs. Odds are that list of DHs will grow by one since it's likely that Posada will be back hitting before he's ready to throw, meaning the team will utilize him as their full time DH. That would, in turn, relegate Matsui to a bench role. Matsui has a full no trade clause so the Yankees may use Abreu here instead of Matsui.

Why Chicago does the deal: The Cubs are a good team but they are devoid of left handed hitting. Matsui (or Abreu) would turn that around for them. Financially it is about a wash for both teams, though Lilly is under contract until after the 2010 season whereas Abreu is a free agent after this year and Matsui's contract is up after 2009.

2. Cleveland Indians get Brian Wilson, Ray Durham and Matt Cain, San Francisco gets Ben Francisco, Adam Miller, Asdrubal Cabrera, and Trevor Crowe.
Why Cleveland does it: Right now they're not hitting, but you have to assume that they will. What's more concerning is that Joe Borowski is an awful closer and Betencourt has been terrible filling in for him. Wilson is a young, legitimate closer and Cain would be a huge upgrade over Paul Byrd in their rotation.

Why the Giants do it: Cain is probably the only guy in this deal that it would hurt for the Giants to give up. That said, the deal would accelerate the rebuilding process in San Fran. The team is fairly devoid of top level young talent and in one move they could get four young, high cieling players, guys who could start for them right now.

3. Boston Red Sox get Omar Vizquel, San Francisco gets Craig Hansen
Why Boston does it: Julio Lugo was a mistake, an epic mistake in the Edgar Renteria mold. He can't field and he's not hitting enough to make up for the fact that he can't field. Vizquel is on the downside of his career but he can still pick it. He would fit in well in the clubhouse over there.

Why San Francisco does the deal: Same reasoning as above. San Francisco is not contending and they lack high level talent coming up through the system. Hansen can replace Wilson (traded to the Indians in my scenario).

Any other trades you would like to suggest, I'm open to hearing.

I know, I know, technically the MLB season started last week with the Red Sox playing the A's in Tokyo - but to me that was not opening day. That was a clueless Bud Selig once again proving he has his head up his vertical smile - of all the cultures that we need to sell baseball to I'm thinking the Japanese are already hooked. How about having opening day affordable to underprivilaged American kids - since those are the people not taking up the sport anymore. Anyway, that is a different rant for a different day.

Here in New York, and around the country, there is some thought that this year will absolutely, positively, be the year the Yankees miss the playoffs. But here's the thing, I don't see it as so cut and dry.

If we assume that the Yankees, Red Sox, M's, Angels, Detroit, Indians, and I'll throw in Toronto are the teams that are going to be slugging it out for the playoffs (I know, I'm out on a limb there) and a trip to the WS then they all pretty much have the same issues.

The Yankees have a balky Pettitte, an old guy at the end in Moose, and two unprovens in Hughes and Kennedy. In the pen they've probably got the best setup/closer combo right now, but not terribly strong/proven behind them.

Boston has a balky Beckett, an old guy at the end in Wake, and two unprovens in Bucholtz and Lester. In the pen they have a great closer and a very good set up guy - but not much behind them.

Detroit has an old Rogers, Bonderman coming off a poor year, who knows what with Willis and little or no depth to go with them. They lost their two best relievers in Zumaya and Rodney and have an average closer in Todd Jones.

The Indians have their own Mussina in Paul Byrd, who knows if Carmona can repeat what he did last year. Westbrook is alright and Lee was so bad last year he spent the season in Triple A. They have the best pen but the worst closer in Borowski. I also don't like the approach to the off-season that Mark Shapiro took. The Indians came very close to the World Series last year and so he just sat back and returned exactly the same team. The last time I saw a GM who didn't win the World Series do this, it was Steve Phillips after the Mets lost the Series to the Yankees in 2000. It didn't pay off for the Mets and I don't see it paying off for the Indians either.

The Angels just lost Escobar for the year, Lackey is out for the first month of the season as is Scot Shields. Their opening day rotation will have Jon Garland as the number one followed by Ervin Santana and Jared Weaver who had up and down years last season - behind them are two complete unknowns in Joe Saunders and Dustin Mosely.

The Blue Jays rely a ton on three pitchers who can't stay healthy (Burnett, Halladay, and Ryan) they've already lost Casey Janssen for the year and Ryan is starting the year on the DL and not expected back any time soon.

The Mariners probably have the best rotation with Bedard, Hernandez, Washburn, Batista and Silva. And they have a very good closer in Putz and a really good set up guy in Morrow. And I say the Mariners "probably" have the best rotation because we have yet to see Felix Hernandez live up to his title of "King Felix" and Silva and Batista could as easily be good or terrible. I am also curious to see how Bedard handles being the ACE of a team that is actually supposed to contend rather than a team like the Orioles.

In the end, the regular season will not be decided by pitching, it will be decided by the lineups. If that rings true then I like the Yankees' chances of making the post season again.

So here are my picks:
Boston
Detroit
Seattle
New York

AL MVP - A-Rod
AL Cy Young - Beckett
AL Rookie of the Year - Joba Chamberlain
First Manager fired - Eric Wedge

and I think Detroit will beat the Mets in the World Series

What happens when you combine a 23 round on-line draft with a Wednesday night in a league of 10 featuring 5 married guys (3 of which have newborns) and 1 enaged guy who had to give his fiance not just a ring, but his manhood as well? Well you get the WORST FANTASY DRAFT EVER!

As I said, the league is 10 teams deep, head to head matchups and you have to start two relief pitchers each week - it's essentially the same group of guys that have done it for years now. I had the third pick, which isn't ideal to start with, in a snake draft you either want to pick 4-5-6 so that you're consistently in the middle of the round. Anyway, the first couple of picks went as you would expect with A-Rod and Jose Reyes coming off the board. I decided to go with J-Roll over Albert Pujols based on the reports about Pujols's arm and the odds that it will explode at some point this season. I had my sights set on some other players for my next pick and they all came off the board in short order. By the time the draft came back to me I had to reach and take a third baseman (Ryan Braun) because third basemen were getting picked off and I didn't really feel like having to start Hank Blalock over there. More picks were made, and each one was stranger than the next. There was actually someone (an Indian's homer so he says, but I've seen him go into a full depression over a Boston loss which leads me to believe he's an Indians fan so long as they are playing well) who took Grady Sizemore with his first pick and Travis Hafner with his second.

Just to give you an idea of some oddities about this draft, Manny Ramirez lasted until the 5th round (I would have taken him myself but I feel dirty using Boston players), Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were drafted, one team ended up with Santana, Peavy, Sabathia, Webb, and Bedard. I wound up with both Braun (who will eventually be listed as an outfielder) and Ryan Zimmerman and also wound up with a horrific pitching staff that includes Pedro Martinez, Adam Wainwright, and Randy Johnson (along with Aaron Harang, Mark Buhrle and Carlos Zambrano) I also took Joba Chamberlain with an eye on him possibly starting during the second half of the season or if there's an injury to a member of the Yankee starting staff. In fact, here's my team:
C - Posada
1b - Adrian Gonzalez
2b - Brandon Phillips
ss - J-Roll
3b - Braun (until he gets his OF listing)
OF - Damon, Sheffield, Cuddyer
Util - Thome
Bench - Zimmerman, Justin Upton, Chris Duncan, Giambi
SP - Harang, Zambrano, Buhrle, Pedro, Wainwright, Big Unit, Micah Owings
RP - Joba, Mo Rivera, Kerry Wood (he's one of my sleepers - in fact he, Owings and Wainwright are guys who I have big hopes for. No I really do, I swear I'm not just saying that to prevent myself from crying as I type this....

Anyway, so as the draft is going on and I'm starting to get confused by picks I called one of my buddies - his team name is "My Fiance Keeps My Nuts in Her Purse" and asked why in the world he would draft Derek Jeter in the 3rd round - his response "I'm letting the computer pick for me, we have the neighbors over for wine and cheese" I threw up in my mouth. I called another guy later on, to find out what the blue blazes he was doing - turns out his wife told him that she would kill him if he did the draft becuase she is so pregnant she might pop and so he was running out to the car every five minutes to call in his picks and got confused.

Anyway, the moral, as always, is when your friends get married, it is time to get new friends. I have to go now, my girlfriend is on the phone....saaaaavvvveeee me!

So here's the thing. As I get older it is becoming clearer to me that the women in my life are incapable of making decisions. I have a family wedding to go to in May out in Arizona and somehow the booking of tickets for myself, my mother and my girlfriend has fallen to me. We're all flying out of New York but at this point, we're going to be on three different planes arriving at three different times. Why you ask? Because women are insane! Every time I find a flight plan that works someone "suggests" an alternative. I've been at this for the last 5 hours now. I have a headache that makes me feel like there is a midget with a hammer ####ing on the back of my eyes. On top of that the #### running one of my fantasy drafts has been unable to pick a date for the draft - since when has making a decision been so tough???

Anyway, onto the point of this posting, other than my deep desire to look at something other than flight plans. There are 3 potential Hall of Fame baseball players who want to work but haven't gotten a call. Those players, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Mike Piazza, would be a great fit in some situations, here are those situations:

Barry Bonds:
Cleveland Indians - The Indians have a platoon in LF with Jason Michaels and David Dellucci. Plug Bonds into the Indians' lineup and you've got: Grady, Cabrera, Bonds, V-Mart, Pronk....and so on. That lineup might be one that could actually go toe to toe with the Tigers. Defensively, the wall in left will make up for some of Barry's short comings and they have enough depth at the position to give Bonds a blow every so often. As for the clubhouse distraction, the Indians are a veteran team and I don't think the "Bonds Factor" would be as pronounced.

New York Mets - It would be a sideshow no doubt, but just like the Indians are a veteran team, so too are the Mets. Mets' GM Omar Minaya doesn't have a problem signing a steroids guy (see Guillermo Mota) and while Carlos Beltran might cry upon realizing how much space he and his bad knees are going to have to cover, the fact is Moises Alou is not going to play more than 100 games. Angel Pagan has looked good this spring but looking good in Spring Training and looking good in the heat of the regular season are two very different things. Between Alou and Bonds the Mets would get one very good left fielder on an everyday basis. It would also provide insurance in case it turns out that Ryan Church can't hit lefties.

Sammy Sosa
San Francisco Giants - If you've read enough of these posts you'll pick up on a theme that I believe the San Fran offense is weaker than watered down decaf coffee. The Giants are batting Molina in the clean-up spot. We know that they don't have an issue with the possible steroid implications. The Giants are slated to have Dave Roberts and Randy Winn in the corners, and really would Sosa be that much of a drop off? He's still productive, Bruce Bochey can get him some off days and use either Winn or Roberts as a defensive replacement late in games.

Minnesota Twins - The Twins are an interesting case. On the one hand I figure they are rebuilding, on the other hand, the Twins are always rebuilding in one form or another. Right now it looks like Jason Kubel will be their DH, but given the lack of pop in their lineup wouldn't Sosa be a pretty strong option. For that matter so too would Piazza. Speaking of...

Mike Piazza
Minnesota Twins - in addition to being a pretty good DH, Piazza could spell Mauer behind the dish from time to time. Neither Piazza nor Mauer should be catching much - Piazza because of his lack of defense and Mauer for his health. But if you DH Mauer right now, that means Redmond has to catch and if he goes down the Twins are in trouble. Being able to rotate Mauer and Piazza between the DH/Catcher spots while keeping Redmond on the bench as an insurance policy. You could also try to get Piazza an AB or two at 1st in a pinch. Ideally you don't want to carry three catchers, but I don't think that the spot he is taking would be going to a superstar anyway.

Tampa Rays - Tampa is currently using Cliff Floyd at DH. They could really use a righty bat to compliment Crawford and Pena. Floyd could see some time in the OF and having Piazza as a DH and sometime's catcher to spot Dioneer Navarro wouldn't be a bad choice. He's a good guy to have in the clubhouse with the young players.

Milwaukee Brewers - Here's all you have to know about the catching situation in Brew Town - they are seriously considering batting Jason Kendall BEHIND the pitcher. I know that with Braun and Prince they already have a strong offensive core - BUT COME ON!!! How long can the Brewers carry a catcher who is so weak offensively he has to bat behind the pitcher?

Before I start my post I would like to send condolences to my friend Chris on the death of his manhood. He and his girlfriend have been living together for a while now and recently got engaged. I called him yesterday (Sunday) to ask him a question and was told that he would have to call me back because he and his fiance were watching DVRed episodes of "Project Runway" a reality show that pits contestants against each other as they try to get into the fashion industry. I wasn't sure things could get worse than when she made him sit through Brokeback Mountain, but sadly they obviously can. It is only a matter of time before he gives up Maxim and FHM for Marie Claire and In Touch. At this rate, his bachelor party is going to be a bunch of us going to see Spam-a-lot. Let this serve as a cautionary tale to all of you who are contemplating moving in with your girlfriends, at the very least maintain a two television household. And now, a moment of silence....

Alrighty...so with three weeks to go in spring training we're at the stage where teams start setting their rosters, figuring out what they have in short supply, what they have in excess and how to fix one with the other. So here are a few trade scenarios that might make sense:

Yankees get LHP Pedro Feliciano
Mets get OF/IF Shelley Duncan
Why the Yankees do it: Currently they are trying to find a left handed relief pitcher from the group of Sean Henn, Heath Phillips, and Billy Traber - Feliciano is far better than any of them. While the Yankees would like to keep Duncan his spot could be filled by Jason Lane or Morgan Ensberg, both of whom are having good springs.
Why the Mets do it: Duncan offers the Mets a right handed bat off the bench and a good option to back up both Delgado at 1st and Alou in LF. The Mets have good depth at reliever and could afford to part with one of them.

San Fran gets Joe Crede, Jose Contreras
Chi White Sox gets Jonathan Sanchez, Randy Winn
Why the Giants do it: Offensively the Giants are a mess. Crede is not exactly Alex Rodriguez or even Pedro Feliz at third, but he is an upgrade to the San Fran lineup. The Giants also could use a starter with the injury to Noah Lowery. Winn, Dave Roberts, and Fred Lewis are all pretty interchangeable parts.
Why the Sox do it: With Josh Fields Crede becomes redundant. They aren't sure what Connor Jackson will provide and having Winn is a nice insurance policy. Their rotation is pretty thin after the trade of Jon Garland but I believe if they did this deal they could turn around and sign either Kyle Loshe or Freddy Garcia (if they want to wait for him to be ready in June) and not really miss a beat.

Cleveland Indians get Jason Bay
Pittsburgh Pirates get Cliff Lee, Trevor Crowe, Andy Marte, Franklin Gutierrez
Why the Tribe does it: They have a good young core but could use one more bat to put them over the top. They can part with Gutierrez and move the Michaels/Delucci platoon to RF to make room for Bay. Lee has been a major disappointment since signing his 3 year deal and there are no spots for either Marte or Crowe.
Why the Pirates do it: The Pirates having Jason Bay is like a homeless guy owning a Lamborghini - it's nice to have but really not what you need. As I said, Lee has been disappointing for the Tribe but maybe a change of scenary helps him turn things around (as does a trip to the National League) Crowe and Marte would help the Pirates build up their young talent pool.

There are lots of other minor moves that could be made, but just thought I would use these three to get the party started. Remember boys - parental controls can block out Project Runway too...