San Diego Padres – C

Released OF Jim Edmonds

Acquired RHP Chad Reineke for LHP Randy Wolf

Due to their no-trade clauses, the Padres have been unable to trade either Greg Maddux or Brian Giles. You could also argue that they could have tried to move Trevor Hoffman, but with his 10-and-5 rights, he could have also vetoed any trade. Other than trading Wolf for what they could, their hands were basically tied.

Philadelphia Phillies – B-

Acquired RHP Joe Blanton for IF Adrian Cardenas, LHP Josh Outman, and OF Matthew Spencer

As one of the few teams I did the Buyer or Seller series on a month ago, I said that the Phillies needed to acquire a starting pitcher, which is precisely what they did. If Brett Myers can keep doing what he has since returning to the majors, the Phillies are a team without any large holes. They are ready to battle the Mets down to the wire in the NL East.

Pittsburgh Pirates – A-

Acquired RHPs Jeff Karstens, Daniel McCutchen, and Ross Ohlendorf and OF Jose Tabata for OF Xavier Nady and LHP Damaso Marte

Acquired 3B Andy LaRoche, OF Brandon Moss, and RHPs Bryan Morris and Craig Hansen for OF Jason Bay

It’s amazing what happens when an organization decides to set a plan and actually sticks to it. It took the Pirates 15 years to bring in a management team that gets it, but better late than never I guess. The Pirates have finally stopped bringing in mediocre players to get them a small step closer to .500. Instead, they’re going headfirst into rebuilding mode. It’s still going to be several years until they start to see the fruits of their labor, but at least they’re finally moving in the right direction.

Cincinnati Reds – D+

Acquired RHP Nick Masset and 2B Danny Richar for OF Ken Griffey, Jr. and ~$4 million

As surprised as I am by the lack of interest in Adam Dunn, I am equally surprised that the Reds found a taker for Griffey. Of course, they’re still paying half his contract and didn’t really get much in return, but they still found a taker. It was disappointing that they weren’t able to move some of the smaller pieces, such as David Weathers, Josh Fogg, or Jeremy Affeldt, but the offers probably weren’t too impressive either.

Colorado Rockies – D-

Claimed RHP Livan Hernandez off waivers

It seems that the Rockies believed they could repeat their 21-1 streak from 2007 because they decided to not trade Matt Holliday and Brian Fuentes. In addition, they were unable to trade Yorvit Torrealba, which is basically due justice after they made the mistake of re-signing him in the offseason. At 8 GB, it is very unlikely that the Rockies will climb back into the division race (BP’s Postseason Odds gives the Rockies a 2.4% chance), and they should have used this opportunity to at least move Fuentes. The claiming of Livan Hernandez is impossible for me to understand. After he posted a 5.48 ERA with Minnesota, what makes them think he’ll be any better in Colorado?

The Colorado Rockies were the biggest surprise of the 2007 season. Everyone’s heard about their winning 21 of 22 and their 8-day layoff before the World Series, but are they here to stay?

Strengths

Leading up to opening day, the talk was that Todd Helton would be playing for the Red Sox in 2007, but those trade talks fell apart. Once the season began, Helton proved that 2006 was a fluke that can be chalked up to illness. His .320/.434/.494 line wasn’t back to his previous seasons, but it is in line with his 2005 decline to .320/.445/.534. At 34 years old, Helton is on the decline, and he isn’t getting any less expensive, but for the present, he’s still an asset at first base. On the other side of the diamond, Garrett Atkins started out slowly. After bottoming out with a .188/.259/.267 May, Atkins hit .349/.409/.532 post-All Star break (very similar to his 2006 rates) to reach his season line of .301/.367/.486. Next to Atkins, rookie Troy Tulowitzki had a tremendous debut with both the glove and the bat. Tulowitzki should win the gold glove award, although it wouldn’t surprise if he wasn’t famous enough to win the vote (how else can Jeter win three straight?). Tulowitzki got plenty of buzz during the postseason that he won’t be under the radar for the gold glove next season.

Matt Holliday was another player that saw a surge in popularity this postseason. A certain MVP candidate, Holliday hit .340/.405/.607 while playing okay defensively in a spacious home outfield. The only bad news for the Rockies is that Holliday only has two more seasons before free agency. Across the outfield, Brad Hawpe slightly improved his numbers from last year (.293/.383/.515 in 2006 to .291/.387/.539 in 2007), but he still can’t hit lefties as his .220/.295/.398 line against them attests. If you mix Hawpe with Ryan Spilborghs, you’ve got an outstanding right field platoon. Spilborghs has hit lefties for a .338/.395/.510 clips in his major league career. Once you add in Hawpe’s .315/.418/.585 clip against righties this year, the Rockies would be a dominant force in right field.

If the Rockies get a lead, their bullpen has two strong options going forward: Manny Corpas and Brian Fuentes. Fuentes had been the closer since 2005, but he lost his job to Corpas around the All Star break. In a ten-day span, Fuentes gave up 10 earned runs in only 4.1 innings before being placed on the DL for just over a month. If you remove that horrid span, Fuentes managed a 1.74 ERA over 57 innings. However, Corpas has taken the job and run with it, posting a 2.08 ERA over 78 IP. This left-right combo in the bullpen will only get one year together unless Fuentes is signed to an extension as he becomes a free agent next offseason.

Getting that lead to the bullpen has always been a problem for past Colorado teams, but they have finally been able to get some productive arms in the starting rotation led by Jeff Francis. Other than Francis and Aaron Cook, the rest of the rotation will be filled out by their young guns, a couple of which who were seen this postseason: Ubaldo Jimenez and Franklin Morales. From watching Jimenez, it is evident that he has major league quality stuff, but he had trouble locating it in the strike zone. This year, he posted a 4.28 ERA over 82 major league innings, but that followed up a 5.85 ERA in 203 IP at AAA. Morales was much better as he used 112.2 AAA innings with an ERA of 3.51 to propel him into the major league rotation, where he posted a 3.43 ERA over 39.1 regular season innings. The remaining spot in the rotation will most likely be filled by Jason Hirsh, although Taylor Buchholz could be a fallback option. Despite the increased talent in the Colorado rotation, there’s still a tremendous amount of risk here.

Concerns

As I mentioned, Todd Helton isn’t getting any younger or less expensive. They tried trading him last offseason, and although I’d suggest them trying again, I doubt he’ll be as likely to waive his no-trade clause this time around. It’s a shame because then the Rockies could move Atkins to first base to make room for Ian Stewart. Instead, they have moved Stewart to second base this offseason to try to fill the void left by Kazuo Matsui’s impending free agency. If Stewart fails to make the transition, they’ll need to venture into the free agent market. They could go try to re-sign Matsui or go after one of Tadahito Iguchi and Luis Castillo. Yet another option is to let Jamey Carroll try to hit enough to make his defense an asset.

Another potential free agent departure is Yorvit Torrealba. With Chris Iannetta waiting in the wings, the Rockies should let Torrealba walk. Unfortunately, most World Series teams overvalue what got them there, and the Rockies could fall into that trap this year. Iannetta didn’t have a good season by any means, but over a full season, he can be expected to easily outproduce Torrealba at the plate. After all, Torrealba’s .255/.323/.376 line this year is a pretty low mark to pass. Just remember, Iannetta did hit .351/.447/.503 at AAA just one season ago.

With so many young arms expected to fill the rotation, the Rockies should try to find a quality starting pitcher in free agency. It could prove hard since some pitchers will probably still have reluctance to pitch at Coors Field, but relying on Jimenez, Morales, and Hirsh to hold down three spots in the rotation for the whole season is not a wise move.

The other concern that the Rockies must concern themselves with is signing Holliday to an extension. As a Scott Boras client, will Holliday break the trend and sign an extension instead of becoming a free agent? If I’m the Rockies, I have to try.

Overall

It took me a while to figure out what I think the Rockies should do. After all, they don’t have nearly as much young talent as the Dodgers, and you can’t forget about the Diamondbacks or the Padres. Then again, they don’t have Ned Colletti running the show. If they could move Helton, I’d do it, and the same goes for Holliday if they can’t get him signed to an extension. Since I don’t think Helton will agree to a trade now that they’ve been to the World Series, the Rockies should stay the course – replace Torrealba with Iannetta, hope that Ian Stewart can play second base, and acquire a good #2 pitcher to slot into the rotation.

Following up my AL All-Star piece, I'm moving over to the senior circuit. Again, starters are marked with an asterisk.

Catcher
*Russell Martin, Los Angeles Dodgers
Brian McCann, Atlanta Braves

First Base
*Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers
Dmitri Young, Washington Nationals

Second Base
*Chase Utley, Philadelphia Phillies
Orlando Hudson, Arizona Diamondbacks

Third Base
*Miguel Cabrera, Florida Marlins
David Wright, New York Mets
Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves

Shortstop
*Jose Reyes, New York Mets
Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins
Edgar Renteria, Atlanta Braves

Outfield
*Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants
*Matt Holliday, Colorado Rockies
*Ken Griffey, Jr., Cincinnati Reds
Alfonso Soriano, Chicago Cubs
Hunter Pence, Houston Astros
Carlos Beltran, New York Mets

Starting Pitchers
*Jake Peavy, San Diego Padres
Brad Penny, Los Angeles Dodgers
Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros
Chris Young, San Diego Padres
John Smoltz, Atlanta Braves
Ben Sheets, Milwaukee Brewers
Ian Snell, Pittsburgh Pirates
Derek Lowe, Los Angeles Dodgers
Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves
John Maine, New York Mets

Relief Pitchers
Takashi Saito, Los Angeles Dodgers
Billy Wagner, New York Mets

Guys Selected due to 1 Player per Team Rule
Dmitri Young is the only player I had to select due to the 1 player per team rule, but I did choose from Orlando Hudson instead of either Dan Uggla and Kelly Johnson because I needed a Diamondback.

Guys on My All-Star Team that Aren't Going to San Francisco
3B Chipper Jones
SS Hanley Ramirez
SS Edgar Renteria
OF Hunter Pence
SP Roy Oswalt
SP Chris Young
SP Ian Snell
SP Derek Lowe
SP Tim Hudson
SP John Maine

There are several guys here with very strong cases that they should be on the All-Star Team: Chipper Jones, Hanley Ramirez, Roy Oswalt, and Chris Young. To make room, I'd remove Freddy Sanchez, J.J. Hardy, the deposed Brian Fuentes, Cole Hamels, and Francisco Cordero, which also makes room for Ian Snell to be the Pirate representative.

All-Star Starters that Aren't on My Team
None, fans did a pretty good job here, although I don't understand how Albert Pujols isn't the starting 1B. He has been arguably the best player in baseball for the last six seasons. Plus, he has nearly matched Prince's OPS even after his slow start and Prince's fast start.

Final Vote
Two of my players from the "Guys on My All-Star Team that Aren't Going to San Francisco" are eligible for the final vote: Roy Oswalt and Chris Young. With Oswalt on his way to his 4th great season in a row, it's a no-brainer that he gets my vote.

Standard Information (Yahoo! Defaults)
12-Team, 5x5, Mixed, Rotisserie League
Positions: C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OF, U, 2 SP, 2 RP, 3 P
Stats: R, HR, RBI, SB, AVG, W, SV, K, ERA, WHIP
Limits: 1250 IP & 162 G

I'm not going to make guesses at who will end up as closers where they are up in the air, so the rankings will have only a player if he is currently their team's closer.

Replacement Level
3 W, 12 SV, 51 K, 3.46 ERA, 1.26 WHIP

First Tier
1. Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins
2. B.J. Ryan, Toronto Blue Jays
3. Francisco Rodriguez, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
4. Billy Wagner, New York Mets

Second Tier
5. Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees
6. Huston Street, Oakland Athletics
7. Tom Gordon, Philadelphia Phillies
8. J.J. Putz, Seattle Mariners
9. Trevor Hoffman, San Diego Padres
10. Chad Cordero, Washington Nationals
11. Francisco Cordero, Milwaukee Brewers
12. Eric Gagne, Texas Rangers
13. Bobby Jenks, Chicago White Sox
14. Brian Fuentes, Colorado Rockies
15. Jose Valverde, Arizona Diamondbacks
16. Brad Lidge, Houston Astros

If you take Gagne, make sure to handcuff him with Akinori Otsuka. I thought about dropping Lidge down to the next tier, but his stuff is still very good. Is Albert Pujols really powerful enough to ruin a former top-notch closer?

Third Tier
17. Chris Ray, Baltimore Orioles
18. Jason Isringhausen, St. Louis Cardinals
19. Takashi Saito, Los Angeles Dodgers
20. Armando Benitez, San Francisco Giants
21. Todd Jones, Detroit Tigers

Handcuff Jonathan Broxton to Saito. I would say the same for Joel Zumaya and Jones, but Fernando Rodney is still in Detroit as well.

Fourth Tier
22. Salomon Torres, Pittsburgh Pirates
23. Joe Borowski, Cleveland Indians
24. Bob Wickman, Atlanta Braves
25. Ryan Dempster, Chicago Cubs
26. Octavio Dotel, Kansas City Royals

If Wickman falters, keep an eye on who gets tapped to take his place. Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano are both great pitchers. Will they go to Gonzalez because he has closer experience, or Soriano because Gonzalez can be used to match up with lefties in the earlier innings?