I’d like to say that I’m going to fly through the remaining positions, but I’m going to be flying out-of-town for a few days. I’m unsure how much blog work (if any) I’ll get done during that time. Hopefully, I’ll get something back up here by the beginning of next week.

Impact Third Basemen to Be Traded

Brandon Inge has been the name mentioned most often in this spot as he wants out of Detroit, but his contract will be hard to move. Nineteen million over the next three years is hard to justify for a third baseman that hit .236/.312/.376 a year ago.

Ian Stewart will be competing for the second base job in Colorado this spring. If he fails to win the job, he’s blocked by Garrett Atkins at his natural position, and he’d be a very valuable chip if made available. The Rockies could use him to get a missing piece of the puzzle later this season.

This name might surprise people: Troy Glaus. Glaus was already traded once this season, but the Cardinals don’t look like they’ll be contenders this year. Next year doesn’t look much better. If you remember back to his actual trade this offseason, he had to waive a no-trade clause to go from Toronto to St. Louis. It’s very doubtful he’d do it again anytime soon, so he’s one name that can be safely crossed back off the list.

Contenders Needing a Third Baseman

Back on January 28th, the Philadelphia Phillies tried to place a patch over their third base hole by inking Pedro Feliz to a two-year deal worth $8.5M. The only problem is that Feliz isn’t much of an upgrade over the Greg Dobbs/Wes Helms/Eric Bruntlett platoon he’s replacing. Feliz has only topped the .300 mark in OBP once his entire career, and that was back in 2004. He’s moving from A####mp;T Park to Citizens Bank Park, which should help him get over .300 this year, but getting an improvement will help to close that Santana-sized gap that New York created. It would be great if they could get Ian Stewart to complete their infield picture for the next four years, but they don’t have much to offer that would help the Rockies. Until teams start to give up on ’08 at the trading deadline, there isn’t much out there to help the Phillies.

Put Me In, Coach

Andy LaRoche has been waiting for his shot to be the starting third baseman in Los Angeles, and it should be his to lose this spring. The Dodgers have used Nomar Garciaparra to block both James Loney and Andy LaRoche in the past. Last year, Loney took control of the first base job, and this year, LaRoche should follow suit. The question remains – will Joe Torre start the rookie over the veteran?

Next Year’s Free Agents

Casey Blake and Joe Crede make up this list, and I think it’s safe to say both will have to wait until next year to see their next contracts.

Pre-Free Agent Stars

Miguel Cabrera is the easy name to mention. Cabrera will make $11.3M this year, and he’s arbitration-eligible for one more season before his free agency. Even if he’s forced to move to first in a couple years, his bat is so outstanding that he’ll be worth whatever he and the Tigers can hammer out.

Ryan Zimmerman isn’t eligible for free agency until after the 2011 season, but I think he’s proven enough in massive RFK to be signed to a long-term extension. He’s their current and future franchise player, so it’s time to get the deal out of the way.

These guys haven’t reached this stage yet, but they’ve got the potential to be on this list a year from now: Evan Longoria, Alex Gordon, Andy LaRoche, and Edwin Encarnacion.

Recap

Brandon Inge, Ian Stewart, and Troy Glaus (if he’ll agree to it) are trading block guys for me. The Phillies need to upgrade their third base spot again to make up ground on the Mets. Andy LaRoche deserves to be starting over Nomar Garciaparra in LA. Casey Blake and Joe Crede will be next year’s free agent third basemen. Miguel Cabrera and Ryan Zimmerman should be signed long-term. Evan Longoria, Alex Gordon, Andy LaRoche, and Edwin Encarnacion could make their way onto the extension list with good 2008 seasons.

Barry Bonds & Friends just aren't capable of putting enough runs on the board to support their great rotation. At 13.5 games out of the wild card, the Giants elimination number is at 2, and it is time to officially write them off.

The Good

Barry Bonds continues to defy Father Time and put up fantastic numbers. Although it doesn't approach his 2001-2004 numbers, Bonds leads the majors by a wide margin in OBP at .482 (David Ortiz is second at .435) and is tenth in SLG at .568, which means he trails only Alex Rodriguez in OPS (1.050 to A-Rod's 1.084).

Since the rest of the lineup has been unable to pull their weight, that leaves the pitching staff, which has been tremendous. Matt Cain, Barry Zito, Tim Lincecum, and Noah Lowry give the Giants one of the best top four in baseball, and Kevin Correia has been lights-out since joining the rotation at the end of August with a 2.35 ERA over 23 innings and 4 starts. If Correia keeps it up next year, this rotation could be the best in the majors.

The Bad

The infield (minus Ryan Klesko) has been absolutely terrible offensively. Rich Aurilia has hit .251/.301/.370, Ray Durham .216/.297/.349, Omar Vizquel .243/.303/.300, and Pedro Feliz .251/.292/.418. Yeah, the best OBP of those four is Omar Vizquel's .303, which is downright terrible. It gets worse. Durham and Aurilia are both under contract for next year, and the Giants have ignored Feliz's OBP the past few years so he could be back as well. Given the free agent market (David Eckstein might be the only option at short), the Giants might even want to bring back Vizquel.

Looking Forward

Given the state of the Giants' farm system, their best option might be to play for 2008. If they don't, there's quite a few losing seasons on the horizon. Of course, to play for 2008 would involve resigning Barry Bonds and signing Alex Rodriguez to an enormous contract. Without these two moves, I doubt that the Giants can contend in '08, and then they probably won't contend until 2010, at the earliest. An A-Rod signing would change a lot for this team.