Thoughts on Recapping the Off-season

First, I must say this is one of the more disappointing off-seasons in recent memory. There was absolutely nothing extremely surprising that happened. Normally at least one team makes a big splash that shakes up how everyone approaches the coming year. Hasn't happened. No one really has made dramatic improvements, most teams did nothing much or just enough to stay at the same level they were last year.

As signings start to dwindle down and the trade market slows as well, and the arbitration period coming to a close, it's time to recap a little of how this postseason has went. All these rankings are tentative to chagne based on what happens in the rest of the off-season.

Offseason Winners:
1.) Yankees
2.) Red Sox
3.) Mariners

The Yankees stayed on the same talent level, and got younger. No super risky changes, kept the core of the team intact. Now, if they were only smart enough to trade Joba in a deal for Halladay...The Red Sox made little improvements all over the field, but they might be winners if only because they didn't lose as much as they could've. Lackey definitely boosts the rotation, giving them at least one reliable arm behind Lester and Beckett, but the only hitter in that lineup that scares any team is Victor Martinez....Seattle takes the third spot for locking up Felix, acquiring Cliff Lee for Phillipe Aumonte, and adequately replacing Adrian Beltre with Chone Figgins.

Offseason Losers:
1.) Phillies
2.) Cubs
3.) Dodgers

The Phillies are the big losers for A.) replacing Pedro Feliz with Polanco, B.) replacing Lee with Halladay at the cost of the rest of their farm, and C.) using money they could've used on Cliff Lee to pay Joe Blanton. The Cubs for failing to improve, paying too much for a LOOGY who isn't much of a LOOGY and everything involved with Milton Bradley. The Dodgers are big losers as they did nothing, and their payroll has dropped $40 million in the last 2 years.

Wildcard: Mets

The Mets missed on on Piniero and Molina, which some would say is a good thing, and still have money to spend. If they can grab John Smoltz for the back of the rotation, and could also sign Ben Sheets, and pick up Rod Barajas or Yorvit Torrealba for half the cost of Molina, who's at best slightly better than those two. Basically, the Mets have options, and some money to spend, and if they find a taker for Luis Castillo, who has some value,they could also grab Orlando Hudson. If everything else falls into place for them, they could easily vault to number one on the winners list with additions of at least one of those two catchers, one of those two catchers (or Erik Bedard?) and another arm, preferably for the bullpen to replace Brian Stokes. Highly possible and feasable situation

Best off-season acquisition: Curtis Granderson. Now Yankee fans can finally stop pretending Melky Cabrera is good.

Worst off-season acquisition: Joel Piniero. He was bad in the AL West before, what makes this time any different? Except that the Angels' park isn't as good for pitchers as Safeco.

Most puzzling off-season acquisition: Bengie Molina. This is actually a retention, but he was a type B free agent, and they have both Pablo Sandoval and Buster Posey, the best catching prospect remaining after Wieters was called up last summer.

Biggest catastrophe avoided: Atlanta Braves potentially having the most expensive bullpen in history.

Best Free agent still available: John Smoltz. He should land somewhere and give someone some solid innings. Sheets is a little less dependable in that area.

Smartest move: The Yankees making Johnny Damon wait. It's clear everyone thinks his power resurgence is all from Yankee Stadium. He came into the off-season looking for 3 years/$30 million even though he's in his mid-thirties. Scott Boras dropped the ball on this one. Looks like he'll head back to the Yankees next year for Bobby Abreu money last year.

Thoughts on Milton Bradley

In a bad contract swap. The Mariners took Milton Bradley in exchange for the nightmare contract of Carlos Silva.

This makes tons of sense for the Mariners. They added a DH who can play left field on occasion. They got rid of the remaining of the worst contract in Seattle history.

Only drawback is that this DH's name is Milton Bradley, a man who ran himself out of town. Will he be a good guy like he was in Texas? Or a train wreck like in Chicago?

This makes very little sense for the Cubs, except they got rid of Bradley. Silva is a terrible pitcher in any league.

There is no winner for either team. But the Mariners may potentially pull out well, assuming he can be happy for 2 years in Seattle. The Cubs are more than happy to dump him, it'd be a PR disaster if they didn't.

Thoughts on Week 1

So one week's past, and as per usual, there have been way too many overreactions to standout performances from certain players.

For example, everyone seems to believe this Emilio Bonifacio kid is for real. Yes he's fast, but so is Joey Gathright. If scouts honestly thought he could hit, he wouldn't already be on his third organization by the time he's 23. He's been traded for Jon Rauch and again for Scott Olsen. And he's proven to be terrible with the glove at both 2nd and 3rd.

Now if someone gives a good reason to worry fans, then it's worth paying attention. Chien-Ming Wang's velocity was way down, and as a sinkerballer, he won't be able to beat hitters without it. Maybe he can work himself into shape and his velocity will rebound, but until it does, the Yankees need to be worried.

Milton Bradley and Rich Harden are still healthy. Cubs must be feeling great right now.

Padres are the biggest fluke right now. I don't know whether the NL West or the AL West is the worst division in baseball, but the Padres would be the worst in either one. Bullpen's ERA won't be hovering around 1.00 all season.

Nick Adenhart was going to be one of the greats. Everytime someone is killed by a drunk driver we say the same things, but nothing seems to change. This isn't fair to Nick, this isn't fair to baseball, this isn't fair to his family, this isn't fair to every victim of drunk driving who are dying in vain.