Tonight's the night! I gotta say after all the offseason madness that we did pretty good in getting what we needed. While I'm still not high on the Garrett Anderson signing, I love our new look rotation. The bullpen is stacked  with Soriano, Moylan, and Gonzo. I don't see a weakness there. It's a nice thing to say our worst starter will be Tom Glavine at the 5 spot. Even so we have plenty of depth to step in if he fails. In #10 we trust. I love baseball.

I had my fantasy baseball draft last night and just wondering what you guys think of how I did. This is my 5th year doing it and I got stuck with the 10th pick overall in a 10 team league. Let me know what you think my strengths and weaknesses are. Head to head league. 

Team Name - Tomahawk Chop

C - Brian McCann, 1B - Carlos Delgado, 2B - Chase Utley, 3B - Kevin Kouzmanoff,

SS - MIke Aviles, OF - Manny Ramirez, Carl Crawford, Jermaine Dye, Xavier Nady, Pat Burrell, Rick Ankiel, Milton Bradley. 

SP - Roy Halladay, Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Chien-Ming Wang, Ricky Nolasco, Jair Jurrjens, Mike Pelfrey, Jeremey Guthrie.

RP - Gonzo, Heath Bell, Chris Ray, Kevin Gregg.

I'm always reminding myself that our dynasty in the 90s was built around amazing pitching then hiting. We weren't exactly smashing the shit out of the ball back in the glory days. Someone said that on here, not sure who it was, but it makes more sense looking at our offense today. I don't think it's gonna be bad, but it won't be phenomenal either.

If we get 3 runs that should be good for J.J. and Lowe. Not sure how Vazquez will do switching leagues. I still do think we have the most well rounded rotation right now in the east.. Kawakami and the 5th spot (hopefully Hanson!!!) will be the wild cards. It will all come down to the pen though which is looking very lethal to me.

What would you guys say about looking in to Barry Bonds? No one would ever expect this. Bonds has been out and should actually be healthy. Would a Bonds/Diaz platoon work for you guys? He would put people in the seats and nearly cost us nothing. Yes I know he's not a good clubhouse guy but we need to get people talking about us again in a good way. For some reason I think this would work. God I know I'm gonna raped on this.

I gotta say I really like the idea of signing Ken Griffey Jr. To me this move would unite the two best hitters in the steroid era that have never been linked as users. Of course the other is #10 himself, Chipper Jones. I think Griffey has one decent season left and wouldn't it make a great story should these two carry a young team like this to the post season? Griffey amazingly had 490 at bats last year playing for two teams. If he can creep that over the 500 mark in a solid platoon with Matt Diaz, I think we'll have a shot at the wild card.  In the end, it is our pitching  that will make us contend.

I'll be the first to admit that I jumped the gun on Frank Wren after we lost Smoltz. I was thinking he didn't even want us to compete at all this year. After seeing him aggresively sign Derek Lowe, he made me change my mind that we are in good hands. He knew that the Mets allready made their offer and knew that Philly were interested in Lowe as well. I was just happy to see he didn't want a big time player like Lowe go to a division rival.

I really believe we now have the most well rounded rotation in the NL East but now the question is the offense. It's obvious most are high on Adam Dunn and I definately am as well. I think we can still get Dunn at a bargain. A heart of the order with Jones, Dunn, & McCann would be oh so sweet. I also like the idea of Nick Swisher. A good young switch hitter. He's shown he can be a 30-100 guy too. We'll just have to wait and see what happens to the offense. I believe right now we are a dark horse for the wild card. The big bat we get will determine if we can compete for the division title.

So here's what I've been hearing about the Giants. They are in the hunt for Manny Ramirez and if they did land him they would have to probably deal either Randy Winn or Aaron Rowand. We obviously still need an outfielder and these two are pretty solid. Winn has had 500 AB's the last 3 seasons. A down year of 262 avg in 2006 but 300 hitter in 07 and 08, he's a switch hitter too. 

Rowand had 400 ABs in 2006. followed by 612 and 549. His avg went back and forth 262, 309, 271.  I think a 3 year stat look is good enough to compare. Who would you prefer? I would prefer Winn. He'd be a nice compliment for Chipper. Time to think realistic lol.

Everyone seems to be making moves but us. I'm getting tired of not hearing anything since the Rafael Furcal drama. Wren needs to wake up and go after pitching before its all gone. There's a fellow named Ben Sheets still available and that icon of our franchise named John Smoltz. Sign them two now. I think the hitting is a lost cause but our pitching can still be saved. Dunn is apparently heading to LA. The lack of moves is ridiculous. Oh and guys I heard the Mets are going after Andruw Jones. Seems like someone took my idea. lol.

What do you guys think about Sammy Sosa? You think he could be worth a look at for one year? I bet you can sign him a league minimum and anything he produces is a bonus. In 2007 he had 21 homers in 412 at bats. I read he's waiting for any offer. We could use a name like him. He would bring people to the games and who knows what he can do. Platoon Sosa, Norton, and Diaz for left? Not a bad idea to me.

Escobar, Johnson, Jones, Sosa, McCann wouldn't be a bad line up.

What would you guys think if we brought Andruw Jones back? I don't think the Dodgers would use him and I bet we can get him at a bargain.  If he can get into decent shape and maybe hit 20 homers it wouldn't be that bad til 2010. I would say the Dodgers owe us after Furcal and I wouldn't mind seeing Andruw try and bounce back. You think he would be welcomed back?

This is probably the worst offseason I can ever remember. The hopes of trading for Jake Peavy were making me really excited for a decent rotation next year. That flopped. I kinda got excited again when we were so close in signing A.J. Burnett. That flopped.  Then we try and bring back one of our top players in franchise history, Rafael Furcal, and it looks like we're screwed again. We got 40 mill to spend right? It's time to bring excitement back and go after that slugger we need. I'm calling all votes in for Adam Dunn!! Spend the money on him. I don't care if he hits 220. He'll also be a guaranteed 40-45 homers a year. Someone call Wren and tell him this!! We need to save some face this offseason.

from a frustrated fan lol.