And we're off. . .

My first post. . . woohoo!

The Bravos have been rather quiet this offseason, though not until the last few days has anything big happened around baseball, free agent or trade wise. The good news from all those trades (Burkett, Delgado, Thome) is that it effectively weakens two NL East rivals while only strengthening one.

The Marlins are obviously fans of bad sequels, since they are once again plodding down the unilateral disarmament path. How good will Cabrera be as the only potent bat in that lineup (or will it even matter), and how will Dontrelle respond to being the lone ace of the staff? Though their last rebuilding phase eventually led to a World Series, can they really think that will work again? The odds are stacked against them. In the short term at least they will be brutal.

The Phils also dealt away one of their potent bats. This was a better move than the Marlins’ moves, but still leaves their team weaker than it was. Regardless of how ballyhooed Ryan Howard is, I think time may prove him a closer match to Rob Deer than Robin Yount. And can the rest of their streaky batters not only hold it together for a whole year, but finally make it to the top? Still a lot of question marks in Philly.

The Mets made a good move in getting Delgado, though they may have given up Kazmir-lite to get him. Mets fans hope this isn’t the ghost of Mo Vaughn arriving at Shea. For now though, Delgado plugs the hole in the Mets’ lineup that the Piazza drop-off created – good move Minaya.

No doubt Schuerholz wants to counter the Mets’ acquisition of Delgado, and he would love nothing more than to steal Wagner away from them. This may be what he uses the ‘Chipper’ money for instead of re-signing Furcal. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Braves making a run at Juan Pierre either. Getting a leadoff hitter/outfielder like Pierre would allow the Braves to forego a costly long term contract offer to Furcal and use a less expensive option at short.

It’s gonna be a hoppin’ hot stove this winter. . .