Off-Season thoughts

For my first column I wanted to review the off-season transactions and give you a real fan's unbiased opinion of the big moves.

Beltran, Pedro and Benson to the Mets for about $200 million.
My take: Pedro will do well in Shea by benefiting from facing the pitcher in the 9 hole and a decent defense behind him. The bully won't do him too many favors but I can easily see a typical Pedro year. Beltran better hope he gets back to .300-30-100-30 or the New York Press will eat him and Omar alive. From everything I have seen of the guy and read about him, he's got the talent but I'm not sure he has the backbone for NY. Once in a while a player agent should do his client a favor and instead of chasing a few extra monopoly dollars, put the player in a place where he can thrive and be happy. Beltran wreaks of small market player. Being told "you're a BUM Beltran" and "quit stealing our money" anytime you don't hit a HR can wear on a player. The Mets best move was to keep Anna Benson on the team. Oh wait, she's not on the team but maybe she should be, especially after she told hubby Kris that she would sleep with the whole team if he cheated on her. Kris on the other hand is vastly overpaid and part of the reason this off-season saw a return of ridiculous contracts for starting pitchers. Outside of his college career, this guy has done nothing special, period. He is lucky the Mets have Pedro and Glavine to lead the team allowing him to hide in the 3-4 slot and hope to be a .500 pitcher. All these moves and the Mets will still be no better than 3rd behind some variety of ATL, PHIL and FLA.

Seattle Lands Some Power.
My take: Adding Beltre and Sexson should help ticket sales but Seattle still has no pitching and a bunch of guys coming back from injuries. Beltre is another example of when agents should consider their clients well-being (what a shock, both guys are Boras clients). M's fans are hoping Sexson and Beltre can pump up Boone and knock in Ichiro more but it will have to happen a lot with this pitching staff. Unless Moyer looks like 2003 Moyer and Eddie Guardado's arm remains attached, SEA should be battling OAK for last in the west.

The Hollywood Remake San Fernando Dodgers of Los Angeles.
My take: I'm a lifelong Dodger fan so hang in there because this one will be long, biased, and angry. Lose Lima, Finley, Beltre, Green, Nomo, Cora, LoDuca, Mota and gain Lowe, Drew, Kent, Penny, Choi, Navarro, Nakamura and Valentin. Oh where do I start? Green either became lazy and laid back in LA or just lost most of his talent. Yes he switched to 1B and was a good "team" guy but his energy level was that of a rock. Drew if healthy can equal Green but that is a big if. Boras raped the Dodgers on that deal too. Drew is going to get paid one way or the other. He either plays lights out and voids the deal to sign a better contract or he stinks and makes like Dreifort and collects social security from the team for the next 5 years. I will give DePo credit, our starting pitching does look improved but with the downgrade in defense and offense, it has to be. Also, why is it that the team feel the need to make the stadium smaller? If you're going to do that, the whole "pitchers park" benefit will begin to fade. Another great McCourt move. Glad we just gave Lowe $36 mil over 4 years but made it smaller and our defense worse. Brilliant.
Choi plays first (oh no), Kent at second unless he "falls off his truck at a car wash," gold glover Izturis at SS and a combo of 50-something Jose Valentin and Nakamura at 3rd. Wow, if I'm a pitcher that strikes fear in my heart. NO. Catcher is even worse. Ross and Bako? This Navarro kid better be Pudge Bench Fisk III for what we gave up for him. Lowe, Weaver, Penny, Perez and take your pick should be a solid 5 and of course Gagne closing it out but the setup men are still weak. Dodgers will be lucky to be third behind SF and AZ.

Yanks get the Unit.
My take: Whoopee. Randy is old and is playing with a bum knee. Sure he can win 20 in NY with that Bully and Offense but he could also pull a K.Brown or Jeff Weaver or Vazquez and flame out in grand fashion. Much like Beltran, Randy doesn't know what is going to hit him if he doesn't beat Schilling. Yanks will still either win the division or the WC but much like the last 4 years, they won't be the champs at the end. The team is getting too old and too expensive. The chemistry of Torre, O'Neil, and Brosius is long gone, replaced with a bunch of high priced mercenaries. Enjoy another year of second guessing and Georgey fits. Wright and Pavano don't look like great fits in NY but who knows, they could do fine. Pavano should have gone home to BOS and Wells back to NY. ARod should bounce back but can Jeter, Matsui, and Sheff repeat their numbers? I don't think so.

AZ Moneybacks.
My take: Next to the insanity of the Mets, the DBacks made the most waves. They gave a lot of money to Glaus and Russ Ortiz, then acquired Green, Cruz Jr. and Vazquez. On paper the team looks better, even with losing Randy but that is counting on Gonzo to return from major surgery and Estes pitching like he did last year. I think they will be better than COL and LA fighting SD and SF for the West title.

Can the Champs repeat?
My take: Not with those moves. Adding Renteria is solid. Losing Pedro and Lowe for Wells and Clement is not. Keeping Varitek was a must. This team will have plenty of offense as usual but the pitching won't get it done in Oct. Theo can still pull something off but this doesn't look like a championship team.

Other moves:
Angels add Finley and Cabrera lose Percival, Glaus and Eckstein - bad PR since those were all fan favorites but the new guys and kids should be ready. The Halos should win this division still. Marlins add Delgado and Leiter - both solid guys to bolster the team. If the offense produces and Mota can close, FLA can win the NL again. The Tigers go big with Mags and Percy. I guess not having to pay the Red Wings left the owner some extra play money. Both players are solid and the central is up for grabs with no clear favorite. The Giants got a lot older but when you're riding the Barry wave out you can't afford to rebuild. I doubt Alou does as well as he did last year but he should be solid and Benitez is a solid closer. The Astros are hurting - nice to bring back the Rocket and a healthy Pettitte but losing Kent, Beltran and Miller will sting. I don't see how they match CHC or STL with that team. The A's dumped Mulder and Hudson and will be rewarded with a top pick in next year's draft that they can moneyball away. The Braves add Hudson, Smoltz to the rotation and Kolb as well as some old OFs named Jordan and Mondesi. Until they lose a division, I'm buying whatever their GM is selling. I'm sure Cox will have Mondy back to 30-90 levels and Jordan will spark the team. The pitching is solid as usual. The new DC team is wasting money - Vinny and Guzman.....no thanks. There are more moves but I'm out of time.
J