narrative landscape

as of now, this would seem to be the starting lineup...

c-molina
1b-pujols
2b-luna
ss-eck
3b-rolen (cross your fingers)
lf-jrod/guch
cf-jed
rf-bigbie

bench:
c-bennett
if-cruz
if-miles
of-gall
of-schumaker

rotation:
1-carp
2-mulder
3-suppan
4-marquis
5-reyes

pen:
rhp-thompson
rhp-izzy
lhp-flores
lhp-rincon


obviously there's room to grow here. a quality starting outfielder and some bullpen help would seem to be the biggest needs, and i think jocketty will pull it off. the cards management seems to be ready to give luna a shot to play everyday, and i think that's a good move. if he develops some power, he has a legitimate shot to be an above-average 5 tool player, probably not a star, but definitely a useful player, especially while he's still cheap. bigbie on the other hand does not deserve a similiar chance, but i'm afraid that might become the plan, unless jock makes something happen. on the whole, assuming rolen comes back and the rotation stays healthy, this is a 90+ win team, probably good enough to defend the division title. and any team with pujols and decent starting pitching is going to have a decent shot in the playoffs.

for a baseball fan, the winter is mainly just full of speculation about next season and memories of the year before. earlier this winter i was caught up in the a.j. burnett sweepstakes, as most cards fans were, but now, i'm mostly just a little sad about the departure of matt morris. matty-mo was the longest standing member of the team, and it'll be very hard to imagine him in a giants uniform. from a business perspective, there's no question that the cards were wise not to getting in a bidding war with the giants over matt's services--he's on the wrong side of thirty, and clearly on the decline in his career. but from a fan's perspective, there weren't many more pretty sights over the last ten years than a matt morris breaking pitch slipping into the strike zone. and now it's gone.