Baseball

Jhonny Peralta headed into 2009 as a player many people thought would help buoy their middle infield, providing power from a position that was generally viewed as a source of speed.  After hitting over 20 home runs in three of the previous four seasons, who could blame them?

It wasn’t only that, however.  After injuries forced Peralta to spend the majority of his time in the middle of the Indians order in 2008, he responded with career highs in RBIs (89) and runs (104).  There just wasn’t much not to like about him.

Like most Mets fans, I hate Mr. Minaya and can't wait until his reign of terror is done. I hate Omar so much, even if the Mets win the World Series in 2010 I will still hate that man. But that doesn't take away the fact that he has my dream job, being the General manager of the New York Mets.

This will be a slideshow that will focus on every position, who should start that position and what the Mets have done so far and what they need to do.

I understand that the new Cubs owners have no appetite to increase the payroll for 2010. And, if you look at it reasonably, one can understand.

Yet we all know that the way in which Cubs GM Jim Hendry has spent the money has left a huge void and right now, as currently constructed, the Cubs are not a contending team.

Although we are still months from the official Hall of Fame vote, it is never too early to take a look at the upcoming ballot, and with a less than stellar first year class headlined by Fred McGriff, Edgar Martinez, Barry Larkin, and Roberto Alomar, this may be the year for holdovers such as Andre Dawson and Bert Blyleven to be enshrined.

However, I feel that Alomar may have a legitimate chance at first ballot enshrinement. Let's take a look at the statistics.

Everybody seems to love the New York Yankees trade with the Atlanta Braves for Javier Vazquez. The Yankees traded OF Melky Cabrera, LHP Michael Dunn and Low-Low A (although highly rated) pitcher Arodys Vizcaino to get the former Yankee right handed pitcher.

The San Francisco Giants clearly need some offensive help from the free-agent market but re-thinking the way they evaluate their own home-grown talent would help boost their offense from within.

For instance, while the Giants have a plethora of inconsistent young talent including players who may or may not develop into everyday starters, Nate Schierholtz doesn't belong amongst that group.

Throughout the past couple years Giants fans have grouped together such players like John Bowker, Eugenio Velez, Fred Lewis, Travis Ishikawa and Schierholtz in the same category.

It sure is going to be fun watching the Washington Nationals play baseball now that the adults are in charge.

Former general manager Jim Bowden would address a specific need by signing dozens of players in the hopes that one of them might make the team.

Now that the pitching prospects breakdown is out of the way, it’s time to take a closer look at the infield position players for the 2010 Houston Astros.

The Arizona Diamondbacks have come to terms with reliever, Bob Howry , reports Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic [Hat tip MLB Trade Rumors].

Terms of the deal are not immediately available, however it includes an option for the 2011 season and is rumored to be worth somewhere in the ball park of $2 million to $3 million.

I would like to preface this by saying that I am not a Mets fan. However, I do think many of their fans are not giving the team enough credit. The team is very good at its core, and many seem to forget that they entered last season as contenders before a slew of injuries. The team does need some revamping, though. So, if I were in their place, I would enact the following multi-step plan for the off-season to try and make the team competitive in 2010:

Let Jason Bay and Bengie Molina wait.