Brian Giles

While the July 31st trade deadline gets all the hype, the wheeling and dealing is far from over, as each season there are a number of moves made through waivers after the deadline.

Just last season, big names like Jason Giambi, Jim Thome, and Alex Rios all found new homes well into August, and with the buzz surrounding Adam Dunn among others, this season could again see difference making players moved after the deadline.

If you asked 100 baseball fans ranging from casual to knowledgeable to list the 10 or 20 best offensive baseball players from 1997 to 2007, how many would write down Brian Giles? I am guessing not to many.

The reason I posed the above question is because Giles retired this week with very little fanfare. Is Giles a Hall of Famer? Absolutely not. But he was a really, really good player for a span of 10 years and I don’t think many people realize how good he actually was.

With the Winter Meetings less than 48 hours away, the San Diego Padres will be looking to add a right handed bat as well as pitching depth.

Whether that comes by free agency or by trade is yet to be seen, but here are a few names that are being talked about.

The San Diego Padres were left for dead in late July, but since the All-Star break, this team has shown that they could be a definite factor next season.

There is finally a hint of promise in San Diego and it's not because the San Diego Chargers are about to kick off their 2009 season tonight against Oakland.