This was a great year.  I loved watching "meaningful" games in September, and my lovely wife now finds baseball entertaining, thanks to Panda and Eugenio and Timmy.  But pennant contenders?  Not for a while.

There are no quality hitters besides Pablo, and there are serious offensive deficiencies at every other position.   I will probly be more optimistic around March, but now I think that Renteria is old, slow, and coming back from surgery.  Sanchez younger but likewise, if they sign him.   Uribe was declining several consecutive years before his recent rally, and may bolt for more money.  Who's catching?--Whiteside as of now.  As for the 3 gaps in the outfield--

On MCC somebody noted that all 5 Colorado outfielders were better than any SF outfielder.  After I realized how true this was (any of Dexter Fowler, Carlos Gonzales, Spilborghs, Hawpe, and Seth Smith would become an immediate starter if we had him), I wondered about other teams.  Using just OPS, and looking at our baseline of:  Torres 876    Lewis 738  Rowand 738    Velez 708 (757 after allstar) Scheierholz 702   Winn 671  

the Brewers field  Braun 937, Cameron 795   Hart 753 plus Catalanotto 728 and young Gerut 654

Atlanta has young guys--M Diaz 878    McClouth 788  Brandon Jones 778 at age 25, Church 722, fading Garret Anderson 705

Cubbies--Sam Fuld 821, Fukudome 796, Milton Bradley 775 gone, Reed Johnson 742  plus Haufpair 727 and Soriano injured

Cards have Matt Holliday 1023   Ludwick 775 Cody Rasmus 714, Duncan dropping 687

the LA Bums--Manny 949, Ethier 869,  Kemp 842,  Xavier Paul 814 pricey Juan Pierre 757

and the Phillies send out Ibanez, Werth, and Victorino, all over 800 as is Ben Francisco.   So none of our outfielders would start for any other good team.  Those teams could send us their 4th or 5th best and he would start here and bat 3, 4, or 5.   Too many holes to fill for 2010, folks.  Let's think farther ahead, when Thomas Neal and his mates can help.   I will enjoy watching Torres and Velez run the bases meanwhile.  Sorry I can't get "the jump" to operate here on Chrome.