TAPS should be playing right now

ITS OVER FOLKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2007 is in the can and now we can start looking towards 08. The Colorado Rockies made this early vacation possible by kicking our teeth in during a day-night doubleheader yesterday. I guess there is a .0000000035% chance we can still make the playoffs but it requires winning every single game for the rest of the season. For a team that has not won more than 5 in a row, a 10+ streak seems a TAD unrealistic.

So, what to do now? I'm going to assume against Frank's better judgment he keeps Ned and Grady around for yet another year of quality moves in the front office and on the field. Why upgrade when both guys have totally proved they can out-think a rock.

The infield can welcome back Martin, Furcal and Loney and I'm pretty sure we're stuck with Kent another year. No clue what we do at 3B with Nomar, LaRoche or Shea Hillencancer. Any luck, we dump Kent on some contender and let Abreu play somewhere. What would I do at 3B next year? PAY AROD 35 MILLION DOLLARS OVER 7 years and bring him here. I don't care if it sounds crazy, I'd do it. I think he could thrive here in a lower pressure environment but with a lot of talent still around him.

In the OF we're stuck with Noodle Armed Pierre for another 4 GREAT years. Nothing like a CF that needs the LF to cut-off his throws from shallow CF. I'd probably keep Ethier in LF and Kemp in RF. They have too much potential so just let them play full time and quit platooning. Say goodbye to Gonzo unless he wants to be OF4.

The rotation should be ok once everyone is healthy.*** Penny, Lowe and Billingsly are a solid 3. If**************** Schmidt can bounce back, he'd join that group too. Our #5 looks to be Loseriaza but I'd also pick up Wolf's option or try to bring him back. He was solid at the beginning and you can never have too many starting pitchers. Anything to avoid using Hendrickson or signing Tomko clones.

For the bully I'm ok with Saito/Brox or Brox/Saito finishing games. I would upgrade the rest though because Seanez is a GAS CAN and Proctor's arm is due to fall off.

So basically we're looking at the same team, another year older, with the hope of ARod. Even with no ARod, this team should hopefully progress and pickup a few more wins next year. With ARod, we're a World Series eligible team, without a big pickup, we're playing for the wild card, AGAIN. Can't wait for March huh?