Baseball Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous baseball thoughts and observations.

I'd expect that the Orioles are not done dealing. I'd guess that the front office has feelers already out on Brian Roberts (is that Cubs deal ever going to happen?), catcher Ramon Hernandez, outfielder Jay Payton and DH Aubrey Huff. Giving Melvin Mora a no-trade clause is perhaps the worst front office move I can remember. Say hello to the 100-loss season this year Oriole fans... Khalil Greene could be the clean-up hitter for the Padres this season. I'm wondering if there are any other teams in baseball with their shortstop hitting in the four hole. Troy Tulowitzki, Hanley Ramirez and Jimmy Rollins are all better hitters than Greene so I'm guessing that Greene hitting clean-up for the Padres is more of a reflection of how weak the Padres line-up is. However, Greene getting all those RBI opportunities could make Greene more valuable for fantasy baseball players.... The Padres are basically banking on old guys (Jim Edmonds and Brian Giles) and guys coming off injuries (Randy Wolf and Mark Prior) to be able to compete in the NL West this season. Now I'm no highly paid GM but that doesn't seem like the recipe to success to me... Strange as it may seem but 45-year old Jamie Moyer could be the key to who wins the NL East this year. If Moyer can give the Phillies 200 IP and an ERA of about 4.50 then he can help keep the Phillies in enough games and keep the bullpen fresh enough to compete with the better starting rotations of the Braves and Mets. If Moyer is able to manage a 15 win season - then he can move into the top 50 in wins on the all-time list. Moyer also needs just 120 strikeouts to tie Tommy John for 47th place on the all-time list. I'd be willing to bet that if Moyer is able to manage those two accomplishments (making the top 50 in wins and tying Tommy John in K's) then the Phillies will have won the NL East...