looking forward

we're in first place in our division, yet, i'm already entertaining thoughts of next year... what does walt need to do in the offseason? a few thoughts from a newish fan...

rotation:
carp
serious pitching acquisition/healthy mulder (tbd this season)
reyes
wainwright
#5 guy better than weaver/ponson

i can even deal with suppan or marquis as the #5 guy, but we can't carry this many mediocre pitchers and expect good things come october 2007.

relievers:
replace flores
fill wainwright's spot competently
i'm not sure what izzy's contract length is, but i like keeping him as long as it doesn't cost us more than he's getting now ($12 mil this year, i think, or 13% of payroll?)

lineup
restructure and resign edmonds
a hard hitting left fielder (that isn't chris duncan) so we don't have to rely so much on edmonds' streaky bat
lose so, duncan, and jrod. i like them all, but we have to do better than this. if we have to keep one, make it jrod, who is getting better in the field and is better off the bench than the other two.
lose gollum and belliard, replace with a honest to god short stop
move eck to 2nd (his [all-american] college position)
keep yadi, but get a better hitting back up catcher than gary freaking bennett.

next off-season is also the time to start negociating future contracts with rolen, pujols, and carp.

perhaps it's time the secret weapon was our manager.

now that i've got this down, maybe the team will get back from the slide, get mad (not frustrated), and start kicking ass again.