Updated Nov. 29

- Big trade yesterday. The Rays look like they want to win now, but chances are (in that division) it’ll take much more than Matt Garza to do it. The Twins, however, are set up for a bright future. Delmon Young is a stud.

- With the Winter Meetings next week, storylines are in place already. Will the yYanks, Sox (or Mets?) get Santana? Is Miguel Cabrera on the move? Or Tejada? Will any moer young players get shipped out? It’s a very intriguing offseason.

- Phillies unveil their alternate uniform today. Word is it looks like a throback to the 1950s. Fantastic. Those are gorgeous duds (without pinstripes).

- I stand by what I said earlier this offseason. The Phils needed a LOOGY, a right-handed setup man, a starter and a third basemen. We re-signed our LOOGY, we got Lidge, but still need a reliever, a starter and a third baseman. Myers doesn’t count as a starter. And since he left, Lidge merely took his place. My thought: Get Riske; get Kuroda; get Moraor Blalock. What they’ll do: Get Wolf and maybe Mora. Not good enough.

Updated Nov. 19

- Mike Lowell is off the market, and I’m not too upset. He had great stats in Boston, but really because he played the monster like an expert. Would he have had the same success in Philadelphia? Maybe, but it would’ve been hard.

- The Devil Rays are now the Rays. Whatever. Same old crappy team.

- Von Hayes is the new manager of the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Atlantic League. Good for five-for-one; he gave me many mediocre memories during my very young years.

- Two teams to watch carefully as surprise contenders in 2008: White Sox, Giants.

- I’m actually starting to feel weird about moving Brett Myers back to the rotation. Maybe he was a better closer. His mind was certainly set on it, and he clearly liked the role better than starting. Heck, if the Phils can grab Kuroda or even Colon, I wouldn’t be opposed to moving Myers back to the ninth inning.

- So it’s past midnight on Nov. 12, and Aaron Rowand, Kyle Lohse, Antonio Alfonseca, Jon Lieber, Jose Mesa and Tadahito Iguchi are all out in the open range.

Their most significant moments:

Rowand: The catch. Off Xavier Nady (yup) with the bases jammed in the first inning of a Gavin Floyd start (ouch), Rowand takes off on the fly, doesn’t see the wall, nails the wall with his nose and still comes up with the miraculous grab. Forever in stone. Of course, he helped lead us to the dance in 2007, but The Catch will live on forever.

Lohse: That grand slam, probably, which isn’t fair. He had some strong outings down the stretch, keeping the team in practically all of his starts. But hey, he made the pitch that pretty much iced it for our Phightins’ in the NLDS.

Alfonseca: Though he’s as forgettable as Arthur Rhodes, his big moment came in September, in the seventh inning of a must-win against the Braves. His strikeout of the final batter of the inning (Andruw Jones? Franceour?) ignited the sell-out crowd and added to the September mystique of the club.

Lieber: I go back to his complete game shutout of the Mets in 2006, where he bested Tom Glavine.

Mesa: Heh. Maybe that good inning he had against Saint Louis during the bizarro bullpen game.

Iguchi: Overall, his play was solid. No particularly standout moment, but I think he had a big hit in there somewhere. He’ll be missed.

- Really, there’s a lot of routes the Phils can go in this offseason. They can grab a back-end reliever, a front-end rotation guy, both, no LOOGY at all, a center fielder, a right fielder, a third baseman, even trade Burrell or Kendrick. What will happen? I’m sure the Phils will pick up some middling reliever to flesh out the bullpen. Think a Geary type. And I can see them re-signing Romero and maybe even Lieber. The offense? They’ll make a move. Maybe grab a Dellucci type to play all the positions. Like a Geoff Jenkins or a Trot Nixon. Maybe Coco Crisp. The team will *look* worse off than last year, but really, they won’t be.

- Hot Stove time may be the best time to be a baseball fan. Your life doesn’t hinge on what happens with your team everyday, but you definitely check each day to make sure they didn’t “screw up.” Of course, nobody knows if a team screws up for sure. Who knew Freddy Garcia would suck? Who knew Adam Eaton would be a total bust? I mean, a bust, yeah, but not a total bust.

- I really hope nobody signs A-Rod. But then the players union would throw a fit and A-Rod would somehow win. I don’t want him on the Phillies, yet part of me wouldn’t mind seeing the Greatest Infield of All-Time in action.

Here I will post random, daily, unpublishable thoughts about the Phillies.