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INDIANAPOLIS -- Picking a winner among the NL West teams is easy, since only one of them -- the Diamondbacks -- did anything of consequence this week. The rest of the teams sat quietly and left Indianapolis without much change to their rosters. Although the Giants, Rockies and Padres may simply have plans for later in the winter, it has become clear to baseball people that the Dodgers are hamstrung financially because of the looming divorce between owners Frank and Jamie McCourt.Big Winner
By default, the Diamondbacks take this honor. With their part in the Yankees-Tigers three-way trade, Arizona sent away Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth and got Edwin Jackson and Ian Kennedy. How much better does that make them? Well, Jackson is clearly the best pitcher involved in this deal, but he's had an up-and-down career. He didn't finish 2009 strongly (6-5, 5.07 after the break), so it's hard to say just what he'll do. Then again, he's going from the AL to the NL, and to a division with three pitchers' parks, so he'll probably be solid. Kennedy is probably not a front-line pitcher, but the Diamondbacks only need him to be a No. 4 or No. 5 starter behind an imposing top three of Dan Haren, Brandon Webb (remember him?) and Jackson.
Unfinished Business
Where to begin? The Giants probably rank as the team with the pressing needs, because they were the team that finished just outside of the playoff party. They've got all the pieces of an outstanding pitching staff coming back, but they need to find a way to improve the offense. There was a lot of smoke surrounding Dan Uggla rumors, but the Giants don't want to part with any of their top prospects, so they are more likely to be shopping in the free-agent market. They also don't want to spend a lot of money on guys like Matt Holliday, Jason Bay or Adrian Beltre, so it's going to be the second-tier free agent market for them. That means guys like Adam LaRoche and Nick Johnson.
Conclusion
Considering that the Dodgers lost Randy Wolf and they haven't added anyone, and the Giants still haven't found a bat, it looks like the Rockies are the Dec. 10 favorites in the division, for whatever that's worth (nothing). The Giants will get someone, though, and the Dodgers may just keep losing players if they have to trade away arbitration-eligible guys like Chad Billingsley or George Sherrill.
Arizona also looks to have improved with its new Big Three. San Diego is simply weighing its options on Adrian Gonzalez. Are they going to trade him now to get a four- or five-player haul, or trade him sometime over the next 12 months and see his value decline?
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