I think our starting pitching will hold up fine, if, of course, Hudson comes back healthy. Re-signing Glavine (if he doesn’t retire) or Hampton wouldn’t be a terrible idea, if it were for the right price.

As for Francoeur, I’d be surprised if Wren let him go but who knows. Get rid of Kotsay and let the young’uns tough it out and develop next year – not much to lose if they don’t measure up to a veteran’s production.

So when/how do we say if it’s worth it? I’ll tell you one thing. After hearing about Feliz the 20 year old fireballer, I’d love to have him back. But such is life.

I think the rebuilding will really start this offseason. We lose Glavine, Hampton, and (maybe) Smoltz goes in the ‘pen but we’ve got some money to spend to go out and get three new starters (and I think we need all three spots filled by someone other than JoJo, James, Morton). I don’t think Kotsay will stay but I’m not sure there’s an Anderson or Schaefer that’s really ready for the full time job. Maybe we get a power hitting LF’er and stick Blanco there. I’d say he’s had a good enough season to stick around.

In short, this winter may really determine what kind of GM we have in Frank Wren.

~JB