FanHouse Juan Castro

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2009.

Meet the new Rays. Tampa Bay's ascent to the top of the American League has robbed the Eastern division of its perennial doormat, but there's someone new on the block to push around -- the Orioles. It's now been 11 seasons since Baltimore qualified for the playoffs or even had a winning record, and that dubious run will likely be extended in 2009.

But it's not all doom and gloom in the Charm City. In fact, in a little more than a year Andy MacPhail -- seemingly free from the tinkering and meddling of owner Peter Angelos -- finally has the Orioles pointed in the right direction. In any other division, you know one that doesn't have four teams with 80-plus wins already in it, the O's might have even been within shouting distance of the .500 mark this year.

There is little hope of contending in the immediate future in Baltimore, but the organization's recent mistakes have almost all been caused by thinking that there was a quick fix somewhere out there. The Orioles have a rapidly improving farm system and they're not that far from being a real factor, but in order to get there, they're going to need to stay on the track MacPhail has started them down.

The Reds have a bit of a baffling third base controversy going on this spring. On one hand there's Juan Castro who hit .251/.281/.351 last year but has a reputation for good defense, though he hasn't been much better than average in the past couple years. On the other hand there's Edwin Encarnacion who hit .276/.359/.473 as a 23 year old last and but made 25 errors, though other fielding metrics suggest he wasn't quite that bad last year. Plus, Encarnacion is trying to improve in the field :

"I want to be better, because I know I can hit," said Encarnacion. "I know my defense is what I have to improve. I know I have to be more consistent with my defense."

"He's worked extremely hard, and that gives him a chance to be better," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "It all begins with his feet. If he'll just catch the ball and throw it, and not think about it, he'll probably make better throws, because he has worked at it. He gets after it pretty good."

The fact that there's much of a debate here is insane. Encarnacion is younger and a much better hitter than Castro. The way the Reds treat him because of his glove reminds me of the Pirates treatment of Aramis Ramirez earlier this decade. That situation ended with the Pirates trading Ramirez and Kenny Lofton for Bobby Hill, Jose Hernandez, and Matt Bruback. Reds fans have to be hoping for more than a little better than that.