FanHouse Lou Pinella

MLB Power Rankings: Where we care what you've done for us lately when we break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world each week.

It's been a while since a week of baseball was this sad -- we saw the tragic passings of Nick Adenhart, Harry Kalas and Mark Fidrych. And without waxing too sentimentally, it's the loss of these men that remind us exactly just how little sports matter in the grand scheme of things. RIP, gentlemen. Power rankings (that feel just a tad inconsequential, to be honest) after the jump.

Wondering which young players could have an impact in the majors this year? Let MLB FanHouse guide the way in Better Know a Prospect. In this edition we look at three players from the Chicago Cubs' minor league system.

First of all, let's get one thing straight here. The Cubs are pushing all their chips to the center of the table this season. It's now or never, as far as they are concerned. In turn, they are much more likely to trade prospects for veterans to plug holes created by injuries or ineffectiveness.

With February right around the corner, apparently it's time to start the annual why is Alfonso Soriano hitting leadoff? machine in Chicago. Personally, I'm fed up with it. He hit leadoff for the majority of the games last season, and the Cubs won 97 total. That's hardly something worthy of panic.

Still, fans see the .344 on-base percentage, the drastic decline in steals, the home run power, and the presence of Ryan Theriot (.387 OBP last year). It was the popular thing in Chicago to complain about Soriano batting leadoff down the stretch in 2007, and it's still lingering.

Once the Cubs let Kerry Wood walk, it seemed as though the coast was clear for Carlos Marmol to take over as one of baseball's dominant closers. After all, the 26 year old has struck out 223 batters in 166 innings during the course of his relief career. In those innings, he's only allowed 91 hits and 44 earned runs (2.39 ERA).

He's also got closer stuff, with the blazing fastball and knee-buckling slider. I'm not worried about the proverbial closer's mentality, because he saved seven games with Wood sidelined last season. Plus, he's gotten himself out of much tougher jams than needing three outs with the bases empty before.

As baseball's offseason slogs along at a molasses-like pace, the Jake Peavy-to-Cubs rumors just won't die. Whether it's actual reality or just pure conjecture at this point is hard to tell.

For now, Peavy and each front office remain pretty quiet. And all we're left doing is speculating.

Yet we do know a few things that still make the deal a logical one.

The Jake Peavy sweepstakes just got a ton more interesting. The inclusion of the World Champs always spices things up, you know. That's right, the Philadelphia Phillies are now involved in talks with the Cubs ... and the Padres ... and the Orioles. The scene is now set for a blockbuster deal which would see upwards of seven or eight players switching addresses. Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune reports his findings from a meeting with Padres GM Kevin Towers.

Towers told reporters on Monday that the Cubs were the only team he is continuing to talk to about Peavy and that making a Peavy trade was his full focus at the winter meetings. He then went out and proved it by working to facilitate a potentially four-team trade that would send Mark DeRosa to Philadelphia and Felix Pie to Baltimore and bring back pitchers Garrett Olson, J.A. Happ (the Northwestern product) and Sean Marshall for the Padres.

The key for that deal to work is for the Phillies or Orioles to take Jason Marquis, with the Cubs agreeing to eat some of his salary.

I believe this would be a great deal for both the Cubs and Phillies.

From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

Jake Peavy is the type of pitcher who can change the complexion of an entire franchise. He won the Cy Young award in 2007 as a 26-year-old with the San Diego Padres after compiling an obscene stat line. He went 19-6 with a 2.54 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, and struck out 240 batters in only 223 1/3 innings. He suffered through an injury-riddled 2008 campaign, but still managed to put up an ERA nearly one entire run better than the league average.

Obviously, when Padres general manager Kevin Towers decided to start over with his team by moving his hottest commodity for prospects, Peavy was the guy. Towers has supposedly been in trade talks ever since, though the specific teams and the number of whom are interested seems to fluctuate on a daily basis. This is the Hot Stove league at its very best and worst at the same time. It can be exciting or annoying, depending upon your point of view.

The two main suitors for Peavy seem to be the Cubs and Braves. Let's take a look at where we've been and the chances of a deal moving forward.

It was likely never anything more than a pipe dream. Still, let's just look at it one last time and dream of what could have been:

Jake Peavy, Carlos Zambrano, Ryan Dempster, Ted Lilly, Rich Harden

Either way, the dream is dead. For weeks the rumors tying Peavy to the Cubs have been on life support, and it almost seems like the rumors that Kevin Towers is floating out the Cubs name to up the offers from other teams have merit. Lou Pinella has continually stated that once Dempster was re-signed, the starting pitching staff was no longer a concern to the team. He reiterated his stance in the Chicago Sun-Times today:

"Starting we don't need. We're set. We've got six good starters [including Sean Marshall], and they're all experienced. Getting Dempster back was the key. We're in good shape with our starting pitching."

Pinella also stressed that the remaining pieces the Cubs would pursue are a power-hitting left-handed right-fielder and some bullpen help. He also mentioned that Mike Fontenot would see an increased role in the offense this year, in hopes he would alleviate some of the concerns over the offense being too righty-heavy.

Much like the Cubs and Rays Rookies of the Year, the two teams took the Manager of the Year honor in each respective league with very little question. The only realistic candidate in either league, other than winners Joe Maddon and Lou Pinella, was Charlie Manuel of the Phillies, but the award is a regular season award.

During the course of the regular season, Lou Pinella led his Cubbies to the most victories the franchise has had since 1945, securing the number one NL seed with ease for the postseason. Of course, the Cubs were swept (again) in the playoffs, but, as I said above, this is a regular season award. Manuel's case, though he's a very solid manager, wasn't near as strong. I'm sure he's really worried about not winning, considering the ring and trophy he earned in the playoffs.

In the AL, the drastic turnaround by the Rays -- especially after losing Evan Longoria and Carl Crawford for the stretch run -- made the choice the easiest on the entire ballot, including the ROY selections. The Rays had never won more than 70 games, and had only avoided last place once -- when they won 70 games and finished fourth in the AL East a few years ago. All they did this season was win 97 games. It was a no-brainer.

The AL Cy Young Award winner will be announced tomorrow.

Every four years, Major League Baseball's postseason intersects with a presidential election. This is one of those years. In the spirit of the season, we here at MLB FanHouse have divided the playoff teams up for a series of debates. Matt Snyder and Will Brinson discuss the NLDS between the Cubs and Dodgers.

We'll run through different aspects of each team -- starting rotation, bullpen, defense, starting lineup, bench, manager, and end with a prediction. We'll do it with numbers and snarky commentary (most of which was used by Brinson), and we'll get right to it after the jump.