Donovan McNabb is a Redskin

The Donovan McNabb era is over in Philadelphia. So begins the Kevin Kolb era.

According to Adam Schefter on Twitter, the Eagles have traded McNabb to the Washington Redskins for a second round pick this year (37th overall) and a 3rd or 4th round pick next year. I assume that McNabb also did not sign a contract extension to stay in Washington.

Why the Eagles would trade to McNabb within the division is beyond me. Do they really want to deal with the media circus of playing McNabb twice a year? They really want McNabb telling a division rival about all the intricacies of the Eagles offense?

I'm shocked. Not that the deal happened but of the fact that the Eagles traded Donovan within the division. I guess you get the best deal you can but this whole thing could blow up in your face if McNabb leads the Skins to a better record than the Eagles.

Let's see what you got, Kolb.

Your 2010 Phillies Opening Day Roster

Finally, Spring Training is over and the Phillies are ready for the real games to begin. While the Phillies roster had basically been set for the last few weeks, the recent injury to Joe Blanton opened up an unexpected spot on the pitching staff. Enter Andrew Carpenter, the 24 year old with 6 innings of major league experience, who was recalled today. Carpenter has been a starter throughout his minor league career but the Phillies will ask hm to be a long relief man. I wouldn't expect him to get too much work in and wouldn't be surprised if he gets sent down after just a few games.

Your Phillies Opening Day Roster is set:

Infielders (6): Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins, Placido Polanco, Greg Dobbs, Juan Castro

Outfielders (5): Raul Ibanez, Shane Victorino, Jayson Werth, Ben Francisco, Ross Gload

Catchers (2): Carlos Ruiz, Brian Schneider

Starting Rotation (5): Roy Halladay, Cole Hamels, Kyle Kendrick, J.A. Happ, Jamie Moyer

Bullpen (7): Ryan Madson, Danys Baez, Chad Durbin, Jose Contreras, Antonio Bastardo, David Herndon, Andrew Carpenter

On the disabled list: Joe Blanton, Brad Lidge, J.C. Romero

2010 American League Predictions

Baseball is here! With the Eagles discarding players left and right, the Flyers sinking into the abyss and the Sixers season long over, the Phillies taking the field on Monday will be a welcome sight. With the acquisition of Roy Halladay, the Phils are in prime position to get back to the World Series for a third straight year.

With the season starting on Sunday as the Yankees take on the Red Sox, it's time to make some predictions. My season preview this year will be broken down into three parts with my predictions for the American League in this post, my predictions for the National League early tomorrow and finally a piece with all of my individual projections for each player on the Phillies coming Tuesday. Last year, I was pretty close as I picked the Phillies to lose to the Red Sox in the World Series. Right outcome, wrong AL East team; let's see if I can do even better this year.

AL East
1. Yankees
The Yankees look poised to make another run at the World Series after they re-tooled their roster, jettisoning Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui for Curtis Granderson and Nick Johnson. Like the Phillies, the Yankees didn't sit back and just hope their rotation would be strong for another year; instead, they picked up Javier Vazquez to be the best 4th starter in baseball. With Joba Chamberlain slated to be in the bullpen from the start of the season, I don't see any holes on this Yankees team. It's going to be tough to unseat the champs.

2. Red Sox (Wild Card)
The Red Sox have jumped on the latest "smart baseball" trend and loaded up with defense and pitching as they hope to win a lot more close games this year. Unfortunately, I don't see how they can keep up with the Yankees when they have no one in their lineup that scares anyone. Sure, Victor Martinez and Kevin Youkilis are professional hitters, but they will be relying on J.D. Drew to do too much and hoping that David Ortiz still has something in the tank. That's not going to be a recipe for postseason success.

3. Rays
The Rays trot out mostly the same team as last year as they hope their young players continue to develop and carry them back to the playoffs. Remember, that World Series trip in 2008 was just a pleasant surprise; this team wasn't supposed to really compete for another few years. Now they seem to have the pieces in place; unfortunately, there are two huge roadblocks ahead of them in the division. If it's any consolation, if the Rays were in the Central or the West they would easily win either division.

4. Orioles
Like the Rays, if the Orioles were in any other division, I would like them to make a run at the Wild Card. With Matt Wieters and Adam Jones getting on base ahead of Nick Markakis, who is looking to bounce back from a slight downturn last year, the Orioles should put up plenty of runs. Their big issue is their pitching. Really, Kevin Millwood on Opening Day? Really? How is that going to cut it in the AL East?

5. Blue Jays
Yuck. There isn't much to like about the Blue Jays, who have no pitching and only a sprinkling of talented hitters. With Roy Halladay out of the mix, Toronto fans aren't going to have much fun watching Shawn Marcum and Ricky Romero, the team's "aces", get lit up all year.

AL Central
1. White Sox
The White Sox are a solid mix of good starting pitching (don't forget they added Jake Peavy last year), speed (Juan Pierre and Alexei Ramirez) and power (Carlos Quintin and Paul Konerko). Sure, they don't do anything great, but they will beat you in a number of ways. While Bobby Jenks is a shaky, there are enough other arms in the pen to keep the Sox in games.

2. Tigers
The addition of Johnny Damon gives Detroit a solid lineup from top to bottom to go with a pitching staff that is top-heavy but could be just deep enough. Damon was a great pickup and should score a ton of runs as he gets on base ahead of the big bats in the middle. The Tigers won't be a great team but they should be competitive in an unimpressive AL Central.

3. Twins
The loss of Joe Nathan hurts but that's not why I have them third in the division while many experts think they will win the Central. Sure, they have some great bats in Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, but have you taken a look at their starting rotation? Carl Pavano is their number 2 starter? They are actually going to count on Francisco Liriano every 5th day? Look, I know the Twins always seem to perform above expectations and I could be wrong, I just think this is the year they take a few steps back.

4. Indians
Like Grady Sizemore, this team once had so much promise but just slowly faded away. While their lineup still has enough punch to keep them competitive, their rotation could be bad enough to let them slip back towards the Royals. When Austin Kearns is your biggest offseason acquisition, you've got problems.

5. Royals
Jason Kendall? Rick Ankiel? Scott Podsednik?? What's the point? If you're the Royals, why aren't you just rolling the dice with the young guys and hoping for a miracle rather than wasting your time and money on again veterans? Poor Zack Greinke.

AL West
1. Mariners
The Red Sox of the AL West are built on pitching and defense and look ready to unseat the Angels as division champs. With Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez making up the best 1-2 punch in the AL and Ichiro, Franklin Gutierrez and Milton Bradley providing great outfield defense, the Mariners look like they have the right formula for success. Also just like Boston, questions abound in the lineup, but this team is built to win in the regular season.

2. Angels
Like the Twins, the Angels always seem to perform better than they look on paper but they look like a team poised to take a step back this year. The AL West has been pretty weak in recent years so the Angels have benefited from playing some weak competition; with the Mariners and Rangers both making strides, LA must step their game up or they will fall by the wayside.

3. Rangers
Even with Ron Washington on coke, the Rangers are on the rise. While Nolan Ryan's supposed reclamation project with the pitching staff is a bit over-hyped, it's hard to argue with the immediate turnaround the team made last year on the mound. If they can somehow get 25+ starts from Rich Harden, Texas could do some real damage.

4. A's
All one needs to do is notice that Eric Chavez is going to be in the lineup every day to know all that you need to know about the A's. Until they get a new stadium and bring in some real revenue, there aren't enough Moneyball tricks up Billy Beane's sleeve to keep this club competitive.

ALDS:
Yankees over White Sox
Red Sox over Mariners

ALCS:
Yankees over Red Sox
ESPN will love this ALCS as the Yankees get back to the Series

MVP: Mark Teixeira, Yankees
A-Rod gets all the press but Teixeira continues to put up big numbers

CY Young: Felix Hernandez, Mariners
He will finally earn his "King" nickname

Agree or disagree with my predictions? Want to make your own? Include your thoughts in the comment section. Check back tomorrow for my National League predictions.

Veterans be damned: Eagles ship Brown, Gocong to Browns

We've all been speculating for days about a possible Eagles trade but this wasn't the move we expected: the Eagles have traded CB Sheldon Brown and LB Chris Gocong to the Browns for LB Alex Hall and 4th and 5th round picks in the draft. While on paper it looks like the Eagles didn't get much in return, it's going to be impossible to gauge this trade until we see who the Birds get in the draft. Clearly, with this move, it looks like the Birds are trying to acquire many picks as possible in a deep 2010 draft.

Hall is a strong-side linebacker with 30 career games under his belt. He is thought of as a pretty good pass rusher although he only has 3 career sacks, with zero coming last year. Hall is expected to compete with Moise Fukou for a starting spot but I wouldn't look at him as much of an upgrade over Gocong, another supposedly good pass rushing linebacker who didn't put up big sack numbers in the NFL. Essentially the Eagles swapped one backup linebacker for another.

With Hall and Gocong nearly the same player, the move essentially works out to be an unloading of the disgruntled Brown for a few draft picks. Brown had been unhappy with the Eagles refusal to give him a raise and the Eagles decided they were better off moving their starting cornerback rather than listen to him complain for another offseason. It's a shame, too, because despite all of his whining off the field, Sheldon Brown was the most reliable member of the Eagles secondary on the field. He always gave his full effort despite what he thought about the Eagles front office.

The trade leaves the Birds very thin at cornerback. Ellis Hobbs presumably moves into the second cornerback spot vacated by Brown but he is coming off an injury. One has to assume that the Eagles will be looking to draft a cornerback or two with the 10 (!) picks they have now accumulated for the 2010 draft.

The Eagles continue to jettison veterans left and right. Brown was a good player but he just turned 31 and was entering the downside of his career and we know the Eagles don't keep guys like that around. At this point, one has to assume that the Eagles will complete their youth movement and finally cobble together a trade that sends Donovan McNabb out of town.

Flyers add goaltender Caron for last 5 games

And the Flyers goaltender carousel continues. With five games remaining in the season, the Flyers have signed goaltender Sebastien Caron of the Swiss Elite League. If Caron clears waivers, you can assume he will be the backup goalie to Brian Boucher for the remainder of the season. He won't be eligible in the playoffs, however, since he is signing so late in the year.

If the name sounds familiar, it's because Caron has played in 92 games in the NHL, most of them for the Penguins before he spent some time with the Blackhawks and Ducks back in 2007. Caron has never put up great numbers in his career, including his time in the Swiss league, but he is at least a goalie with some NHL experience, something the Flyers severely lack in their system.

The addition of Caron means that the Flyers can send Jeremy Duchesne, who is still in college, down to the Phantoms. What it means for Johan Backlund, the logical choice for backup goalie in the playoffs, is another story. Since Backlund is still dealing with a groin issue, is Caron being brought in just for insurance? Backlund didn't play great in his one partial game this season but you would have to think the Flyers will want him ready if Brian Boucher completely collapses in the playoffs. Is it possible the Flyers will just cut Caron or send him to the minors when Backlund is healthy again? I guess only time will tell on that front.

Simply put, the Flyers goaltending situation has been a mess this year. For those counting at home, if Caron gets some game action, he will be the sixth (Emery, Boucher, Leighton, Backlund, Duchesne, Caron) Flyer goaltender of the season. With Boucher looking like a complete disaster against the Islanders on Thursday night and the Flyers having no one they can turn to that they trust, things could get really ugly in the playoffs, especially if they meet the Penguins or Capitals in the first round. It's going to be a convenient thing for the team to blame their goaltending when they get ousted in the playoffs rather than the uninspiring play we have been seeing lately.

Early pitching depth test: Phillies place 3 pitchers on the DL

The depth in the Phillies pitching staff will be tested early this year as the team placed 3 pitchers they are counting on in 2010 on the DL today. Two of them were expected as the Phillies finally made official what we all knew about Brad Lidge and J.C. Romero; the other was surprising considering it is Joe Blanton, who hasn't spent a day on the disabled list in his six major league seasons.

Lidge and Romero both weren't on track to start the season with the Phillies but neither is expected to be out for too long. In their absences, David Herndon and Antonio Bastardo will make the club and Ryan Madson will be the closer. The bullpen will definitely be shorthanded as the season starts.

As for Blanton, he will miss 3 to 6 weeks as he deals with a mild oblique strain. While this is good news for Kyle Kendrick, who jumps from the bullpen to the rotation, losing Blanton will be a blow, even if it's only for April. Since acquiring him in 2008, Blanton has been an anchor in the Phillies rotation, a guy that can be counted on every 5th day to go 6 innings and give up 3-4 runs. While Kendrick had a solid spring this year, there is no telling what the Phillies are going to get from him.

With Blanton going to the DL, a spot on the roster has opened up. The early word via the Phillies beat writers is that Andrew Carpenter will be called up to join the bullpen for Opening Day.

Losing Blanton hurts but it isn't crushing. He will only miss 4-8 starts right at the beginning of the year so it's hardly something that will hold the Phillies back for long, if at all. It's usually actually a good thing to get injuries like these out of the way in April and let guys get 100% healthy before they start their season. Of course, there is always the worry that an injury lingers all season long but Blanton has been nothing but healthy throughout his career so that might not be an issue with him. Lidge and Romero might be another story, though, hopefully their aches and pains don't turn them into question marks in the bullpen.