Rex Hudler

I'll look forward to it if he is still here. If the Barons still suck and Charlotte is in a playoff race, he could be a good late season addition for them.

On that note, Orlando had lost 12 in a row before spanking the Barons 15-3 and 6-1 the last two nights. Four of those 12 wins were at the hands of the Barons, yet they are kicking our ass now. So be careful what you wish for....

I agree that results are what matters, but you typically look for the velocity in a closer. Also, you are right on about Cotts. He definitely knows how to pitch. He is the only thing close to a guaranteed win the Barons have right now.

I wouldn't go that far. Granted the Yankees are so loaded with pitchers that he wasn't likely on the top of their list, but the guy was good enough that he had a chance to pitch in the Bigs. There is always the possibilty that the Sox may have to give the Yankees a player as compensation. I have heard nothing to that effect, but it is reasonable to think it could happen.

Heather, I am no HSC, but please allow me to take a shot. Ring has been solid for the Barons, yet not spectacular. The Bad: Two losses (one legit, the other on errors) and gave up a winning hit (Yofu's runner). He also doesn't throw as hard as I was led to believe. Maybe it was just me, but I was under the impression that he threw in the mid-90's. The last two times I have seen him, he barely hit 90 and was consistently at 87-88. I watched a two full innings standing right behing Corwin (who was in the stands charting and using the gun) and he only hit over 90 one pitch. Everything else was 87 or 88 on his fastball. The Good: His ERA is 0.79. He has 5 saves on a team with not many wins. Opponents average is .222 and he has struck out 15 in 11 1/3 IP. His fastball while not as fast as I thought, sometimes had good movement. Other times it was pretty straight. That could be explained by two and four seam fastballs, but generally the four-seamer is 3-4 mph faster and I saw no evidence of that. His breaking ball had good bite and a sharp break. He fooled several hitters, especially going back door on a righty. His changeup was serviceable and he threw it for strikes a couple of times. Overall, I would rate him well due to decent success at AA in his first full pro season. Keep in mind at this time last year, he was still pitching conference games for San Diego State. Another thing I noticed is that he is also not very big (tall). He is listed at 6-0 and 220. Those numbers COULD (not saying they will) indicate a potential problem with physical conditioning down the road. I do have reservations about him however. I think he will be a decent if not good Major League pitcher, but I still question using a first round draft pick on a college reliever. I am not sure that he would have gone to another team in the 1st round. He has been used in different situations. They are trying to get him innings so he will likely pitch more 2 and 3 inning outings than your typical closer. They will also have to be creative in how they use him if the Barons don't start winning more games. How's that work Heather?

I do, so consider it the law!

Sure you are welcome there. So you had a spat. So what! This isn't HS, get over it. Grudges begone!

How do you know what he was pissed at? How do you know he wasn't pissed at himself? Guys throw tantrums all the time. Like it or not, I don't think you can assume that his anger was directed to JM and not at himself. well my buddy in the locker room told me that after his little display of anger in the dugout yesterday he had a fit in the clubhouse and then a nice sit down with jm and kw both and then had a pow wow with a few of his teamates...... i would say that his display of anger was twards jm........at least thats how i hear it...... his shouting through the closed door also said something along the lines of "well when the f***er came and took me out i was pissed because i know i could have gotten out of that"..........(billy botch in a closed door meeting with kw and jm).....what would you think the tantrum in the dugout meant after hearing that............... im not speculating here just repeating what i had heard from my friend........ Fair enough.......

My bad, I thought I had posted this one already.... If you would go to World Crossing on occasion, you would have gotten this scoop already. LOL Delvis Lantigua went to the Yankees along with Osuna in the Colon deal. Apparently, Delvis ran into some problems in the offseason when trying to get back into the US for spring training. Apparently, Delvis Lantigua is not really Delvis Lantigua. His real name is Eddie Gonzalez or Martinez (I don't remember exactly, but it was a common Latin surname). He is really 29 years old. Since he was using a false identity, the Dominican police held him up. My understanding is that they will not allow him to leave the country since they don't really know who he is or much about him. The Yankess and MLB put him on indefinite suspension while the investigation was ongoing. Word has it that just recently the MLB Commissioner's office has banned him from organized baseball for LIFE. I believe he is still refrained from the leaving the Dom. Rep. as well. The sad thing is, the guy was damned good for us last year. He had a chance to pitch in the Big Leagues. May not have made it, but he had a chance.

How do you know what he was pissed at? How do you know he wasn't pissed at himself? Guys throw tantrums all the time. Like it or not, I don't think you can assume that his anger was directed to JM and not at himself.

Birmingham's situation is pretty simple actually. They had 15 returning players from last year. Unfortunately, that did not include: Aaron Miles - League MVP Miguel Olivo - C in Chicago and Playoff MVP Josh Stewart - SP in Chicago Joe Valentine - 36 saves (Rolaids Relief Pitcher of the Year in all the Minors) Arnie Munoz Dave Sanders - Three guys with ERA's under 2.50 in the bullpen Gary Majewski Felix Diaz - AAA (Won 4-0 plus playoff win) Eddie Gonzalez/Martinez/ - (aka Delvis Lantigua - won 3 playoff games including championship game) In other words, they got all the role players back without the stars. Not enough new guys to step up to those levels right now.

f*** off or f*** you whats the difference, the fact is its disrespectful and shouldnt have been said by the little punk..........and if he wasnt saying it to jm who was he saying it to??? the mound, the grass, the air??who..... he was clearly pissed cause he was pulled .....too freakin bad... you suck you sit.. plain and simple... poor rowand was sent down and you dont see him blowing a gasket in the dugout....as for paulie blowing it i had not seen it cause i was at the game and sitting over the dugout.......( a few rows back) had i seen it or heard of it then i would call him an asshole too..........theres a time and a place for that kind of behavior, behind closed doors would have been a better place to act like a crybaby throwing a fit..........no wonder we get a bad rap ... having a cow on national tv speaks volumes for ones attitude.............or the perception there of............. I for one, and I would hope most of you would agree with me, would have a problem if Koch WASN'T pissed off. I didn't see the expletive and obviously there are differing opinions on its meaning. I would however, be willing to bet his anger was more at himself for not getting the job done than moaning about being pulled. Baseball players in general are competitive as hell and closers have to be even more so. If my closer gets pulled because he isn't getting the job done, I WANT him to be pissed off. That said, I disagree with those that think he should be rested or have to "earn his job back'. I think the smartest thing JM could do is get him back out there the first save opportunity and show that they still have confidence in him. It would be nice if that situation were of the "beginning of the inning with 2 or 3 run lead" variety. Athletes egos are fragile and anyone that thinks managers don't have to manage those egos has no clue what goes on. The best managers are the ones that can stroke the egos that need to be stroked, kick the guys in the ass that need it and still make everyone feel they are being treated fairly. Guys don't always have to be happy, but they have to respect the manager's decisions and that is accomplished by managing those egos properly. Joe Torre is a master at this.

Send Backman to Chicago and Manuel to Birmingham? Perhaps that will shake things up?? LOL

Notice the Barons 4th pitcher and Orlando's 3rd pitcher.... BIRMINGHAM (3) AT ORLANDO (15) BIRMINGHAM AB R H BI ORLANDO AB R H BI C Durham CF 3 1 0 0 G Martinez CF 6 3 3 1 D Sandoval 2B 4 0 2 1 D Dement DH 5 2 2 0 R Hankins 1B 3 0 0 0 M Diaz RF 6 3 4 1 G Alvarez 1B 1 0 0 0 J Gomes LF 6 2 2 3 D Ingram LF 3 1 1 1 D Grummitt 1B 5 3 3 3 J Piniella LF 1 0 0 0 A Perez 2B 3 1 1 1 S Bikowski RF 4 1 1 0 J Cantu 3B 5 1 2 3 C Maldonado C 4 0 2 0 C Isenia C 5 0 3 1 J Acevas DH 4 0 0 0 J Brewer SS 5 0 0 0 G Reyes SS 4 0 2 1 J Shaffer 3B 3 0 0 0 TOTALS 34 3 8 3 TOTALS 46 15 20 13 BIRMINGHAM 011 000 100 -- 3 ORLANDO 531 031 02x -- 15 E--G Reyes, D Sandoval, J Cantu. DP--ORLANDO 1. LOB--BIRMINGHAM 5, ORLANDO 14. 2B--D Sandoval, G Martinez, J Cantu, M Diaz, C Isenia, A Perez. HR--D Ingram 1 (3) (off J Switzer), G Martinez 1 (1) (off J Bajenaru), J Cantu 1 (2) (off J Bajenaru), D Grummitt 1 (5) (off C Malone). SB--J Gomes 1 (2). IP H R ER BB SO HR BIRMINGHAM C Malone (L,2-2) 1 2-3 9 8 8 2 3 1 C Eason 2 1-3 4 1 1 1 3 0 J Bajenaru 2 5 4 4 0 1 2 E Battersby 2 2 2 1 3 1 0 ORLANDO J Switzer (W,2-2) 6 3 2 2 1 3 1 J Benedetti 1 3 1 1 0 0 0 J Rocker 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 B Fortunato 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 WP--C Malone. HBP--D Grummitt by E Battersby. SO--BIR: S Bikowski 2, D Ingram, J Shaffer, J Acevas, G Reyes. ORL: D Grummitt 2, A Perez 2, G Martinez, J Brewer, J Gomes, J Cantu. BB--BIR: C Durham. ORL: A Perez 3, J Cantu, D Dement, C Isenia. T--2:43. A--0,577.

CW, I think we agree for the most part. I think the only part that you don't get is that even if I know the world is diverse and that there are many different types of people, it is natural for me not to know how to react when I first come into contact with someone that is openly gay. Especially if we are sharing the same showers. Like I said, that all passes, but the initial reaction is natural and real for a heterosexual male. Rather than criticize Todd Jones, perhaps someone should try to educate him. Of course, some learn slower than others and there are always a few rubes that never learn. And lastly, I truly believe that Todd believes he was speaking for baseball in general and that he is not the only that feels this way.

Manuel showed lots of balls, he pulled his 6 million dollar closer in a save situation. If he doesn't and Botch gets rocked again, you all call him an idiot and he does the right thing and nobody gives him credit. hmmmmm. He also showed balls because if Marte comes in and screws it up and we lose, then everybody and their brother (media especially) screams "Why didn't you go with your $6 million closer?"

I think that is just KW's way of getting the media off of the subject. If the situation calls for it and he feels he has to get rid of JM, then he will. Some people just aren't ready to fire someone at the drop of a hat and are willing to look for other ways to right the ship. Again, it is the player's that aren't performing. You can criticize individual moves all you want, but it is easy to say he should have done this or should have done that after what he did do, didn't work.

Rex, I definately understand where your coming from. JM is a great guy and I wish him all the best. I have my belief that his style is much better for a team filled with veterans. Just like I think Joe Torre would struggle with the Sox, because I think of him as more of a veteran type manager. I have no problem with someone thinking that JM should be fired, but let's not put the guy up for a public hanging. Reading all of this, I feel like I am in Alabama listening to all of the idiots who want to crucify their football coach (pick one past or present, they aren't happy if your name is Bear Bryant). A guy doesn't win and they want to hang him.

Substitute the word "gay" for "black" and we are at 1946 all over again. Players didn't want disruptions in "their" locker room. They didn't want tot ake showers with "them." "They" were wrong. Jones had balls? Then maybe so did George Wallace when he stood in the U of Alabama doorway - or Lester Maadox with his pick ax handles... The "oh has guts to say what he thinks" is not really applicable unless you apply it to maybe Hitler in Mein Kampf, or perhaps any member of the KK with their hatred of blacks, Jews, Catholics, Masons, and gays... A lot of people who spew hatred are nice guys. Timothy McVeigh was very well spoken and polite to his elders. And his comments did speak of hatred of gay men - as I quoted his own words earlier in this thread. And to say he has "never been exposed" to someone who is gay - bulls***. Gays are not some thing that one has to be exposed to... not is one free to hate what one does not acknowledging having known. And I suppose we should never have allowed Jackie Robinson to play because he was such a distraction to his team. Why didn't they stay with their own kind and not disrupt our game? CW, you missed my point completely. First of all, I didn't read hate into Jones's words. I read someone who is not comfortable with the situation and who described what he thought would be what it would be like were there an openly gay teammate. I never said whether the prevailing opinion is right or wrong, but I do think it is reality. As i said, like when Jackie Robinson first started, there was an adjustment period and it would take time for the players to adapt. I know their world and that is reality. Right, wrong or indifferent, that's the way it would be right now. The media would make it worse. And regardless of what you think, YES most men do need to be exposed to someone that is gay before they can be comfortable with it. Being gay is something that is not comprehendable for most hetero men. Most of us who have known someone that is gay begin to understand that because someone is gay it will not affect "my lifestyle". We becomre more comfortable with the situation. We learn that it is okay to hang out with a gay man and that he will not likely "hit on us". We learn that gay men are people like us, who just have different preferences. To think that most men should automatically understand this and think that way without every being around or knowing someone that is gay, is completely unrealistic. The bottom line is, whether you agree with it or not, an openly gay player would not be welcomed into a professional sports locker room with open arms at this point. The key is, that the gay player has the choice to make his sexuality known or keep it to himself, where Jackie Robinson didn't have that choice. When a player is ready to come out into the open, he will. At that time, there will be an adjustment period whether you agree with it or not. I think too much is being read into what he said.

Write it down....... his head is as messed up as his mechanics.

Manuel, on the other hand, should be fire and drowned in the Chicago River. What the hell kind of comment is that? I assume everyone is perfect at their job? If not, all of you can go jump in the f***ing Chicago river. Whether Manuel gets fired or not, you guys are acting like he is not human. You talk about him like he is a piece of s***. I can guarantee you that he wants to win more than any of you f***ers. I was going to write a nice calm post about him, but obviously the majority here coulnd't understand fair comments looking at things from both sides. You want to get the team going? Send FT to AAA. The bastard has done s***. Send Konerko out. Hell, you guys wanted to crucify Carlos Lee and he is one of the only guys hitting well now. While we're at it, let's just demote the whole damned team and switch it with Charlotte. They seem to be playing well. Let's just hope they don't struggle, cause you guys would panic after the first guy went 0-4 two days in a row!

I am not getting into the argument of the morality of being gay. I posted the older column that Todd wrote because I felt it communicated his thoughts better than how it was written in the Denver Post. I have met Todd and he is a nice guy. I don't think his comments were meant to be anti-gay in terms of him hating gay men. He admitted that he is uneducated on the issue and would be uncomfortable at first with a gay teammate. Those type of comments are very normal for someone that has never been exposed to someone that is gay. Uneasy feelings are natural to most guys. Most are uncomfortable with homosexuality at first. Fortunately, most people get over it once they are exposed to someone that is gay and they realize it is not a big deal. I do agree however right or wrong it is, that in the beginning a gay player would be a distraction for a team. I know how athletes think and I don't think they would handle it well in "their world" aka, the locker room. Of course, they would eventually get over it as they learned a little more. There would be an adjustment period that no one knows how long it would take. You can argue all you want whether that is right or wrong, but if it is reality then why argue it? If a player ever "comes out" then the situation will work itself out then. So whether you agree with Todd or not, understand that he was not just speaking for himself, he was speaking for how he thinks it would be in general. He had the balls to say it, no one else did. Nonetheless, it doesn't look good in print and like most things in print, it is open to a strong reaction.

This article was written by Todd Jones in June last year and printed in the Birmingham News. Jones writes a weekly column for the News. His views don't sound so harsh in his own words, yet still, he should keep his mouth shut. Jones: Gay player would disrupt team's chemistry Editor's note: Sunday's Denver Post article was not the first time Colorado pitcher Todd Jones has commented publicly about gay players in baseball. Jones, who writes a weekly Sunday column for The Birmingham News during baseball season, wrote on the topic on June 16, 2002. Here is a reprint of that column. Greetings, Birmingham. Hope all finds you well. I have received a lot of mail about the acceptance of gay players in baseball. Many of you wanted to know if baseball is ready for an openly gay player. First, I'm a heterosexual, Godfearing Baptist. I'm not here to explain if being gay is right or wrong, but I'd like to explain the dynamics of a gay person on a ball club. On the field, there would be no problems. If the player could help our team win baseball games, I would not care if he was gay or green. Off the field is where it gets tough. Real tough. Our team is around each other for eight months or more at a time. That's more time than I'm around my wife and kids. We eat together, live together and shower together. I need to be comfortable around my teammates. In my opinion, if a gay player has made his sexual preference public, he would have to understand there are 24 teammates with different opinions who are going to deal with him differently. Some players would accept the gay player right off the bat, while others would never be able to accept him. The gay player would need to have thick skin. Jackie Robinson had to deal with racism and jokes about his color throughout his career. A gay player would have to deal with other players cussing him out or banning him from showering with them. For me, the original shock would be hard to handle. To know a player is gay and in the same shower as I am would be strange. It's only human nature to feel this way. After awhile, like anything else, I would get used to it. For those who couldn't get used to it, the gay player could respect their feelings and wait until they had finished showering before he showered. But that might not be enough to resolve the situation. If some other guys on the team have a big problem with him, it would be real easy for the front office to decide the player is a distraction. He would probably be sent out or traded. You need to understand this is a business with big bucks, and if the star player says he can't relax around a gay player, who do you think would lose his job? The gay player had better be a darn good player. I think a gay baseball player would be lonely. Players would think twice about asking him out to lunch because other players might think the straight player is gay. I don't think players are narrow-minded, but I think they are homophobic. I'm homophobic. It's easy to be scared of something you don't know anything about. It would take a special player to admit he's gay. He would have to withstand a lot of verbal abuse. And it would take a special team to accept a gay player teammates who could separate the talent from the lifestyle. I suggest the "don't ask, don't tell" method. I mean, why is it important for a gay player to assert his rights and be heard? Just play ball.

I think Yan is the first move that should be made and it may happen sooner than we think (no inside info, just a hunch). Remember, Yan has already spent a year in high-A. Holt could come back, but I am not sure he is any better than the guys we have. I was at least half tongue-in-cheek about Webster. Sending him to Birmingham may be a bit quick on the draw, especially since he is considered a raw talent as it is. I think you will see Honel here later in the season, but I would be surprised if it is before the halfway point and am thinking more likely the last month of the season. Another thing to keep in mind, they won't strip W-S of talent if they are headed for the playoffs, at least not unless they want to lose another affiliate. Wing and Allen are also possibles toward the end of the season, depending on what happens here and in Charlotte. Things keep up with the big club and Backman may be the "prospect" that moves up the fastest. Then again, Nick Leyva is also a possibility.

Hell, let's bump him up to Birmingham now. See what he is made of.