SSH2005

That has to be the only thing they are thinking. I just don't see Rowand being the same hitter he was in 2004. The holes in his swing have been exploited and he hasn't learned to adjust.

I didn't think that Garland would repeat his 3.50 ERA from last year even before this season started. A prediction is just that -- a prediction. None of us actually knows what will happen. OH.MY.LORD, I don't think that Garland will repeat on his one season that was insanely better than the rest of the seasons in his career. JUST CALL ME A CRAZY MAN! Buehrle, Garland, and Contreras all had career years last season. Expecting them all to just repeat those seasons isn't 100% reasonable.

I said that I think Garcia will still end up having an ERA near 4 at the end of the season. He put up a 3.87 ERA last season and owns a 3.96 career ERA. Not sure how I was being too pessimistic there. I haven't soured on Garland because of one bad outing. I just don't see him repeating his amazing 3.50 ERA from last season. I see him putting up an ERA around 4 this season which is still very good. Our bench is very good this season but the everyday lineup hasn't changed all THAT much. We replaced Rowand with Anderson which will hopefully be a wash or a little bit better (no way of knowing even though I agreed with the move). Yes, Thome is a MASSIVE improvement over Everett but that's still only one upgrade. The bottom of our order is still relatively weak with Pierzynski, Crede, Uribe, and Anderson -- four guys who have poor strike zone discipline.

Buehrle had his best season ever ERA-wise last year but he will obviously still be really good. Garcia didn't instill any confidence in me after barely touching 90 MPH last week. I still think Freddy will put up an ERA near 4 though. Contreras could go either way. I honestly don't expect another 3.50 ERA out of Garland and I don't think that's unreasonable at all. I do think that Vazquez will be better this season though. Basically, our pitching staff was so good last season that it's hard to see them all repeating it. I still think they will be very good though.

I don't think either of them is ready yet. And if we are going to use one of those guys in LF, what purpose does Ross Gload even have on this team -- to start at 1B for Konerko once every two weeks and wait for an injury to occur?

I know this thread was meant to be sarcastic but I do think that the pitching has regressed to the mean but they are all still good. Still, blowing monster leads to the Royals is pathetic and embarrassing.

I would trade a mediocre prospect for Dustan Mohr and send Ozuna to Charlotte. I actually like Ozuna but I said this during Spring Training -- with Mackowiak, Cintron, and Gload there is no need for Ozuna other than to serve as a pinch runner. Now that we know Ozuna stinks in LF, where else would you ever play him? I would play Cintron at SS and 2B over Ozuna and I would play Mackowiak at 3B over him. If we need a pinch runner so bad we can just use Mackowiak or Cintron. We need a right-handed outfielder who can actually play competent defense in LF. It doesn't seem like Ozzie ever wants to play Gload in the outfield unless forced to. I have no faith in Podsednik this season. He is far too fragile. When the head trainer even says that he has to be running like a Porsche to perform properly, he's obviously injury-prone. I would honestly rather see a strict platoon of Rob Mackowiak and Dustan Mohr in LF -- Mackowiak against all righties and Mohr against all lefties. Maybe give Gload a start in LF against a righty once in awhile (probably not going to happen with Ozzie). Podsednik's speed isn't helping us much when he's on the DL or the bench anyways.

With the D-Backs moving Justin Upton to CF, it looks like Young will be their CF'er until Upton is ready. Then when Upton is ready, they will probably trade Young for pitching.

Not true. I said that Ozzie managed the past TWO games poorly. We lost the second game of the season and I don't think that Ozzie made any poor managerial decisions in that game. Freddy just got rocked because he had poor stuff that day. There wasn't much if anything Ozzie could have done to impact the outcome of that game. However, the past two games are a different story. He took the bat out of our hottest hitter's (Thome) hands in the third game by having Iguchi lay down a sac bunt. He also used a rookie pitcher in the biggest at bat of the game against our biggest rival instead of our best lefty in Cotts. Tonight, he left Garland in the game far too long trying to squeeze extra innings out of him. Garland was getting hit hard and he ended up giving up the lead. And Ozuna looked so pathetic in LF, it may not have been a bad idea to sub Gload in the game earlier. I realize that Gload is not very good defensively in the outfield either but anyone would have been an improvement over Ozuna tonight.

^^ That is the lineup I would go with.

Can't argue with you there. Ozzie brings up a ball that was likely a homer if there was no wind. So he knew that Garland was getting hit hard. Yet, he leaves Garland in the game to squeeze an extra inning out of him? Conflicting... The past two games have been managed poorly by Ozzie, IMO.

Wow...

I never said he would have. But now we do know that Ozuna is awful out there. With a righty on the mound tomorrow in Denny Bautista, Gload better be out in LF tomorrow if Podsednik and Dye aren't playing.

Speed sure didn't help Ozuna play LF any better tonight, did it?

Let's try Gload in LF next time please.

They just didn't find the holes dude. Bad luck.

He's left-handed. We are looking for a righty-hitting left fielder to platoon with Mackowiak. When the trainer says that Podsednik has to be running like a Porsche to play the right way, that means he's injury-prone.

Thankfully, three of them were intentional.

I have a feeling that Podsednik's nagging injuries will be around all season. Frankly, I'm pretty sick of it and I wouldn't mind starting Mackowiak in LF against all righties and trading Podsednik off. Just get a righty hitting outfielder not named Ozuna that can play some defense to platoon with Mackowiak in LF.

After tonight's clusterf*** in the outfield, I wouldn't be surprised if Ozzie is having Dye play tomorrow even though he may have wanted to sit him one more game.

Timo is jobless for a reason.

Ummm, no. Ozuna's arm is the equivalent of a 65 year old man's penis without Viagra -- limp noodle.

Back to the thread... I know Ozzie was forced to use Ozuna in LF tonight but I hope he now realizes why he should never play there again. Ozuna should stick to the infield. I know that it was windy tonight but he is really not a good outfielder. Also, Ozzie often seems to leave his starter in the game an inning too long. This game is still Ozuna's fault though.

Damn, you got me there. Thornton has 3 IBB's in 2.2 IP. I wonder what the record number of IBB's in the least amount of innings is.