Jim Fainter

When I see a team steadily improve loke the Barons have done, it makes me think that the players are hustling their asses off and you have a good skipper.

We are probably the worst team in baseball right now.

I wasn't able to see the game, but did follow the scores. I knew White would find his way to the mound tonight. Can anybody tell me his stats? If not, I'll get them in the morning. When we signed him, I was the only guy on this board who criticized it. I kept saying that he creates line drives. It won't stop. Maybe one of his teammates will smack him, ala Bob Ryan. One way or another, he has to go. This is Todd Ritchie, all over again. At least put him on the DL.

Cerbaho: You have some great ideas, BUT, Frank is untradeable. No one will take him, and he can refuse any trade if there was one due to the 10/5 rule. AND, who would take Konerko.? His trade value is zero. Other than that, your ideas are better than KW's.

Name one besides Marte and Ring and Cotts. There is no excuse for not moving him up.

Ring was also voted Pitcher of the Week.

Thanks for the report, Jim. Just wondered how much attention you guys at Birmingham give to the parent club and all the problems facing the Sox, namely hitting and defense. Keep the the good work, and nail down a few more Wins for the Barons.

Simple logic says that if have a guy who is arguably too old for A ball (25), and he is doing very, very well in A ball, that you would move him up to AA and see how he does there. I mean, how tough is this game?

I would take a chance on either Rivera or Thames. Obviously, I don't have the benefit of any scouting report. But if they would take some player off our hands...... I don't want to name names here, because none of us wants to be critical, but we signed R. White based on his performance last year with the Cards. If the Yanks are really hurting, who knows, they might be willing to take a flyer on him. I think they believe in the magic of the pinstripes. It looks to me as if we are playing with a 23 man roster. Harris should be on the DL, and we cannot possibly put White into a game unless it is strictly mop up duty.

Nick Johnson would be a stretch. But they have some good outfielders at AAA Columbus.

I have very serious doubts if JoeB will ever be the answer. Man, I hope I am wrong.

What do you mean "with this offense." The offense is way below average for major league standards.

Have you ever seen another batting coach so reviled? I can't remember another batting coach raise such an emotional outcry from the fans.

I'm not so sure. Everyone thinks so, but they are just playing baseball against better baseball players. Part of OUR problem is that we all sold a bill of goods to ourselves. Me included. We finished well last year, especially Crede. Rowand looked pretty good. Same with Jiminez. Then we made a couple of trades, and optimism not only reigned, it flourished. We expected way too much. We penciled in unrealistic stats for our starters. e.g. Maggs: Everyone thought he would be an MVP candidate with stats like .330/35/135, or thereabouts. Ain't gonna happen. Compare our position players to those on opposing teams. We are not as good. I see the Rockies, Cubs, and the Braves play a lot. We are not as good. Believe me, Rios, Daubach, Konerko, Alomar, Harris, Lee, et al would not make the Rockies, and they are about a .500 team. We are now 20-23, and we are 5-1 vs Detroit. I don't think we are necessarily underachieving. We are just playing to our level of skill against better players. Well, mabe a little bit underachieving.

More importantly, if he ends up in the .235-.250 range, which is entirely possible, what will the Sox do with him next year? My guess is they will try to sign him after he has been a free agent for a few months, assuming no one will give him the cash he will want. I don't see anyone in the minors, so it's either Jose in 2004, a trade, or a free agent signing. If it's a trade, you know we will get screwed. If it's another FA, you know we will pay too much. I just wish I knew in my own small mind whether or not Jiminez can play SS. I know most of you think the answer is "no." PS. Your boy Clayton is still slumping. Down to .213.

Just got save # 12 vs the Rockettes.

I was out of town with no TV.. I am aware that Harris went down with an injury, but does anyone know why Maggs was in center and Rios was in right field for the whole game?

A month ago Crede was robbed of a home run (by an umpire), and he went into an immediate tailspin. On Saturday CLee was robbed of a homer. I hope tailspin does not follow.

Any chance he'll be sent to the bullpen for a couple of outings?

Big time salary.

You're right. Liking Miles might be like cheering for the third string quarterback who holds the clipboard--most popular guy in town. But, Miles is hitting and deserves some sort of a shot, even if it is not until September. If he continues the onslaught in AAA, we will keep talking about him. At least we should get him on the 40 man roster so he can be protected.

I believe I mentioned that the Rockies GM is dumber than a bag of rocks. KW should seek him out for another trade. I would love to see those two talk trade at a conference table and watch the wheels move.

The Miles freight train slowed down last night. 1 for 4, down to .371.

He went 0 for 7 in the marathon. Now at .225.

Some of that stuff is entertaining to a limited degree, but it really is unnecessary. A prime example was in yesterday's Brave-Padre game in which the Brave pitcher hit Klesko in the head, and it was totally obvious to everyone that it was an accident. The Brave pitcher showed immediate remorse. But still, later in the game, the Padre pitcher just "HAD" to drill Chipper Jones. That is not part of the game.