I've believed, and have said so, that Ozzie made BA pay his dues last year. Brian needed to grow up and Ozzie made that happen. I don't think Ozzie has anything against BA.

You hit it right on, BA needed to grow up. Hopefully he puts baseball before partying this time around.

I guess the game thread is closed...first day's thoughts:

 

1) Flowers is really going to have to work on both throwing mechanics and blocking pitches

2) Nix and Josh Kroeger were the most impressive from a hitting perspective

3) Owens is still getting some bad reads out in CF

4) Who is Willie Anderson (pitcher)? I thought he played for the Spurs and UGA.

5) Brad Salmon is done, stick a form in him.

6) Wasserman and Russell didn't do anything to distinguish themselves...(John) Adam Russell (sorry DJ!) has a quickly diminishing star

7) Richard pitched well, Dotel was his normal unpredictable self and all over the place

Salmon was done to begin with.

 

Kroeger had 1 at bat, hard to draw anything from that.

 

Wassermann struck out 3 guys in one inning, that's pretty distinguished to me.

 

in no way am i suggesting he should be the starter, but im just curious if Kroger can play CF? if he rakes this spring and everyone else falters, can he play there? or is he strictly a corner guy?

Yeah, Kroeger can hold the Center. He's got decent range, and while his arm isn't ideal it can get the job done. I think our best option would be to platoon him and Anderson out their (but 1st he has to show he can hit in spring)

Wassermann struck out 3 guys in one inning, that's pretty distinguished to me.

And from the sound of it, Flowers didn't do a whole lot to stop that WP Wassermann threw. I didn't see it so I'm just guessing, but with a better defensive catcher back there Ehren could have conceivably gotten out of that inning without even allowing an inherited run.

 

I also would add that Fields sounded impressive. It sounded like he hit the ball hard for an out and beat out an IF hit before that. If Fields has his old speed back then that is a big plus for his overall game.

Edited February 26, 200917 yr by Kenny Hates Prospects

I've believed, and have said so, that Ozzie made BA pay his dues last year. Brian needed to grow up and Ozzie made that happen. I don't think Ozzie has anything against BA.

If there's one thing Ozzie wants on his team it's to have a good defense up the middle.

 

BA provides that, no matter if he's a starting CF or a backup 4th OF (which is probably the ideal role for him really).