Not really new to Liberty Ballers, I read it all the time, but never really felt the need to put in my two cents. However, after two games against the wizards and a pretty fantastic start to the season, I'm probably more excited about the sixers than I've been since I was 12. Obviously, there's been alot of talk about the sixers needing a superstar to make it over the top, etc etc, and I can't particularly argue against that, but I think there are also some smaller upgrades that could be pretty easily made, starting with Jodie Meeks.

Anyway, games against Washington always remind me of two things: one is how happy I am not to be rooting on the wizards, and the second is how much I wish we'd do some minor swap to get Nick Young on our squad. He's certainly not a star, and his defense needs work (meet doug collins) but I think its pretty much un-arguable that swapping him for Jodie in our starting lineup would drastically improve our offense, and I'm actually fairly certain that a year next to Iguodala and Collins screaming at him every game for all his missed rotations would turn him into a pretty solid defender. I find it hard to believe he'd be worse than Jodie, who's just too small to guard NBA two guards. The fact that he signed for 3.7 million this offseason is laughable, and offensively he'd immediately become one of our better players. Non of this factors in him getting out of Washington either, which I think might actually have just been added to Wikipedia as the tenth circle of hell. Not having to hang out with Andray Blatche and Javale McGee on the weekends would probably do wonders for his psyche, and young shooting guards who could average close to 20 ppg don't grow on trees. Maybe dangling that trade exception and Jodie would do the trick. Otherwise, we could just sign him to a four year 20 million dollar contract next season and introduce him to Michael Curry. He's cheap, and he improves our half court offense. Win-win in my book.

Thoughts? Free Nick Young?

Obviously, we've had a decent amount of talk on here about the down year in the farm system (and I generally agree that it's been pretty mediocre). That said, I was looking over Robbie Grossman and Starling Marte's stats this morning, particularly month by month, and its pretty damn rewarding. I knew they were both having good years, but lately those good years are starting to turn ridiculous. Both have had essentially one outlier month at the plate (Grossman had a .670 ops in may, and Marte had a .719 ops in July), and outside those some pretty crazy numbers.

Marte's OPS by month: .816, .829, .899, 1.097

Marte's SLG by month: .453, .475, .522, .659

Grossman's OPS by month: .826, .995, .917, 1.068

Grossman's SLG by month: .400, .495, .467, .648

Of course, looking at a season as a whole you shouldn't remove a bad month. Bad month's happen. Its baseball. Regardless, I still think both players are not only starting to show off the talent that got them recognized, but also some very serious improvement during the year in their skill sets. I dont think either player's power is a fluke, and if they can each hit 15-20 home runs a year (which looks distinctly possible) we could have a ridiculously talented outfield in the near future, as well as a massive, wonderful headache regarding which outfielders to keep and which to trade. Should be fun to watch what they do in AA and AAA. Here's hoping they keep it up. 

I like Hurdle most of the time, but one thing that drives me crazy is shuffling around the lineup when someone's been hitting really well in a particular spot. Case in point: Jose Tabata. I was pretty pissed when he was moved from the leadoff spot, and he ending up tanking more or less till he was put back there. Meanwhile McCutchen's been raking out of the 3 spot, and tonight he's batting fourth. I just hope its not permanent.

Obviously, I understand trying to jump start guys, but I don't understand moving the one guy in the entire lineup with an average north of 270. This isn't the '27 yankees. Move the guys who couldn't hit a beach ball at the YMCA, not the guy who's mashing. This seems like common sense.

I've got no problem with moving neil, just don't switch him with Cutch. Please.

Has anybody had a look at Gonzalez yet? He's basically picking up right where he left off last year  (hitting wise) and from the stats it seems like he's doing much better against lefties this year (two doubles off a lefty tonight). I know Anup over at Bucs Prospects liked his swing from the left side last year, and I thought he was fairly athletic. Good age for High A too. Seems like a guy with a pretty good hit tool. Maybe somebody to keep an eye on? If he could hit over 300 with a good OBP and good D maybe he could turn into an everyday player. A better Josh Harrison perhaps. Except hopefully he's athletic enough to slide to second. Hopefully he's one of those guys who just keeps getting better and better the more time we give him.

With the Padres getting Bartlett, I would assume that Everth Cabrera's available. I'm not an enormous fan, but trading a minor league reliever for him wouldn't be the end of the world, and would create a little competition between him and cedeno. I also think he'd come pretty cheap, and he's got some tools that maybe he could grow into. Anyway, just saying he's an option, and a cheap (very) young one, to make the shortstop picture a little more interesting. Thoughts?

The Pirates are reportedly being aggressive, as we knew before, but the word is now that it's with some bigger free agents, including Adrian Beltre. 

Obviously, he would be pretty perfect for us, even if he's a long shot. If we were to throw money at a higher priced player, Beltre would be someone I'd have no real concerns with, as he'd help on defense and offense pretty substantially. That said, signing him wouldn't give us much flexibility with the starting rotation unless the Pirates do some trading.

Anyway, I thought I'd post it for discussion's sake. (Also there's word Javier Vasquez could be had much cheaper than anticipated on ESPN, as front offices are skeptical of his drop in velocity and bad year.) Anyway, interesting stuff.

UPDATE by Charlie: I'll believe it when I see it, but if there's any time we can dream on stuff like this, it's now.

If Colby Rasmus were even remotely available this offseason what would you give up to get him? Obviously McCutchen and Alvarez are unavailable, but anybody else I think would be fair game. Maybe Ohlendorf, one of Locke/Owens/Morris, and then a younger ZVR, Cain, Rojas guy? They'd probably ask for Tabata at the least (plus others), but if the minor league pull was lighter I'd probably do it. Anyway, its interesting just because theres such a fine line between giving too much and giving enough to possibly get him. He'd be a pretty big piece for us.

I know Delwyn Young isn't the most popular Bucs guy out there since a good chunk of people want to get rid of him this offseason (which I think is crazy.. he's a good enough pinch hitter that I think he could earn a spot on just about any club) but, that aside, what do you think of getting him some more time in right? Doumit and Milledge are just as bad on D as Young (if not even a little worse in right), and I feel like Young might have a bit more upside at the plate. His hitting in the minors was always pretty lights out. I'm not advocating him as a long term solution obviously, but I think 30 games at second base where we knew he was horrendous isn't enough to never consider a guy as a full time player again (especially on the pirates). I dont see what it could hurt, and I feel like with regular at bats he might put up a 275 avg and 20 HRs on the year. Another option if Doumit's traded is platooning Young with Milledge. Just some ideas, since I still consider Young a pretty good hitter at the major league level, and its not like we have guys lining up for the RF job.

Projected rotation next year (as of today):

James McDonald (Maybe Very Good, Likely Good)

Ross Ohlendorf (Maybe Good, likely solid)

Brad Lincoln (Supposed to be Good, likely Uhhh... )

Paul Maholm (Supposed to be solid, Uhhh....)

Zach Duke / Charlie Morton / Daniel McCutchen (Uhhh....)

I'm excited about the pirates future, and Im behind the FO, but thats downright terrifying. I'm going to have nightmares. Worse. I'm going to have actual fantasies about Karstens rejoining the rotation. Without better pitchers its borderline impossible to get a three game win streak, let alone run through a rotation. I know Rudy, Justin, and company are in Altoona, but they aren't up till at least midseason, and it could get spectacularly ugly before that point next year. We need a starting pitcher pretty desperately, otherwise.... I dont know. I want to build the right way, but I want to win a few more games too, and I feel like adding a solid pitcher through a trade or FA would go a long way to making next year more bearable. I think the offense over the whole year could come out about league average in 2011, but if we give up six runs a game... you get the point. Anyway, think this is far and away the biggest hole to fill. Holes to fill. Caves to fill. Canyons to fill. Black Holes to fill. Whatever you want to call it.

Sweet dreams.

I know we had a post a couple days ago about potential bounce back prospects for next year, but what does everybody think of potential breakout prospects for 2011?

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Every year, Pirates fans wonder if we've hit the bottom. If we've hit the lowest point for this franchise in the last 18 years. For most on this sight, that bottom was probably last year (me included), simply because it didn't include rookies like Alvarez, Tabata, and Walker who, despite their rough patches, have showed glimpses of the players they can become. For everyone else, including the national media, the local media, and any fan who's tried to convince himself the franchise is ruined under this management, we probably hit that bottom tonight.

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     I noticed recently there's been alot of talk about how to rank the pitchers in our system, specifically related to talent and ceiling or by proximity and likelihood of reaching the big leagues. 

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So who are the new Top Ten Prospects for the Bucs? I drew up a list, but there's guys I didn't want to leave out who I just couldn't find room for. I thought Rojas and Justin Wilson would be at the bottom for sure, but then when it came down to I didnt want to take the other guys out. I dont know if Brad Lincoln's eligible either, but for now Im assuming hes no longer a "prospect."

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I've been checking out the lower minors since short season started, and it really looks like some of these young guys could be serious players. Obviously the high school pitching talent kind of speaks for itself, and gets its fair share of press, and certainly is worth getting excited about. But our hitting as well, specifically in the GCL looks like its got some potential studs. Eric Avila, Exicardo Cayonez, Junior Sosa, and Jorge Bishop all have tons and tons of tools, and none of them seems to strike out too much. Avila looks like the righty power bat we need, Cayonez can flat out hit, Sosa seems like a perfect leadoff guy, and Bishop's a good offensive shortstop. Anyway, if a few of these guys pan out and reach their potential they'd go a long long way in improving out farm system. If these four keep it up, and somebody like Aaron Baker, Evan Chambers, or even Michaelangel Trinidad (who's still too old for his level, and still hammering the ball) break out into good prospects, plus all the highschool arms (and probably Taillon and Allie as well) our farm system goes from average (but improving) to pretty filthy. It'll be interesting to follow, especially next year when these young guys move up to different levels.

After checking out Charlie's top thirty list (which was great work, absolutely appreciate you putting in the time to do something like that), I agree with just about everything, but I do have a few bones to pick, though only one really with the rankings.

One of the issue's I have is saying pirates prospects are having "a pretty bad season." I'm not denying that we've had a rash of injuries. Obviously, that's undeniable, and it sucks. At the same time, I don't remember the last time the pirates have had so many actual prospects preforming so well. From four prospects legitimately earning their way to the big leagues, numerous prospects jumping back onto the radar screen (Morris, Walker, Adcock, Locke, Harrison, Anderson, Latimore etc), and prospects like D'Arnaud and Hernandez starting to pick it up, as well as already established guys continuing to excel (aka the Altoona pitching staff) I think there's plenty to be proud of in regards to our minor league system. It'd be great if those injured players were playing well and on the field, but injuries happen, and about half those guys are young enough that it shouldn't hurt them too bad. It does put a damper on the minor league season, but on the whole I still believe its been a very very solid one so far, and far better than any have been in recent memory.

My big issue though is with the general apathy surrounding Josh Harrison as a prospect on Bucs Dugout. I'm not saying he's a big prospect, and I'm not trying to push him forward as someone to keep an eye on or even get excited about. But at the same time, he's still a very good player to have around when it comes down to it, especially for a second basemen. I copied below the top 30 MLB second basemen in games started this season. Fifteen of them hit under .270. Seven more hit under .240. Ten have an OPS under .700. Four have an OPS under .600. If there isn't room for a second basemen who could potentially hit over three hundred (.315), plays solid D, and strikes out less than once every three games (24 stikeouts in 75 games this year at AA... imagine if Pedro Alvarez only struck out once every three games... Im so distracted now), then MLB is crazy. Josh Harrison isn't a prospect you build around. I'd never argue that. What I would argue is that Josh Harrison is a hell of a contact hitter, and I could easily see him stepping onto an established team, and being the difference between a good offense and a great offense. You could do much worse with an eight hitter (in fact you couldnt do much better), and I don't think there's much to argue with that at all. In no way is he Chase Utely, but I think at this point in time most people would at least consider him over a guy like Jarek Cunningham, since he's hitting 30 points higher two levels higher at 22 and strikes out half as much. I dont know where to put him on the prospect list, and I dont really think he's top ten mostly cause he is what he is at this point (at least in what type of player he could be), but I think 26 is pretty ridiculous for a young guy playing that well in AA, especially considering his position and how horrible the general MLB second basemen is on offense.

Anwyay, just my thoughts. Thanks again for the list charlie.

LF Tabata

2B Walker

CF McCutchen

3B Alvarez

1B / RF Jones

C Doumit

RF Milledge / 1B Pearce

SS Cedeno

Seems like a pretty good lineup to end the year on. If the team of the present can make a little run and get 8 to 10 games below 500 before Pedro arrives I feel like our squad could make a run at breaking the streak (I put Alvarez in the four hole because thats where he's hitting in AAA, and I'd be pretty surprised if that wasn't his spot in the majors). I know putting Doumit in the lineup might be a little premature, but I'm hoping the front office doesn't pull the trigger on him quite yet. I love Tony Sanchez just as much as everybody else, but a prospect is a prospect, and until he's in AAA and playing pretty well I'd hang on to the only starting catcher we've got. Pearce could move Milledge out of the picture, but I'd like to see both those guys get a decent amount of PT the rest of the year since they've both shown bits here and there. I can suddenly see multiple games where we score over two runs in the future. Its beautiful....

Also like to throw out there that I dont see any reason to be worried about Brad Lincoln. He certainly didnt look great, but if there's anything he proved in the minors, its that he needs three or four games to adjust to a level. I'm still excited for him.

It seems like Rudy Owens has seen a rise in his velocity this year, at least according to BucsProspects (http://bucsp.com/2010/05/17/tim-alderson-and-rudy-owens-aa-pitching-reports-versus-richmond/). He's been sitting at 90-93 and touching 94 on his fastball in recent outings, which is a significant jump from the 87-90 he was at last year, and should make his offspeed stuff even more impressive, specifically his changeup (which was already his best pitch). With Bryan Morris moving up to Altoona, and Rudy Owens already there, that gives the Pirates two potential frontline starters suddenly in the high minors, both of whom could move on to Indy this year. Both guys seem to be developing hit and miss stuff, and their arrival in Pittsburgh seems much closer than it did this summer. The prospect of those two, plus Lincoln, Ohlendorf, Morton, Duke, and Maholm, suddenly gives us a lot of options moving into 2011 and 2012, and we could have the makings of a pretty impressive rotation if a few guys break out (I guess Morris has, but I'd like to see him against AA before passing judgement... that said, his stuff sounds filthy when he's at his best). If Charlie Morton can continue pitching better and turn around his season, we could have three or four really good guys fronting our rotation in a year or two. Anyway, its something to keep an eye on, and certainly something to be excited about, especially with our bullpen already built on two studs in Meek and Hanrahan.

I know everybody expects at least one, and maybe both of these pitchers to be traded at some point this year, but I'm beginning to wonder if that's the best option at this point in time. Obviously, neither guy is lights out, but neither one is old (duke's 26 and maholm will be 27), neither guys bad, and they tend to keep us in their fair share of games. These guys obviously would never front a good rotation, but I think both would be very good at the four or five spot, and they probably wouldn't be too steep to retain. So maybe the best option is to resign them (so long as its reasonable), and hold onto them until we're certain we have better options in the minors. Our 5th spot this year is already a mess, and the only real pitchers on the horizon for next year are Lincoln and Veal (and Veal's still a long shot). Maybe Rudy Owens or Crotta could work themselves into a starting position, but pitching still seems like a weakness moving forward (at least in the high minors), and I dont expect either of them to get the call till at least the second half of next year. I also think duke and Maholm would be easy to move if their deals were reasonable (reliable starters are certainly in demand), and I dont think either would get a big payday anyway, so I'm just not sure if rushing to get rid of two of our more reliable pitchers is such a great move. I don't know, it just seems like pitching's so hard to come by, and prospects are such a crapshoot, that trading them now might be a bit premature. If we have the cap room (and we definitely do), and they wouldn't be hard to move anyway, I don't see the harm in holding on to them for a bit until we've got some more good arms in the rotation and some more good arms in Indianapolis to really replace them.

Thoughts?

Before this year started, I was pretty pessimistic about Garrett Jones. Even though he managed to maintain his average and power over a couple months last year I thought it would be about 50-50 whether he would tank or keep up his hitting. However, after a little over a month of baseball, I'm definitely back on the Garrett Jones bandwagon. His average is obviously very low (.230), but he's shown very very good plate patience, he's still got some stick (11 of 26 hits for extra bases), and his BABIP is pretty low at .250. He's been coming around a bit lately, he's been hitting really well with runners in scoring position (which stats wise doesn't mean much, but its nice anyway), and he's drawn about as many walks as strikeouts (21 to 22). I don't expect him to hit 300 on the year, but I feel like 270 with 20+ home runs and a chance at 30 is pretty likely. I still don't think he's going to see too many pitches to hit, but that's more of a result of the lineup than anything else. When our lineup starts to improve (aka if Pedro Comes up as good as advertised) I think Jones will become a much more dangerous hitter, mostly because he'll get pitches to hit on a more regular basis, especially if McCutchen's power continues to grow. Its going to be nice when they walk Pedro to get to Garrett Jones, rather than walking Jones to get to Doumit. Anyway, all I'm saying is i think Jones' best baseball is definitely ahead of him.

I'd also like to say that Huntington's comments on Neil Walker were extremely interesting. I thought management was just blowing smoke about promoting prospects, but the more I hear from them and the more I see them work, it seems like they're %100 serious about only moving prospects when they've done everything management expects from them at that particular level. I actually think its a good sign for Walker that Huntington's talking about him so much, since they probably consider him a legit prospect at this point, but I think it's a bad sign for Pedro Alvarez's eventual arrival (as well as Jose Tabata, Brad Lincoln etc.). It seems like those guys are going to have to dominate AAA exactly the way they're supposed to before management lets them sniff the Major Leagues. Its just weird having our prospects held accountable for their actions, I dont know what to make of it yet (but I think its a good thing).

Prospect to Check Out: 1B Aaron Baker, WV: .276 avg, 29 hits (14 for extra bases), and 16 RBIs. Few too many strike outs, but he had pretty good plate patience at State College, and he still isn't striking out at a Quincy Latimore rate.

Prospect to Ignore for a few months, and possibly forever: Chase D'Arnaud. Remember when he was just bad against right handed pitching? Those were the days. Now he's terrible against it: Against lefties he has 6 BBs against 2 Ks. Against righties? 3 BBs and 18 Ks. Bad Bad sign. Not giving up on him yet by any stretch, but I'm definitely worried.

I was reading a little blurb on Jose Tabata today on BA and it got me thinking a little bit about his status as a prospect. It seems this year that many Pirates prospects are having great years, but they just aren't developing quite how we (as fans) expected them to. The reason I find this especially interesting with Tabata is mostly because I was thinking back on Neil Huntington's comments regarding his age, and how it was a "non-factor" to management. Anyway, I'm starting to think maybe its because management views (and maybe always viewed) Tabata as a top-of-the-order hitter (especially at this stage in his career). If anything, he's become faster this year, his plate discipline is improving, he's trying to steal more bags, and on top of that, management's been batting him at leadoff ever since receiving him. I just think it's possible that the people in charge were always looking at him a little differently than everybody else, and that sort of makes his start this year that much more interesting.

It also got me thinking about our 'system' in place in the minor leagues. It's been reported as much improved, but also strict compared to other teams. It seems like last year all the prospects we acquired in our trades struggled, and had a hard time adjusting to it.  At the end of the year, however, we started to see better outings, and then all the sudden this year we've had a lot of those same players posting legitimately enormous improvements across the board. The three that first come to mind are Bryan Morris (who had a terrible year last year), Jeff Locke, and Nathan Adcock. None of them performed very well when we first acquired them (5.57 ERA, 4.08 ERA, and 5.25 ERA respectively) and now after having spent some time in the system all three are posting excellent K/BB ratios, large strikeout numbers, and good ERA's (all better than any other phase in their careers to date).

The general point of this is to try and put the struggles of some other prospects in perspective, specifically but not exclusively Tim Alderson and Gorkys Hernandez. Honestly, I was never a fan of either, and I more or less considered both of them busts even a week ago, but after thinking about it a little bit, I think there's good chance that those guys came into our system and management wanted to change just about everything. Both prospects are very young for their levels, obviously talented, and probably struggling with new approaches, mechanics, etc, etc that management, as shown with Bryan Morris, will simply force on you whether you're willing or not. Even if they have a bad year, I'm not so sure that's necessarily a horrible thing for their development. It's strange to say, but it seems like there might need to be a little bit of regression (or failure) before there's any real growth with certain players. So, to put it straight, I think the year to really examine those two players might not even be till next year, where they'll either have bought into it or not. A good example this year for Hernandez is Neil Walker, who's done just about everything management has asked of him and is having his best year to date by far. The turnaround is pretty remarkable, which leaves me skeptical, but at the same time he's doing things he legitimately hardly hinted at before, most notably with plate patience (which we've heard management harp on continuously).

Anyway, it's an interesting topic, and it certainly seems like our system is starting to do some really positive things developing players. Obviously acquiring talent is only half the battle, and I guess we'll see throughout the year if these guys can keep it up, and if some other guys start to turn it around as the year moves on. Cool stuff.

Who'd you rather see at second base, Neil Walker or Andy Laroche? No offense to Aki, who should pick it up and be perfectly fine this season, but he's not going to be around in a year or two and I'd rather see somebody who could hold down the position for a while there. My personal preference would be bringing up Walker and giving him regular time while Pedro's in AAA to see if he sticks (and leaving Laroche at third for the time being), and if he doesn't perform then work in Laroche in the offseason / next spring. I think they've both got pretty similar ceilings at this point (pretty high ceilings offensively for second basemen at least), just Walker hasn't had the same chance as Laroche yet to prove he's an everyday player. If Laroche doesn't increase the power numbers though I'd rather give Walker the time to see what he's capable of.

Thoughts?

So last night I was following the game, and when the ninth rolled around and they put in Evan Meek to close I stopped worrying about the game and made myself a sandwich. When I realized I'd probably jinxed him I flipped back, but, surprisingly enough, the game was already over. It was a pretty nice feeling. I'm not trying to start a "make evan meek the closer" movement (in fact I like him as a set up man this year, and I honestly like Dotel in his spot for the time being) but since we got him in the rule 5 I've thought he could be a pretty dominant closer in the future, and hes really done nothing to dissuade me. It'd be nice to have a guy who made ninth innings non-existent, and hes on pace to be our ninth inning guy when the future core's supposed to be in its prime. Just seems like it'll work out nicely (and I think Joel's a pretty perfect set up guy as well). Just wondering what everyone's thoughts are.

So I'm pretty new to Bucs Dugout, and I haven't made any posts before about the pirates, but I've been reading all this stuff for a while, and I thought I'd toss in my two cents about this current mess the pirates find themselves in.  And it certainly is a mess at the major league level. I mean, these games are unwatchable on MLB gamecast. Its embarrassing. I've heard, or read, all the people calling for Management to call up Lincoln, call up Alvarez, call up Tabata, Call up Veal, call up anybody to help the major league club, and I could not disagree more at this point in time. Even if they were ready, which they aren't, I wouldn't want any of our top prospects within a hundred feet of that clubhouse right now. I honestly believe it'd be detrimental to their future. We were going to lose this year. Everybody knew that. and thats okay. But bringing up potential future cornerstones into a clubhouse where they legitimately get crushed every single game is not going to do anything, except numb them to losing. Honestly, if this continues at anything resembling this pace or this quality for the whole year, I'd keep them at Indianapolis all year, stack the team with prospects from Altoona and Bradenton, and then promote the whole bunch of them in 2011. I'm not kidding in the slightest. If the team gets back to even respectable, watchable baseball then sure, call them up. But if not, I just dont see the benefits right now. I'd rather get them used to winning in Indianapolis, which they almost certainly would be doing if that team stays intact and they add some more pitching from lower levels, and then bring them up when they can actually make some sort of impact. Its pointless right now. Leave them in Indy. They're legitimately the future right now, and I dont want them messing around with the train wreck thats happening in Pittsburgh. If they need help, look at pearce, or hart, or moss. We know what they're going to give you more or less. Everybody else, please leave them down.

Id also like to add that the constant calls for firing management right now are kind of ridiculous. No one, and I mean no one, expected the pitching to be this bad or this unlucky. That was supposed to be really the only respectable major league caliber aspect of this team, and what we saw the second half of last year is what we expected from the staff, and should have expected, for this year. I can understand canning russell: two weeks ago I would of argued against it, but this is a little bit too much, and I think hes certainly on the hot seat. But lumping Huntington in with that is a mistake. We havent seen the end results of his trades. Thats a fact. And for the most part, I think he had to do them. The pirates were going nowhere, and they needed a total shakeup. I would of done it exactly the same way. He acquired a ton of high ceiling former MLB prospects in the hope that a few of them would turn into something. These type of guys pretty regularly do turn into something. The rest of it is basically crossing your fingers and hoping they put it together. The fact that almost every single one of them hasn't is frustrating on numerous levels, but it was a gamble I'm glad Management took. The players have plenty of time, and they've shown flashes; all you can do is wait. If they don't turn out, the only real bit that hurts is losing bay. I dont really care too much about Sanchez, Grabow, Snell or any of those other guys. I'm surprised we got anything back for them to begin with.

Anyway, that's all I've got. Leave the prospects, wait it out, fire russell if you have to, fire kerrigan if you have to, but please please no rash stupid decisions. I still think the futures looking up.