Thursday, September 16, 2010

Thursday Takes

-- The Bucs announced that the Zachster will remain in the rotation. They really didn't have any options other then Brad Lincoln or Chris Resop; one is getting a makeover and the other has been effective as a setup guy. Now that he's in, maybe the infielders will make a play or two for him.

-- Brad Lincoln has been with the team, but is still on the shelf. Ray Searage has been working with him to undo the mechanical (and mental) changes Joe Kerrigan made to Bad Brad. JR expects him to be ready to go when the Bucs get home Friday.

-- Jeff Clement has opted for surgery on his bum knee, and depending on the severity of the damage, it may cost him spring training.

-- We'd like to see JR rethink his bullpen rotation. He has his main back-end guys, Evan Meek and Joel Hanrahan, sit for long stretches when the Bucs go through a tough stretch, and then they're rusty when called out with a game on the line. It's not just the current pair; he did the same for Octavio Dotel and Matt Capps, too.

If you have guns, fire them. This waiting-for-a-lead-that-may-never-come theory works sometimes, but usually just freezes the best arms in the relief corp.

-- Today is the 35th anniversary of the Pirates shellacking the Cubs 22-0 as Rennie Stennett collected seven straight hits. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times had a recap of all the fun and festivities of that day.

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