tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6207200414495313452.post7798652200459063166..comments2023-10-10T12:46:47.186-04:00Comments on The Green Weenie: It's Raining All Over the World...Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6207200414495313452.post-56720281130344585362008-09-12T23:42:00.000-04:002008-09-12T23:42:00.000-04:00Yah, Will, Pearce is getting to the "show me" stag...Yah, Will, Pearce is getting to the "show me" stage of his career. And I agree Moss is the most MLB ready; he's just not a polished product yet, but I see him as an everyday player in the near future.<BR/>Dunno what's up with baby LaRoche. He still throws on one foot and across his body instead of just stepping to the target. That's really weird for a guy that's been playing ball for the past 15 years.<BR/>The pitching is the wild card, Will, no question. Snell, Maholm, Dumatrait and Ohlendorf have the stuff to be top three pitchers (I don't think that any of them are ace material), and if a staff falls in place with a team ERA of 4.25 or so, they could get well in a hurry.Ron Ieracihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08784507810080514099noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6207200414495313452.post-13989034356245896022008-09-12T22:25:00.000-04:002008-09-12T22:25:00.000-04:00I don't like Steven Pearce as much as you do, Ron....I don't like Steven Pearce as much as you do, Ron. To me he has "career bench player" written all over him. If you look at his career minor league statistics, 2007 was an aberration. Prior to that, he was a .280s-gap hitter with lots of doubles and good RBI totals. He was definitely NOT some kind of transcendent slugger, as his supporters irrationally want to believe he was. Mind you, if he could duplicate his usual minor league numbers on the major league level, ehh, ya could do a lot worse than .285-15-90 with lots of doubles. But I don't see it. <BR/><BR/>Agreed re: Andy LaRoche, except that I don't think he'll ever be ready. I just hope the suits will have the guts to pull the plug on him around June 1st next year, and do what they should have done already, and that's to promote Neil Walker. <BR/><BR/>Count me as one who definitely likes Brandon Moss a lot. He has definitely shown me a much better bat than I expected, and of course his glove is an improvement over Jason Bay's. I believe his caught looking K's come more from unfamiliarity with the league and from his youth than anything else. I expect he will be pretty good pretty quickly. Perhaps never Xavier Nady circa 2008, but he might be as good as Nady circa 2007. That's good enough, from where I'm sitting. <BR/><BR/>I'd rather have Robinzon Diaz than Jose Bautista even given Andy LaRoche's looming flameout. Bautista only looks good in comparison with someone like Andy, and let's not forget we'd have to make Jose a small millionaire in order to keep him after this season, because he's arbitration eligible. Definitely NOT worth it. <BR/><BR/>I also like Karstens, Ohlendorf, and McCutchen fairly well. I think all 3 will be at least average major league pitchers. By "average" I mean that I'd settle for 3 guys who might have 4.50 ERAS but who would stay consistently healthy and able to take their turn every fifth day, versus the kind of flotsam, jetsam, and flakes the Bucs ran out there this year. Yoi and double yoi. <BR/><BR/>Don't forget that there's always the chance that Ian Snell will get his head and/or his elbow together in '09, and that Phil Dumatrait's shoulder won't explode. Both can really pitch when they're healthy, but both were lost causes this season.WilliamJPellashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12774466220683142262noreply@blogger.com