MLB Thread Number 3, 2007

I wonder if they are going to get much from Bill Hall the way he's going. I know the guy hit 35 homers last year, but he seems a bit miscast as a cleanup hitter. I think it's time to move him out of the spot and see if he can find the stroke he had last year and late in 2005.

 

They should stick Jenkins back in the No. 4 hole and let Hall work through his troubles. Maybe bat him second a while so he can see some better pitches.

 

Makes sense...up or down...but put him somewhere that takes the pressure off. And the way Jenkins is going right now, he would do fine protecting Fielder.

 

I'm always excited about both those guys - and I was last night, too, for Glavine. I grew up on those guys. I'm rooting for Glavine to get 300. And I love The Professor!

 

- I'll mostly agree on Toronto, but Ramirez isn't very good, and the deal wasn't much of a risk. BAsically, the only ones to get bargains this off-season were those fortunate enough to deal with Seattle.

- Milwaukee should do what Detroit did this season - trade for a real power bat at the deadline.

 

You're right, there wasn't much available. And i'm more ticked at their performance than anything.

But JP did have Alex Rios to deal; and if he would have, he could have been ok with Reed Johnson. Plus, he had Adam Lind in the minors, who is now hitting .294 with 19 RBI and 5 HR with the Jays - I fear (hope!) Johnson is out of a job when he gets back. And they have two decent young catchers in Thigpen and Diaz. Somehow, some way, JP could have got the one extra arm they needed.

It just ticks me off that with the aging Yankees rotation, the Central beating the snot out of each other and the money he had to spend (I still think money could have bought Schmidt or Zito), the Jays aren't even close to a wild card spot.

As for Burnett: The worst signing in Jays history, in my opinion.

As for Gibbons: A big part of the problem.

Right now, I can only hope Doc wins tomorrow when I'm there!

 

I honestly thought that in Toronto, with the pressure off to be the ace of a staff because Halladay was there, Burnett was going to be awesome.

Boy, was I wrong.

 

or the d-rays. i'm afraid this is gonna be a long year for the twins. even if hunter stays hot, morneau picks it up, mauer comes back 100 percent after 15 days and santana turns into santana again in late may or early june, we can't expect a run like last year's.

that said, torii hunter's 22-game hitting streak has gotten little attention. i figure if he's still streaking when the twins are on sunday night baseball this weekend (it would be at 26) the streak will start getting noticed.

 

And he extended it with style last night, singling home the tying run.

Does Chicago's bullpen strike anyone else as a ton of guys who can throw 95 mph but have a hard time getting people out?

 

Santana always turns into Santana around late May/early June, so I think that is a fairly sure thing. Morneau will pick it up, too. Remember, he was batting .206 at this point a year ago. It was when those two turned it on that the Twins got going.

Problem is, they won't have the other thing that got them back in the race -- a couple of months of Liriano dominating every fifth day.

And Zeke, yeah, that does sound like a good description of Chicago's bullpen. Even Jenks is one of those guys who makes it an adventure half the time even when he does get the save.

 

He's no Josh Beckett. I wonder how he's doing in Boston?

 

Wow. I'm in shock. Carlos Delgado actually remembered how to hit a home run.