Running Baseball VII (or second half I, if you like)

At some point, I promise I'll stop being surprised at how bad Thom Brennaman is as a play-by-play man. He and Joe Buck have jobs for one reason...

 

Is Baltimore's Jeremy Guthrie really this good?

 

I wonder how Iguchi is going to do for the Phillies. He's no Utley. I would move Iguchi later in the put Rollins back in the lead-off and Victorino in the second spot again.

Rollins
Victorino
Rowand
Howard
Burrell
Iguchi
Helms/Dobbs
Ruiz/Coste
(P)

 

bonds homers.

 

That lineup makes sense, and you can plug in Bourn anywhere if he's gonna continue to go 4-for-4 and reach on a walk as well.

 

He had one really good season (2005). His peripherals dropped drastically last season and his K rate has been dropping since 2005.

Mark Shapiro gets lots of good pub, presumably because he's a good guy who is always available for an interview. But signing Lee and Jake Westbrook was just an AWFUL move for an organization that fancies itself as a mid-major. those guys are nothing more than back-end, league average guys. An organization that takes pride in its farm system like the Indians should be able to harvest minimally salaried replacements for the likes of Lee and Westbrook and save its pennies for the rainy day that is CC Sabathia, who IS a legit stud and worth a long-term investment.

Instead, the Indians are going to cry poverty when it's time to negotiate with CC because they've already blown more than $30 million on a couple of no. 4/5 starters. But they can say "See? We're trying to keep our young players!" because they signed Lee and Westbrook.

The Hafner deal will haunt them too.

 

C.C. is indeed a stud now, but if he does not get the weight under control he may not be worth a long term investment.

 

He's a big fuckin guy, no doubt about that, but he's got 300 lbs on a 6-foot-7 frame. Dude is athletic (could have played TE in college). I think he can be an outstanding pitcher for years to come at his current weight.

 

They only brought in Bourne to give Rowand the day off. Why not ride out Burrell's hot bat?

 

Edwin Encarnacion ... ruler of Australia.

 

The Brewers got Linebrink? Who did they give up?