One Third Through The Season, Needs Come Into Focus
With the baseball season passing the one-third mark this week the strengths and weaknesses of the teams are coming into focus.
Texas still needs pitching. But this time the need is not in the pen. The biggest concern right now is team ace Kevin Millwood. The 65 million dollar man can’t pitch effectively in Arlington. Not good when you are the team’s number one starter and you aren’t getting past the sixth inning in your home ballpark.
Click below for more!The Rangers are doing the little things that win ball games. This is the year they should give in and part with two of their hot shot AA pitching prospects if legitimate starting pitcher is available.
The Rangers still whack the ball around with the best hitting teams in baseball. Just wait until Mark Teixeira gets hot. The Rangers are not going away soon.
Over his last two injury plagued seasons doubts arose in the media as to Frank Thomas’s Hall of Fame credentials. No more. Thomas is a pleasure to watch. I’m sorry we didn’t get to see him on a daily basis during his healthy years. He is some smart hitter.
Now can the Big Hurt carry the A’s all summer?
No. The A’s need another power hitter preferably one who can play first base or left field.
It seems clear that Justin Duchscherer and Joe Kennedy will need help in the bull pen once they are cleared to pitch in a game. Neither pitcher seems able to withstand the rigors of the every day grind. Getting a power arm in the pen is priority number two for the A’s.
Oakland should welcome new KC GM Dayton Moore to the league and take righty Denny Bautista off his hands. Bautista’s stuff is scary. He can’t go through the line up twice as a starter, but he sure can make quick work of the hitters for one inning. I’d let the Royals choose any three prospects they want for Bautista.
The new KC GM should also move Mark Grudzielanek, Matt Stairs, Scott Elarton, Jeremy Affeldt, and Reggie Sanders as quickly as possible. It’s time to bring up any youngster who can play.
As soon as firstbaseman Mike Sweeney is healthy enough to play he goes too, even if the Royals have to absorb Sweeney’s remaining salary.
The Marlins went this route in 2006 and have discovered some gems giving them hope for the future.
Minnesota Twins centerfielder Torii Hunter will be a free agent this winter. If the Twins decide to move Hunter by the July 31st trading deadline, the Yankees will be first in line.
With Gary Sheffield’s season in doubt because of a bum wrist, Hunter would fit nicely in the Yankee outfield.
With Eric Gagne back with the Dodgers, the team the Bay Area loves to hate, is looking like the best in the NL West.
Youngsters Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Willy Aybar, Jonathan Broxton and Joel Guzman are making the summer very enjoyable in the Southland.
Chicago skipper Ozzie Guillen has declared that he will use all the picks he is allowed to make as the manager of the AL all star team to select players from the White Sox.
We haven’t heard from the commissioner on this one, but Bud if you are listening, the Blizzard of Oz must be stopped.
There are other deserving players in the league in case Ozzie has forgotten.
Any chance the Blizzard would choose Thomas as the A’s rep?
The Tigers need some offense. April sensation Chris Shelton is struggling. A lefthanded power bat is priority right now.
Dark horse pick for AL Cy Young: Boston’s closer Jonathan Papelbon.
A good baseball story: Jordan Pries, kid pitcher from Alameda High is being compared to another island product, Dontrelle Willis. The comparison might have some validity since the young man’s great uncle is long time baseball scout Don Pries and his maternal grandfather is former big league lefty Bud Daley.
0 comments
Hey Marty,
Millwood pitching at Arington seems like Mark Redman when he was a member of the A’S at the Coliseum. Amongst us A’S fans, Zito, Swisher and Chavez are popular choice, but Thomas would be an odd choice. Not just for reasons of his performances, the fact of Ozzie Guillen picking him is strange thought. Also, Ozzie needs to remember it’s a fans game, the All Star Game, so get his personal agenda out of it. Reggie Saunders or Torii Hunter in a Yankees uniform is scary thought, but they are already on NY press list of replacements for Shef. In the NL, the Dodgers are a hot team during the offseason, there was trash talk from L.A. media and sports talk radio about SoCal blues, and praise for the Halos of Orange County. Wonder what they saying now. Lastly, are Reds for real?
Sunday afternoon Baseball is always great time.
-Edgar Martinez, A’S Fan
Hi Marty,
Good comments. I agree about the A’s needing help in the pen. I think it was dumb to get rid of Cruz, especially for Halsey. I know how Cruz has been a disappointment, but A’s should have given him some time to see what he could do this season. They should have at least received someone better in the trade. Halsey is no more than a bullpen pitcher, IMO. His stuff is just average and he leaves too many fastballs over the plate. Just think back to the Texas game. What about Casilla? His stuff was nasty the short time the A’s brought him up.
-Mike E.
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