Wednesday, March 17, 2004
Camp Chatter/Lineup Preview/Correspondent Draft
Hey, let’s discuss absolutely meaningless statstics! Yes, that’s right, it’s the early Spring Training stats. One of the heads to our six-headed LF monster, Peter Bergeron, is hitting .467 and slugging .600 so far. Does it mean anything…come on, I gave you the answer! Fifteen ABs doesn’t ever mean anything unless it’s the playoffs. Termel Sledge is off to a good start also, but again—nine ABs. Don’t count your chickens. Or doubles either for that matter. So what can we gather from our spring stats so far? Brad Wilkerson’s 0 for 10. From that we can tell that he shouldn’t be complaining quite yet in The Globe and Mail about the value of his contract extension. Your leadoff AVG of .000 isn’t too valuable to anyone, BW. Get a hit first. Until then, we might as well put John Fogerty in Centerfield. Put him in, Coach.
Speaking of Coach, in other “spoke before I thought” news, Frank Robinson said last week in The Globe and Mail that taking steroids was just “taking advantage, which is different from cheating.” He compared it to stealing signs from the catcher. Yeah, Frank. If a student gets caught using an ear transmitter during a final exam, he’s not cheating, right? He’s taking advantage of being able to hear someone outside the classroom read off the answer key to him. Why else have ears? If you’re not gonna use an unnatural device to get an advantage over everyone else who takes the test, what’s the point in hearing anyway? Clearly that can’t be cheating, just taking advantage of the resources available to you. Good call, Frank.
Finally, some chatter that didn’t make my ears burn is that of the recent Armas development. He threw 50 pitches on Saturday on 65 more on Tuesday. And he threw all his pitches—including the slider. So far, no more bicep trouble. He’s got another session tomorrow and is tentatively scheduled to pitch on the 18th, according to the team website. The sun is peeking through the clouds here but keep your umbrella for a little longer just in case.
Bid low on Biddle
I’ve been adamant that Biddle is the closer in Montreal and Frank Robinson confirmed that for me a while back. But I’ve been poring over the numbers and I’ve decided that Biddle’s the girl who got a prom date because the only other options were even less attractive and less popular than her. Sure, that freshman girl looks promising, but is she really prom material? Stupid analogies aside, no one really looks good to close for the Expos. Biddle—and almost everyone will agree on this—looks like an accident waiting to happen, Ayala can’t get lefties out (.337 OBA), and Cordero just walked in the door (11 MLB IP). Who’s the best guy right now? Well, combined they’ve got 6 IP, 6 K, 1 BB, and only 1 hit (a Cordero HR) between them, but I’m still gonna say Biddle. But bid little.
The Lineup
What is set is the middle (and most likely) the top of the order. Wilkerson, Cabrera, Vidro, Everett, Johnson, Batista seem to make up 1-6. Schneider will probably hit 8th, leaving 7th for the six-headed LF monster winner. Despite Bergeron’s hot start, I’ll say now that I think it will be Sledge. He seems like he might just be ready. Although some alternatives are being looked into, this eight seems the most probable for right now. If Bergeron hits .467 for two more weeks, then maybe some tweaks will have to be made. If you have any questions, the e-mail is exposflb@insightbb.com.
Barry Bonds for Nick Johnson?
Remember to check out the archive site (http://exposflb.blog-city.com) for the updated Draft Quick Hits. I must really value my own opinion because I took 5 Expos (Vidro, Cabrera, Everett, Hernandez, and yes, Biddle) in the Correspondents draft last week. Matt Welker of the Giants took the same amount off his team, tying me for the most. But I drafted Barry (sorry, SF OF) and he got Johnson. Should we swap them straight up? Yeah right. If you wanna be among the first to know when the new column is up, be sure to click the e-mail notification link at the top right of the page. It’s now less than 26 days until the ‘Spos opener against the Marlins. But for me, it’s back to the video diamond. I’ve got a pennant race to win. Reporting for the Expos, I’m Matt Allen—ESPN.
Speaking of Coach, in other “spoke before I thought” news, Frank Robinson said last week in The Globe and Mail that taking steroids was just “taking advantage, which is different from cheating.” He compared it to stealing signs from the catcher. Yeah, Frank. If a student gets caught using an ear transmitter during a final exam, he’s not cheating, right? He’s taking advantage of being able to hear someone outside the classroom read off the answer key to him. Why else have ears? If you’re not gonna use an unnatural device to get an advantage over everyone else who takes the test, what’s the point in hearing anyway? Clearly that can’t be cheating, just taking advantage of the resources available to you. Good call, Frank.
Finally, some chatter that didn’t make my ears burn is that of the recent Armas development. He threw 50 pitches on Saturday on 65 more on Tuesday. And he threw all his pitches—including the slider. So far, no more bicep trouble. He’s got another session tomorrow and is tentatively scheduled to pitch on the 18th, according to the team website. The sun is peeking through the clouds here but keep your umbrella for a little longer just in case.
Bid low on Biddle
I’ve been adamant that Biddle is the closer in Montreal and Frank Robinson confirmed that for me a while back. But I’ve been poring over the numbers and I’ve decided that Biddle’s the girl who got a prom date because the only other options were even less attractive and less popular than her. Sure, that freshman girl looks promising, but is she really prom material? Stupid analogies aside, no one really looks good to close for the Expos. Biddle—and almost everyone will agree on this—looks like an accident waiting to happen, Ayala can’t get lefties out (.337 OBA), and Cordero just walked in the door (11 MLB IP). Who’s the best guy right now? Well, combined they’ve got 6 IP, 6 K, 1 BB, and only 1 hit (a Cordero HR) between them, but I’m still gonna say Biddle. But bid little.
The Lineup
What is set is the middle (and most likely) the top of the order. Wilkerson, Cabrera, Vidro, Everett, Johnson, Batista seem to make up 1-6. Schneider will probably hit 8th, leaving 7th for the six-headed LF monster winner. Despite Bergeron’s hot start, I’ll say now that I think it will be Sledge. He seems like he might just be ready. Although some alternatives are being looked into, this eight seems the most probable for right now. If Bergeron hits .467 for two more weeks, then maybe some tweaks will have to be made. If you have any questions, the e-mail is exposflb@insightbb.com.
Barry Bonds for Nick Johnson?
Remember to check out the archive site (http://exposflb.blog-city.com) for the updated Draft Quick Hits. I must really value my own opinion because I took 5 Expos (Vidro, Cabrera, Everett, Hernandez, and yes, Biddle) in the Correspondents draft last week. Matt Welker of the Giants took the same amount off his team, tying me for the most. But I drafted Barry (sorry, SF OF) and he got Johnson. Should we swap them straight up? Yeah right. If you wanna be among the first to know when the new column is up, be sure to click the e-mail notification link at the top right of the page. It’s now less than 26 days until the ‘Spos opener against the Marlins. But for me, it’s back to the video diamond. I’ve got a pennant race to win. Reporting for the Expos, I’m Matt Allen—ESPN.
