When will the inevitable housecleaning begin?

[the teacher]

SWhiney,

I'm not surprised that you don't want to talk about Alomar and Gonzalez. You whined on and on when we didn't sign them; it turns out Shapiro was right to move them out and you were dead wrong. I wouldn't want that brought up either if I were you.

You can't see beyond the end of your nose. Sit back and take a longer view for once. Who cares how many games we win this year? Did you really expect to contend? If not, then what does it matter? This is a season to watch the young players develop. Stop focusing on Brady Anderson. Who cares? He won't be here next year. Escobar will be in left and Milton will be back in center. I'll take that outfield, with Lawton in right (not playing with a separated shoulder).

I believe we'll sign Thome and Bart. We have so much budget money freed up after this year (finley 5, nagy 6, wright 3, fryman 6, cordero
4, plus thome's 8 and whatever bart's making). Time will tell but I don't think we'll see Dolan squeeze down to 40 million (like Oakland).

Our young pitching is going to be good. How good? who knows? Bart's ERA is below 3 and that's SOLID these days. CC, Drese and Baez are very inexperienced and they're going to get better, maybe a lot better. This staff should be good enough to consistently win without 6 or 8 runs of support every night.

Diaz is solid at catcher. IMO Ricky's acceptable at 2nd. Omar? I don't now how much he's got left but right now it looks like plenty.

We need a third baseman, another starter, and more bullpen. Much of that should come from our farm system by 2004.

And we desparately need a manager who knows how to put it all together, and not sit back and wait for the 3 run homer.

Other than the injuries to Bradley and Escobar, we're right on track. I stand by that statement. Try focusing on the positive for a change; there's plenty there. Step out of the dark side. You'll enjoy the season a lot more.

[srg]

Funny how Swhiney is changing his tune and now advocates rebuilding. If I recall he said all we needed to do was add a pitcher to last yrs aging squad that got its annual first round elimination. Wasn't it Aaron Sele that you suggested we sign? lol

As for 2004, Sabathia-Baez-Drese will have 2-3 yrs under their belts and should be solid front of the rotation starters if they stay healthy. Baez is already experimenting with a circle change in his last two starts, in fact threw a few nice ones. If he gets command of that pitch he could be a good one. Drese has to be more consistent with his control, when he does then you will see more starts like his last game. Sabathia needs more movement on his fastball and better command of his secondary pitches. Point is you have three solid starters and trading the ticking time bomb Colon could fill a few glaring holes. By 2004 this team could be back on the right track if the young kids develop. Of course Swhiney the Troll will continue to bash this team into oblivion while maintaining how much of a fan he is [img]graemlins/thumbs_down.gif[/img]

[viper123]

Teach and SRG: Nobody argues that this pitching is top notch and is only going to get better, heck that's not even the problem with this team right now, I don't even think Swanny is complaining about the pitching. OFFENSE is the major problem, teach you're right we need a 3B, but I don't think one hitter is going to make a difference in this lineup. We need a leadoff hitter and frankly nobody on this roster right now represents that. Vizquel is doing an adequate job but I think he is a better two hitter. This lineup is missing a good 3 and 4 hitter. Burks isn't bad but he is badly aging and Thome is not a #4 hitter he strikes out too much with runners in scoring position. Guys like Escobar, Bradley, and Diaz are end of the order hitters. The top of the order needs help and hopefully the front office can make the right signings this offseason to help this sorry offense. But don't think we are on the right track just yet, we also have what has become a few holes in this bullpen. So saying this teamis close or on the right track might be stretching the truth a little bit.

[Swanny]

Changing my tune? What the **** is left to do but completely rebuild? Yes we could have added a decent pitcher and retooled last year's lineup a bit even without Gonzalez and been very competitive this season. Once again I challenge you to find a post that I made saying that Gonzalez MUST be signed at any cost. I stand by my thoughts on the Alomar trade in that there was certainly a better deal out there than that but it is time to move on. The funny thing is that you guys are the ones who keep bringing up his name. It is nice to watch Drese and Baez develop but it is also sickening to watch a team with such a pitiful offense. 21 men left on base yesterday. This team is headed to the basement of the weakest division in baseball yet you try to convince me that by 2004 there is going to be a parade in Cleveland. Not likely.

[Hawaii007]

Hey Viper,
I just noticed something though...if you really want to look on the bright side of things...no matter what kind of pitching we face, it won't be much worse for the Tribe then how they have been performing hahahahahaha. [img]smile.gif[/img] I know I am being optimistic, but seriously, think about it, all that can happen is we may get shutout instead of scoring 1-4 runs a game haha.