Who would have thought...

**Hawaii007** · June 13th, 2002, 04:45 AM

That coming into this season, the biggest headaches are the breakdowns on the defense and the bullpen. Sigh.
Oh well, I guess those are things that we can trust will improve?

**Alex** · June 13th, 2002, 06:13 AM

Lets say the "average" player hits .275, steals 15 bases, and hits 15 home-runs and drives in 80 runs.

Lets say a player with the season Juan gone had last year for us is almost twice as good as the average player.

So, going from a Juan Gone to an average player, would be like losing the added punch of one Juan Gone, and going from an average player to Ricky G is like losing the added punch of another Juan Gone, going from a Juan Gone to a Ricky G is like LOSING TWO JUAN GONES!

Would you not agree that Ricky G's contribution is almost half of the average player?

I know they don't play the same position, but that is irrelevant, because the guy Ricky replaced, Roberto Alomar, contributed practically as much as Juan did to the line-up last year.

That's what Shapiro was not grasping, and it was so frustrating hearing about the Ricky G signing before it happened.

Shapiro merely needed to find a replacement at second who was AVERAGE....the 16th best player in the league at second base.

Go down the roster of second baseman, and you'll find the 16th best second baseman would be top five offensively on our team!

Now add Travis Fryman's meltdown in the last 3 weeks.

Ellis Burks is barely hitting .200 over the last month. Einar has been below par. Bradley didn't play and poor Jolbert was not up to the task.

But above all, an average second baseman would have added a minimum of five wins to this team.

Travis should have mentored Branyan rather than scorn him.
(I'm assuming that's what happened)

right now, Branyan should be at third, have about 15 homers, Johnny Mac or Pokey Reese should have been at second, and just let the team find itself.