re: Was Jay Johnson too loyal to his returning roster?

I think the biggest downfall is obviously Hurd. He really believed he was not only a starter but the top starter on the team coming into the season. turns out he's a mid-level bullpen arm at this point. Thats where we got hurt the most. Just way too much trust in a guy that outside of nice run in the CWS was hyper inconsistent and frankly not very good last season.

About Kling/Neal, these guys were top guys in their class, just hadnt got a ton of run as freshmen really so I would say most of us also believed they would pul through in year 2, especially with Neal's thing just being injury. We had other options for those guys, we didnt really for Hurd. We had Trav/Milazzo at catcher if Neal didnt work out (he hasnt). We had a number of outfield options if Kling didnt pull through, but for whatever reason some of those guys didnt get much run. Brown was a little nicked up so thats part of it, and Larson got his shot, but whatever happened to Ruddell is anyone's guess. Basically no real shot this season in year 2. Mic Paul got no run either (not saying he should, but he simply didnt in year 2). Derrick Mitchell no playing time either, but also a freshman. Just hard to understand the line of thinking there sticking with Kling so much.

Didnt help Bingham didnt really work out either after smashing last season.