re: Josh Smith

I agree with you for the most part. He has big shoes to fill. Like I said, he just looked tight. Hopefully that's first game jitters. And he was taking grounders after the game so at least we know he has the work ethic to correct mistakes. It would be really easy for him to say "Hey, I sucked in the field tonight but at least I got that homer!"

As for the rest of the infield, it's a work in progress. I'm curious to see if Hughes will get an opportunity to hit today. All reports are that he's very smooth defensively, so he must be struggling offensively to not be in the lineup regularly. Webre made some nice plays at first, but he needs to learn the position and some awareness. That'll come with time. But his bat is as good as advertised. He reminds me a lot of Fraley but maybe with more power. I thought Bryce looked really mediocre at catcher, but he did alright considering he hasn't really caught since high school. But that will work itself out when guys get healthy.

It'll be interesting to see how everything works out once Coomes and Feducia come back. I guess Bryce will DH and Beau will probably pinch hit and play some outfield? We'll see what Paul does with his trademark early season tinkering.