re: Projected Baseball lineup and Rotation

My .02 on some of the other guys mentioned:

Rittiner - If he recovers from surgery I think he will be the situational lefty out of the bullpen. When I said primary relievers in the earlier response I meant the guys that I think we'll likely see late in close games.

Bourgeois - I haven't seen anything that makes me believe he should or could be a factor. He had no control or command of his fastball, much less any secondary pitches. Maybe the surgery will be a positive for him in the long run and he finds a way to be a solid contributor.

Lowery - I have no expectations whatsoever. He can't stay healthy, and while he has had some success it has been in extremely small sample sizes. I would be surprised if he's even on the roster.

Nola - I think we have plenty of guys to fill the bullpen. We will have several arms available that aren't quite good enough to be starters but also lack the dominant stuff needed to be counted on late in games. They can be inning eaters and middle/long relief types. Because of that I think Nola and Glenn (if he makes it) will compete for midweek starts and be groomed as the 4th and/or 5th starter if needed in the postseason (or to make spot starts on the weekend if needed). Ofcourse they could always be used in relief on the weekend if needed.

As for my comments on the first base starter, I agree the pickings appear to be pretty slim. I think several people will be given a shot and those were just a few of them. There is still a rumor out there that we have a juco first baseman signee.

Overall I think our pitching is going to be pretty good. I don't see how we're going to score much unless some of the new players make quick adjustments and become big producers, or some returning players perform over their head relative to what they have done thus far.