Originally Posted by
GAC
And I understand what you are saying Boss, but I don't think that that is gonna be this organization's approach just because they did this last year with guys like Sully, Williamson, Heredia, White, Mercker, and then Dempster. You have to look at what these guys were making last year, and what they would have gotten via arbitration or free agency if we had tried to retain them.
But also...can a team viably replace them? YES they can...but they didn't. That was/is my beef.
And I guess foresight is everything, but you also have to know when to cut ties. As Kenny Rogers once sang.... "You gotta know when to hold them, know when to fold them." :MandJ:
What have those players we let go accomplished this year? Looking at that, we made the right decisions (with the exception maybe being Reitsma).
As I stated above, my biggest problem with this FO in this area was that they tried to get by "on the cheap", or maybe felt these younger arms could fill the void created by the exit of these guys, in an area that we have in previous years been very strong in... our BP. It was a HUGE miscalculation on this FO's part IMO. When you haven't been able to build a reliable starting rotation in the last several years, then one area that had always been a plus for us was our BP.
IMO... they got burned BIG TIME in '04, and they had better do something to fix it or we'll have the same problems in '05, even though I am alot more optimistic about the young arms in this rotation, as compared to what we have ran out there over these last several years. But these young guys right now have shown me that, due to inexperience, they are good for about 6 innings (a quality start). But if you're handing the ball/game over to an inept BP, then you're in trouble and wasting the effort. It's all for naught.
My eyes will be on this FO (especially O'Brien) in the off-season, and at what they are going to do to fix this BP, more then any other area/holes on this team.
We have some good solid core players on this team right now, and going into 2005. And we have the opportunity, and we can't waste it, to "complement" that core by simply strengthening this BP.