Kevin Kennedy said today

[Windingmywatch]

yeah you know. Michael Young. CJ Wilson. Matt Harrison.

I missed the post where he listed five ... who were the other two?

No way is TEX "cutting or releasing" Young. That's not even a question.

Wilson isn't going to be cut or released either of course ... he's going to be an FA. He'll be pitching in the NL next year for some small market team as its "ace".

Harrison isn't cut or released either ... traded maybe or converted to the next Darren Oliver possibly ... but not cut or released.

 

[Al Falfa]

History isn't a factor. The team you put on the field and the quality of the competition is.

SEA isn't going to be threatening ... and unless OAK does something crazy in the post season will not be a threat either. However, LAA will be better next year ... can't count on Vernon Wells having another sub-par year and the addition of Trout with Bourjos and Hunter ... and their #1 and #2 along with Trumbo and the potential return of Kendry Morales will make them very tough. TEX is still better up the middle but LAA will be a challenge.

You're talking about winning the West. I'm talking about winning the West, the ALDS and the ALCS. Only one team has done that in the current playoff format. Prior to that, I think the A's were the last team to do it 37 years ago.

 

[Windingmywatch]

You're talking about winning the West. I'm talking about winning the West, the ALDS and the ALCS. Only one team has done that in the current playoff format. Prior to that, I think the A's were the last team to do it 37 years ago.

Yea I know ... but if you don't win the ALW first ... you go home. So guess TEX needs to plan on winning it three times in a row. If TEX had won the WS this season ... I don't think we figured they would now then just pack it in and call it quits after winning it once.

Just got to start now and work toward winning it all next season. The two guys who were key at the end of this year ... Beltre and Napoli ... weren't even on last year's roster. So ... it will be up to a new face ... probably a new #1 who will be the key acquisition for the 2012 run.

 

[Al Falfa]

Yea I know ... but if you don't win the ALW first ... you go home. So guess TEX needs to plan on winning it three times in a row. If TEX had won the WS this season ... I don't think we figured they would now then just pack it in and call it quits after winning it once.

Just got to start now and work toward winning it all next season. The two guys who were key at the end of this year ... Beltre and Napoli ... weren't even on last year's roster. So ... it will be up to a new face ... probably a new #1 who will be the key acquisition for the 2012 run.

I have faith that the FO will find a way to get the ace we need.

 

[the_broom]

It's tough to get back to the Series, and Texas deserves kudos for making that happen. But, regardless of how good the team is it takes some luck...playing well at the right time...and the team being relatively healthy.

No team was a bigger lock for the WS this year than the Phillies...yet they couldn't get out of the Division Series...

 

[scotsman1948]

replacing 2/5rd's of a rotation that got you to the WS would probably be one of the dumbest moves ever made by a team that just made the playoffs. maybe replacing 1 pitcher with another of better quality would make sense but 2 is dumb. in 1 thread on this board it was even suggested that we replace 3 of our starting 5.

CJ is the best available FA starter and has only been a starter for 2 years and still has room to improve. Harrison has shown significant growth each year since he was brought up to the ML and has earned a ST and probably a spot in the rotation next season. Ogando made a pretty good showing in his 1st year in the rotation and threw nearly double the number of innings he had ever thrown before. so he comes into ST with a rotation spot that is his to lose.

we have 4 starters with Feldman as a possible 5th if we don't resign CJ or we re-sign CJ, drop Colby and move Feldman into Colby's spot or a 3rd possibility is We re-sign CJ and leave everything else alone with Feldman as our long relieve/spot starter out of the bullpen.

 

[Windingmywatch]

replacing 2/5rd's of a rotation that got you to the WS would probably be one of the dumbest moves ever made by a team that just made the playoffs. maybe replacing 1 pitcher with another of better quality would make sense but 2 is dumb. in 1 thread on this board it was even suggested that we replace 3 of our starting 5.

CJ is the best available FA starter and has only been a starter for 2 years and still has room to improve. Harrison has shown significant growth each year since he was brought up to the ML and has earned a ST and probably a spot in the rotation next season. Ogando made a pretty good showing in his 1st year in the rotation and threw nearly double the number of innings he had ever thrown before. so he comes into ST with a rotation spot that is his to lose.

we have 4 starters with Feldman as a possible 5th if we don't resign CJ or we re-sign CJ, drop Colby and move Feldman into Colby's spot or a 3rd possibility is We re-sign CJ and leave everything else alone with Feldman as our long relieve/spot starter out of the bullpen.

TEX needs a RH Ace atop its rotation ... even if TEX resigns CJ. This leaves three spots ... and I think they would be filled by Feldman, Holland, and Ogando in that order. Colby would get the long/backup SP role ... and Harrison would take over the Darren Oliver role. If CJ does not return ... then Colby would be my #5 ... not Harrison.

 

[scotsman1948]

TEX needs a RH Ace atop its rotation ... even if TEX resigns CJ. This leaves three spots ... and I think they would be filled by Feldman, Holland, and Ogando in that order. Colby would get the long/backup SP role ... and Harrison would take over the Darren Oliver role. If CJ does not return ... then Colby would be my #5 ... not Harrison.

is there a RH Ace available in free agency? Harrison pitched better in the regular season than Colby and he can get better but Colby has reached his level of accomplishment and we're only going to see more homers fly out of the park with him

 

[the_broom]

The team doesn't really need an "Ace"...you had one with Lee and Texas had it's collective asses handed to them by the Giants a couple years ago. The rotation only needs to be good...and consistent...for this team to get back. The biggest problem, IMO, in this years playoff run was that the starting rotation...in general...was horrible. This left the bullpen to eat lots of critical and high pressure innings and in the end the bullpen just fell apart. This team scores bunches or runs....it only needs to stay in games until the offense can explode.

 

[Al Falfa]

is there a RH Ace available in free agency? Harrison pitched better in the regular season than Colby and he can get better but Colby has reached his level of accomplishment and we're only going to see more homers fly out of the park with him

Colby pitched good enough to get us through the West and into the playoffs...and he won 14 games....only two less than CJ. Then he shined in the playoffs..twice. On the other hand, CJ pitched well enough to win in the West, get us into the playoffs and then looked ordinary and was out pitched by Colby. Big difference

 

[scotsman1948]

Colby pitched good enough to get us through the West and into the playoffs...and he won 14 games....only two less than CJ. Then he shined in the playoffs..twice. On the other hand, CJ pitched well enough to win in the West, get us into the playoffs and then looked ordinary and was out pitched by Colby. Big difference

i'm looking at 35 homers Colby gave this regular season. and i believe it will get worse next season

 

[Windingmywatch]

i'm looking at 35 homers Colby gave this regular season. and i believe it will get worse next season

You keep forgetting he pitched all season with a bad hip. Giving up homers early is a problem ... but with his ability to spot his pitches he didn't get into trouble in too many games ... and as noted above with his 14 wins ... was only 2 behind CJ your ace.

And ... he wins in the post season of course as a bonus.

 

[scotsman1948]

You keep forgetting he pitched all season with a bad hip. Giving up homers early is a problem ... but with his ability to spot his pitches he didn't get into trouble in too many games ... and as noted above with his 14 wins ... was only 2 behind CJ your ace.

And ... he wins in the post season of course as a bonus.

i haven't said CJ is my Ace. i said that he's the closest thing to an Ace we're going to find in free agency. and to get an "Ace" thru trade is going to cost too much with it taking at least 2 maybe 3 of our top prospects.

and as far as Colby is concerned if it's a bad hip what guarantee do we have that he will recover fully from it. if it's a health question he's as iffy as Oswalt