Friday morning things

And Diaz is hangin tough so far. Interested to see if either of them can maintain.

But like you said who would you replace him with.

Kam = R.A. = Koronka = every other 5th starter for the rangers.

So what to do is the question.

1. Pitch Loe, Tejeda, & BMac every start possible.  they will either thrive or we will know what they are capable of.
   
2. Protect from injury Padilla and Millwood.  They are here next year and have the history that says they can produce.
   
3. Play the youngsters in the OF.  every AB for lofton/Cat and Wilk is a lost opportunity to see if Cruz and the other kids play at this level.
   
4. Time to bring up Botts and let him get his AB's.  He has done everything prior to 07 he can do in AAA.  Let's see what he can do at this level.
   
5. Don't panic and rush a Hurley or another youngster up too fast.  There are too many players like Loe that need to be figured out (if and where he will fir in the majors.
   
6. Trade away vets and salaries that are not part of the 07 foundation.  Cat/Wilky/Lofton/Sosa are heading up this list and get what you can for these players.
   

6B) Make a decision on Tex and Blalock.  Either get em signed for the long term or trade them now.
I am neutral on keep or trade but do not like holding onto a burning rope.

Bottom line is start now for 08 and go ahead with the 08 plans 100%.

other points:

1. How can anyone not like MY??  I love the guy.
   
2. All the "Buck must go" crowd are awefully quiet. As my daddy used to say "Be careful what you wish for."
   
3. If someone is going to pay for this disaster it is not going to be Hicks (though he shoulders much of the cause IMO.)  It should not be Washington as this is his first managerial job and though early results look horrible it is still to early to judge IMO.  It should be Daniels who has made some of the worst decisions that are and will haunt this team for years.  But it probably will be the players.

I don`t post very often, but with what`s going on with the big club and all this talk about Hurley I`ve got to say something.
1. I`ve read things that Jaimey and MJH have written (after they have seen him a few times)about Hurley, a couple of things stand out to me they wrote. Maturity, excellent mound presence and excellent fastball command.
Make no mistake, without these three you simply cannot compete at the big league level.
2. I`ve seen Hurley a few times, in person, not on a computer screen. In person you get to see expressions, after a double, homerun, walk, hit batter or simply walking on and off the field.
From what I`ve seen it would not be rushing him for him to pitch in the big leagues this year. Having seen him and speaking to him he would see it as a challenge.

3. He`s got the tools now to pitch in the big leagues and from what I`ve seen the consistency as well.
   
4. Who cares if they start his "clock" now, if he does well somebody elses "clock" will probably stop(i.e.traded). Also, if he does well, that`s just another piece of the ever changing puzzle in trying to establish a big league rotation. Since trades that will be made this summer will impact the team next year, why over buy or under sell without knowing what Hurley can or cannot do?
   
5. I`ve watched and followed some of the American born higher tier pitchers of the 2003-2005 draft and what most of them have in common is that they have a played higher levels of ball,i.e. USA international teams and the highest level of tournament ball. They`ve seen extremely good competition. Now that does not mean they are better pitchers than others, but I believe they handle difficult situations, stress and failure better.
   

Roy Firestone once asked Micheal Jordan why he wanted the ball for that last shot and why was he so successful when he took that last shot. Jordan without hesitation said "because I`ve failed so many times".
You can definitely see that in Eric Hurley, he`s one that wants the ball.        

Fantastic post.  Could not agree more.