adams is ML ready with his bat. its his Defense man...he is a butcher...
angle is literally my favorite player in our whole organization lol...but like you said, a good 4th of nothing more.
accardo is ef a lock, who else is gonna take his spot lol. and rapada has a good shot, but i still think hendrickson may take it over due to that long relief capability (although rapada is so much better against lefties). I hope drese or rapada win over hendrickson though because i hate watching him lol.

And yep....i thought it was a long gone conclusion for fox, and then tatum goes 3-4 lol.... i love spring training.

i would just play adams everyday at 2b and get bordick or one of the roving instructors to help him out there. some people seem to think he would be able to handle 3b but with reynolds in the majors and bell in aaa he likely won't get a chance unless they want to keep him in aa. but, waring is at aa and they seem to like him so there is pretty much no shot he ever gets a chance at 3rd.

on accardo though i'd imagine the locks for the bullpen are: gregg, uehara, gonzalez, and johnson. unless buck decides there isn't a need for a lefty specialist or a long reliever i don't see how they will get accardo and berken both in the bullpen unless they want to sacrifice a bench spot. berken has an option though and can pitch long relief, maybe accardo or him become the long reliever? i know toronto at one point wanted accardo to become a starter.

i seriously have been thinking man...berken could get optioned down to start the season. He is not fully healthy yet, its pretty obvious from what ive read (i havent seen him actually pitch yet though, so i cant really judge him yet)

well, if he isn't healthy they should put him in triple a until he is and that would make accardo a guaranteed lock. if he isn't healthy and uehara starts on the dl i wonder who gets that spot until uehara gets back. probably would keep hendrickson/drese + vandenhurk i'd imagine since vandenhurk has no options. i hate hendrickson but he isn't the worst long reliever to have on your team though. i'd trust him and drese much more than vandenhurk but the option game might come into play. berken would definitely get the spot if he is healthy though and we would see him and accardo in the pen to start the season.

remaining competitions imo
backup catcher - fox vs tatum, huge edge to fox due to power potential and versatility to play 3b, 1b, lf, and rf but tatum wasn't bad last year. maybe both of them will make the club and fox will be our UTIL
lefty specialist - rapada vs hendrickson, huge edge to rapada
middle reliever - berken vs accardo, up for grabs if berken gets healthy but slight edge to accardo
long reliever - vandenhurk vs drese vs hendrickson, completely up for grabs
4th starter if duke isn't healthy - bergesen vs tillman vs britton, completely up for grabs
5th starter - bergesen vs tillman vs britton, completely up for grabs

i'd like to see britton make the club to start the year, he is going to be special. hopefully arrieta, tillman, or bergesen can take that huge step forward and become our #2 that we slot inbetween matusz and britton for the next 5+ years. my money is on arrieta as i've always been a huge fan of his.

then again if we sign guthrie to a 3 or 4 year extension we could be looking at a rotation of matusz-guthrie-britton-arrieta-bergesen/tillman for the next 4 years or so which would be pretty sick.

good analysis, and im pretty much in agreement although i dont think rapada is a huge edge, because i do think buck likes hendrickson. but then again, he could be the LR.
I love this year though more than years before, so much shit going on and we already have a stocked up lineup.

should be very fun to watch man.

i disagree as i feel rapada has a huge edge. i don't think anyone really views hendrickson as a lefty specialist his only shot at making the team is in long relief unless rapada completely falls flat on his face.

too bad adams can't play defense, it would be nice to know that if brob gets hurt we could have someone play 2b that isn't close to an automatic out.

yea i dont know man, i havent heard any shit about hendrickson this year (ive been so busy this week i havent even had time). But i do know you are right about hendrickson being worse against lefties. Rapada was actually pretty good (1/19 i think, correct me if wrong) against lefties last year.

Yea i think they should just bring adams up, but you know they wont.

This post was edited by tuckerblair89 on Mar 10 2011 10:53pm

Ahhhhh very nice to see im not one of the only fans arounddd on here!. well at least where im from i am :/

yes we exist

normally i wouldn't even think "damn if only he could play defense" when a player is 23 and hasn't played in triple a yet but i'd much rather have him in the batters box than izturis, andino, harris, or green. hopefully brob doesn't get hurt but the dude is one bad slide, bad swing, bad dive at a grounder, etc. away from missing another season.

let's hope that he continues to hit well in triple a this season and can improve that defense to at least mediocre so that we could use him if roberts ever gets hurt like he did last year.

i wonder who would hit leadoff if brob gets hurt again while we are on the subject. i may be really out of my mind but i think i would give reimold a shot. he's not fast but he knows how to get on base and would have protection. or, maybe just bump markakis to leadoff and put hardy at #2 with whoever plays 2b in the 9 hole? either way it's something that i really hope buck already knows exactly how he will handle it incase it happens.