CaliforniaRaisin

If Boch is Hendry's choice (which is a real possibility - Boch was supposedly #2 behind Dusty in 2002), I hope the McDOnough and company blink.

No. He's been good with starters. Not playing the kids seems to be a non-issue with this team's next manager. What "kids" are going to be on the team next year that really desreve playing time? I don't consider Murton or Hill to be kids anymore. Any manager will start Murton in LF everyday, and insert Hill into the rotation immediately. I don't know much at all about Bochy, but I am intrigued. Pie? Theriot/Cedeno? Just because there aren't as many this year as last doesn't mean there won't be in the coming years. You gotta look down the road too.

Any man who would bat A-Rod eighth, in any game, for any reason, is invalidated from consideration IMO. Disagree. ARod has sucked in the playoffs recently. With that lineup that they have, I don't see a problem dropping him that low in the order. it cracks me up how much people buy into clutchnicity. What? Where did I say anything about clutch? The fact is that ARod has sucked in the playoffs as a member of the New York Yankees. No ifs, ands, or buts... he's flat out been horrible. It'd be stupid to NOT drop him in the order. Oh wait... he's good in the regular season so continue to bat him in the top of the order regardless of a slump. Great idea. yeah, completely revamping your lineup based on one guy's bad 40 ab's...now that's a great idea. Your season is on the line, and you have a hitter who is in a major slump. You have a ton of guys who are great hitters. You'd leave that hitter who has sucked in the middle of the lineup? Are you freaking serious? ARod (and Giambi) weren't the only guys who slumped in the playoffs. I hope for his sake he didn't succumb to the media/fans.

The ref should have blown the whistle at :05, not at :02. Then they shouldn't have given Washington enough time to figure out a play. Awful job by the refs. And then Washington's center should have snapped the ball right away. What a dolt, does he not know there are :02 left and the clock will start running right away?

Way to go, Washington.

Go Huskies! 2nd and 4 on the USC 39, :34 left...

Well, Washington will have one more chance. Getting the ball down 26-20 with 1:34 to go.

Argh, Washington DB dropped an interception with about 5 minutes ago and USC has pieced together a big drive after that and are inside the Washington 5 with less than 2 minutes left in the game. :(

With Dwayne Jarrett already out injured, Steve Smith leaves the USC game hurt and won't be coming back. Washington is driving.

Touchdown Washington, they're now down 23-20 with over 11 minutes left in the game.

Phil Hughes will save them!

There goes the no-no. Took them long enough to make mention of Bonderman in Moneyball.

So Dusty 2.0? No, not really. He seems to value OBP at least a little, doesn't care for bunting that much, etc. From what I have gathered, he is a bit more willing to play kids than Dusty was.

Now its down to simply what if's? Seriously, that Johnson incident is really getting overblown. He made a mistake as a manager. It's done. He took correct action after the matter. Johnson will be one of Florida's top arms in 2007. He made a mistake that, as CubinNY pointed out, he's seen made before (and caused great damage to Lieber). He made a really big mistake, one that shows poor judgement in regards to pitcher's health. We don't know that Girardi corrected his action - your quote indicates that Johnson won't pitch if it's a little sprain. That doesn't tell us that Joe thought he made a mistake or anything, just that he won't pitch his player if he's hurt (which isn't a shocker, since that's the doctor's decision). I don't see how I (or anyone else) is overblowing a decision that Girardi made that not only goes against common logic and risks severe injury to a young player but is a mistake he saw his manager make 5 years ago. Garenhire did an admirable job with Liriano. Francisco was in the 140s in PAP (it would be higher if he hadn't missed time, but even then, it'd probably have been between 50 and 100), he averaged 89.4 pitches/start. The Twins treated him very gingerly, whether it was starting the season in the pen or the team being careful with him when he was coming back. I think Gardenhire is an awful manager in terms of in-game decisions and lineup construction, but the way he brought along Liriano (and Sanatana a few years ago) were great.

You've got to be kidding me. He let a rookie go out and pitch some more after an 82-minute rain delay - something he saw happen to Jon Lieber that pretty much iced his need for TJS in 2002. He was reckless and jeapordized Johnson's career. Whatever his attitude is to pitch counts, IP and the like, he risked the career of Josh Johnson doing that.

You guys are serious aren't you? :shock: One can hope, right? Besides, if McDonough is that adamant about winning, you got to imagine he'll at least ask Hendry to pursue. Right? Right? There is no way we'd get ARod without Ramirez. The Yankees don't downgrade at positions and I don't see another 3B that can step in for the Yankees If the Cubs A-Ram to a new contract, wouldn't that mean they couldn't trade him until May or June? Only if he gets to file for free agency in between.

But don't bring Torre with you. That should have been an E-3 on Sheffield. Why is Sheffield playing a position he's not used to in an elimination game? RBI single for Pudge, Tigers now up 4-0.

Thanks for taking your time to answer our questions (and post on the board and have impromptu chats too!). Are there any players Hendry is likely to hone in on this offseason, be it via trade or free agency? With the way Alex Rodriguez has fallen out of favor in New York, is he on Jim Hendry's radar?

I had a dream that they lost, followed by a dream that they won. Strange but true. 2 night ago I had a dream that we lost too. Bad sign :( Rarely has a dream that I've had come true. Trust me on this. Otherwise I would be living a goooood life. So the Bears are going to tie?

Questionable personnel decisions - especially in terms of pitching, staters vs. relievers. Dusty-like in treating young pitcher's health (brought a rookie back into a game after an 80-minute rain delay!) Might be too Buck Showalter-like in terms of discipline. Conventional thinking on the SABR side of things (though I think we're not sure how conventional he really is). Pro-Girardi folks give him too much credit for the Marlins' relative success in 2006. All in all, I don't think we personally have enough information to be decidedly pro or anti-Girardi without allowing some bias to come in. Didn't that rookie then go on the dl? I'm not at all sure of the specifics of the incident but I swear I heard that was one of the reasons he was going to be fired?? Correct. We're talking about Josh Johnson, who came back after the delay and ended up leaving the game with a strained forearm.

It's what he does best.

USC is up 17-10 at the half.

Bochy has a reputation for not playing the kids and a being a player's manager. Apparently he doesn't play small ball too much.

I sure hope you're not surprised, Washington is better than Washington State.

3-1 in the 9th, let's go Hoffman.