In case you missed it, Susan Slusser reports that Dallas Braden -- he of the "I can't feel two of my toes and now I have a staph infection" -- has passed up antibiotics saying, "It'll be gone tomorrow; the power of positive thinking." These were, I believe, Jim Henson's exact last words. Of course Henson was famous for creating lovable and bizarre personalities that had...8 toes? Hmm...
The A's take on the Royals today to begin the Cactus League's final weekend. The competition for 1B pits Daric "I have a .553 OBP this Spring" against Eric "Well mine's .206!" Chavez. Jake Fox has an OPS of .383 while Eric Patterson has fielded exactly one ball cleanly and that one belonged to Adrian Beltre.
Duuuuuuuuke!!!!! Justin Duchscherer makes his second start today, following 4 strong innings of 1 run ball last Monday. Today I'll start a new feature I have planned for the regular season: On my days (usually Saturday and Sunday), when I post the real A's lineup I will also post "my lineup" -- how I would construct the lineup with the same players.
There has been a lot of disagreement about what would happen if the A's sent down Jake Fox and/or Eric Patterson -- would they clear waivers? I almost want the A's to cut both just to see who's right. But mostly I want both cut because I think they should not make the Opening Day roster -- plus I'm on the side believing their odds of clearing waivers are both good. Neither offers good defense nor much certainty at the plate, and they would be cut at a time rosters are pretty set.
So my proposed Opening Day roster, as of right now, looks like this:
Basic Starting 9: Barton, Ellis, Pennington, Kouzmanoff, Suzuki, Cust, Crisp, Davis, Sweeney
4 man Bench: Chavez, Powell, Gross, Rosales
Starting Rotation: Sheets, Braden, Duchscherer, Anderson, Gonzalez (Cahill up for first broken player)
7-man Bullpen: Bailey, Wuertz, Ziegler, Breslow, Blevins, Kilby, Jennings/Ramirez (doesn't matter)
DL: Devine (up for Kilby when ready)
That's how I'd do it.
Today's A's starting lineup, courtesy of The Sluss:
Crisp - CF
Barton - 1B
Sweeney - RF
Kouzmanoff - 3B
Suzuki - C
Cust - DH
Ellis - 2B
Buck - LF
Pennington - SS
My order would be:
Crisp - CF
Barton - 1B
Kouzmanoff - 3B
Cust - DH
Suzuki - C
Sweeney - RF
Ellis - 2B
Buck - LF
Pennington - SS
