Yeah, he's been an OB machine this year: .286.

He's a fourth outfielder. At. Best.

With respect to his OBP, his career line is slightly more flattering at .317 and last year he got on at a .328 clip. Not superman but certainly serviceable and much moreso than Frenchy.

The slow pitch softball Tigers with only 6. :LOL:

Myers called up! Let the march for ROY begin.

Ventura with another solid start at Omaha last night:

5 IP | 3 H | 1 BB | 5 K

They're still keeping him on a pitch count. Want to see him continue working on the control and pitch count issues before he gets the call. But the stuff is electric.

A 2014 rotation of...

Shields
Duffy
Guthrie
Davis/Paulino
Ventura

..Could make Santana's loss much easier to manage.

I expect more from Paulino than I do Duffy. I'd also like to see Mendoza brought back. He is looking like a proven avg starting pitcher. Ventura and Duffy are still huge question marks.

Shields
Paulino
Guthrie
Davis
Mendoza

I wonder what type of bat Duffy and or Ventura could bring back.

Duffy is a question mark, no doubt. But the strides he was making before TJ were definitely encouraging. He's guaranteed to be back in 2014. Not so sure with Paulino. I'd guess the rotation looks like this to start the year:

Shields
Guthrie
Davis
Paulino
Duffy

with Mendoza in long relief, waiting to slide in because of injury or ineffectiveness.

Rotation won't be as good at the No. 2 spot in that case. The key will be getting production from Nos. 4 and 5 to balance it out. Davis, Paulino and Duffy all have the raw ability to fill the No. 2 role, but don't have the track record.

It’s outrageously optimistic to project any of those guys to even get close to Santana’s 2.80 (ish) ERA

Danny Duffy may end up being the hardest throwing lefty in the majors, discarding him so quickly (after what he was flashing last year) would be pretty unwise.

I doubt they get "close" to Santana's E.R.A. I suppose I am just much more optimistic about our complete 2014 rotation after hearing the positive reports about Duffy, Paulino, and Ventura.

Oh, I also think Ventura is the most special of the SPs they've brought through the system under this regime. Since he got "right" entering last year, he's done nothing but produce. And he has handled the difficult promotions with relative ease.

He has good trade value, but his size will diminish some of that. Duffy also has value, but is still too close to the injury to fetch top price.

Right. But Santana will probably finish the year around 3.25.

I'd guess they're the same at No. 1, slightly worse at No. 2, slightly worse at No. 3, better at No. 4, better at No. 5, with a slight net loss.

But that kind of depends on how Ervin Santana closes the year.

So is keeping Santana just out of the question?

I'm just a big Paulino guy. He had some back luck in 11 that brought his numbers down a bit and in 2012 he was lights out in 7 starts with a 1.7 ERA or something sick like that. Obviously he wasn't going to keep up that rate, but for a pitcher to have 7 starts like that in a row shows some real tremendous ability.

I like Duffy's upside as well. I wonder if he struggles as a starter if he wouldn't make a pretty good closer. He'll have a place on this team somewhere.