The propaganda of course is that Jose Contreras is back on track and the source of his problems last year, lack of concentration due to personal issues, has been resolved. Watching him on the mound I’d say so far so good. Velocity is up and the as a result the forkball, though not quite the killer it can be just yet, is workin. Even more impressive were the hacks he took up at the plate. Struck out lookin in his first AB but not before getting two nice looking swings in and in his second AB he stroked a single. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen him actually make contact. I was impressed.
Speaking of nice swings, Brian Anderson does not want to start the season in AAA. He is cleaning up at the plate so far. I believe he’s top 3 in hits for the Cactus league if not leading. If he doesn’t fall off completely once the pitching catches up he’s surely set to be our outfield platoonist.
Poor Josh Fields. Allegedly spent his winter working on his defensive game, only to show up and realize he forgot to get in the cage. He’s hitting around .100 so far, while Crede is playing pretty solid and of course has the fact that it’s his job to lose. Also Kenny Williams has said he’s got no trade in mind so it looks like Crede is on his way to being our guy on opening day. And thank god. I rue the day ahead of time that we let Joe Crede slip away.
On that North side team, reports say that Felix Pie is going to miss a few days for surgery to “correct a personal problem.” What in the hell does that mean?
And can somebody please tell me what’s on Ichiro Suziki’s mind? 0-17?
Keywords: Brian Anderson, Felix Pie, Ichiro Suzuki, Joe Crede, Jose Contreras, Josh Fields, Kenny Williams
