if you build it . . . .

these pictures, courtesy of VEB long-timer matty fred, date to late last week. many thanks matty for passing them around.

click on the image to get a larger, more detailed view.

not much in this morning's news: ponson's the #5, and yeah he has earned it. a lot of people have noted (and i agree with them) that wainwright actually outpitched sidney this spring; so if it was a "competition," then why doesn't wainwright get the job? and the answer is that the competition was really between ponson and himself, a pass-fail exam. since he turned in a decent spring, he passed; had he pitched sloppy and earned a failing grade, then tony/dunc would have taken the next best option. so that was the secondary competition -- between reyes and wainwright to be sidney's understudy. wainwright won.

it's now up to reyes to go down to memphis and master that sinking fastball. and it's gonna be tough. put yourself in his shoes: you're facing a triple a hitter who you know you can blow away, but instead you throw a flat sinker and get tagged for a double. how many times does that have to happen before you just say, "screw this, i'm going back to what works for me?" i have no idea how he'll fare down there, but i'm a lot less optimistic about him than i was four months ago. indeed, i feel slightly ridiculous for having had such high hopes for a young pitcher in this organization.

as for ponson, best of luck to him. if he can keep his era in the range of 4.25 he'll be earning his paycheck and then some. i would expect that to happen; tony/dunc have a great track record with pitchers like him, as noted here among other places. but i stand by the concluding thought of that december post: "ponson is a wager strictly for the $2 tables; you might win the bet, but it still doesn't move you any closer to a jackpot."

too soon to panic about the pain in edmonds' forearm; sounds like a nerve thing that will self-correct. and no reason at all to panic about bigbie's possible stress fracture; plenty of equivalent talents (schumaker duncan daubach) who can hold that roster spot for six weeks if larry's laid up.