4/15/2004 08:44:00 AM by Rob

Pre-emptive strike

OK, I never said that Matt Clement was completely sucky, like Alfucksucka. I always maintained that he was inconsistent. About 10-12 times this year, he will go out and shut fools down. But for every one of those, there will be a day or two where he gets the hell beat out of him.

The difference lies in whether the 10-12 good starts is enough for you? I'll be brief about this today.

There have been seasons where I would have given perfectly good body parts for a 12-game winner. The raging debacle that was 1999, for example. I would have gladly welcomed a Matt Clement if it meant I didn't have to look at Micah Bowie. Or Captain Tightpants as a starter.

My POV is that we have a few glaring weaknesses, and one apparent strength, starting pitching depth. We're keeping Wood, and Prior, and Zambrano. We're keeping Angel Guzman. We're keeping Maddux. We got five other guys in the system that will be ready in the next couple of years. Clement ISN'T staying past this year.

Perhaps there is a GM out there who is starving for any type of pitching, and might want to give up either a major league player that can bat leadoff and hold down the fort at shortstop, or a catching prospect. The team and person that comes to mind is Dioner Navarro of the Yankees. But it might be someone else.

I'm not saying that a trade is a must, that he has to be shopped around. I would, however, use him in specific talks for specific players.

I'm glad that we smoked 'em yesterday, and I hope that we can do the same for Z today. We need to hammer the bottom three of the division, without exception. We need to hammer the other two teams, too, but that's a admittedly tougher task. We need to hammer 'em all, but we need to start with the Pirates.

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