'specially on the Prior Soap Opera.

I am tending to starting to agree with several writers who profess that we should just DUMP both Prior and Wood, and aleviate all of the distractions and missing time. just move on FINALLY, ya know?

But the needle of "what if" is still in the old arm, and they are both "paid for" to varying degrees.

Re 5th starter, I have stated this before - my money is on Wade Miller now. He knows (knew) how to pitch in my opinion (I remember some GREAT games against the Cubs), and a tie will go to the vet. I was lookin' for a "slam dunk" from the Gooz, and instead it was off the rim.

Also, I didn't think he looked good as the first commenter said in this thread.  In 10 innings this spring he's struck 2 guys out.  TWO!  This is a guy whose pitches are easily seen at this point and he got hit hard today.  He was helped out by Blanco in the 1st inning as well.  

I like Guzman, but today's outing has made me realize that his chance of ever being a decent starter are about to come to an end.  He simply doesn't have it anymore.  It may be good enough for relief, but he'll never be anything but a 5th starter at best unless we see significant improvements and since his velocity was good and his curve was good, I don't see that happening.

 He can't be any worse defensively than Barrett is behind the plate, that's for sure. I've seen Fox play many times actually and really like his approach at the plate and think he could be a very solid hitting Catcher.

Look it up - Scout.com, ivytalk.com, etc. Do you think with the crappy Geo Soto as their current "3rd" in the depth chart, if he had any "D", with his bat, there is a reason he isn't getting the chance?

He also caught R.Hill @ Michigan.

I wish he had some "D". He is really bad.

http://www.americanlegends.blogspot.com

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=A9G_e77uTftF2dIA6x0RvLYF?slug=ti-mlb_07_prior031607&prov=y hoo&type=lgns

1. Angel has good stuff. There's no doubt about it. He has a great fastball and curve, which he put on display throughout the game.
2. He has some definite control and command issues. He left his curve too far up in the zone to be effective against big league hitters.
3. As we all saw, he got numerous hitters down
   

Largely, I believe his inability to put away hitters was due to a bad choice of 0-2 and 1-2 pitches and location. There were many times when he pitched the same pitch 3 times in a row, and he pitched them in the same location. If you throw two 83-mph curves low and outside for strikes 1 and 2, use that good heater up-and-out of the strike zone. Then come back with a low slider or curve. I know it's ST, and he may be throwing 3 curves in a row in order to find a consitent release point, but I don't think that's what he was doing most of the time.

Also, there were several time when he missed badly with his fastball, leaving it over the heart of the plate.

Overall, he's a kid that has great stuff and potential. He needs to stay healthy, and work a lot on his location and pitch selection in different situations. I think he'll start at Iowa, but we'll see him in Chicago this year.

There's a point when he is just going to have to avoid the "Novoa Complex" of not finishing batters off with 2 strikes, and not being to get the 3rd out.

He does remind me of Juan Cruz in his early days w/the Cubs.

The guy had the same problems.