We do have Nick Franklin at short on the farm, but I don't know how far away he is from being ready. Triunfel seems to be struggling at the plate in Tacoma. Peguero, who had ridiculous numbers (2.350 OPS) in three games with the Rainiers, is on the DL - I don't know why. If he could get healthy and hit for average, I'd gladly endure his defense, which is probably no worse than Carp's.

I'm starting to share your pessimism about Smoak; he's looking like our next Figgins in the lineup, a guy who we thought would hit but isn't. Who knows how long it will take Zduriencik to admit another mistake, if it comes to that?

I think a big problem with the team right now is that Wedge is probably being forced to juggle his lineup with players he'd rather not play, but whom Z is forcing him to play. That keeps the entire roster, except for a few constant starters like Ackley, Ichiro, and Smoak, off-balance and out of rhythm, which is exactly the last thing you want when you're trying to play baseball at the speed of this game at the major-league level.

The more I look at what goes on with this team, the more I suspect that the problem centers around one man: Jack Zduriencik. If Wedge is serious with all his verbiage about accountability and playing to win, he's either an incompetent manager or he's being forced to play guys he'd rather not.

You know, I have but one answer, and YOU, said it.........................'It is what it is'!! Let's face it, we're losers!! The day that we can actually put together a GOOD season, is the day about 10 years down the road. Our management team has absolutely no timetable for a winning team, and on the present course they now pursue, it WILL, be about ten years, IF that soon. I began to have a faint glimmer of hope when they beat the Tigers a couple of weeks ago, but since then, it's been all downhill.
............................................................again!!! We're losing ground quickly, and once more, headed to last place...................okay, so what else is new. Yep, that good old 'rebuilding' process is going nowhere at the present!

You should become a Blues fan.

Maybe it's a function of money but it seems lots of teams that were good, have had long stretches of "rebuilding"...some seem mired in it and can't get out...the Pirates were tremendous 20-30 years ago and have hit tough times The Royals with Brett come to mind, as do the Twins after The Puckett years rebounded somewhat with Mauer/Morneau...Atlanta rebounded quickly, and the Dodgers have been up and down...In the long run a 10 year downturn may not be so far off the norm, and i can see us rebounding by 2014