Weekend Thoughts From Yet Another Weekend Win over the Rebels

[StarkVegasSteve]

The more things change, the more things stay the same. Through all our change, 5 different HCs in the last 9 series against OM, and we have won all but 1 of them, and should've won that one. We just seem to absolutely have Bianco's number at this juncture.


1. You cannot discount how big of a series win this was for us. Without it, we probably struggle to make the NCAAT because even with Mizzou's sweep, their RPI is still in the gutter. So job well done by Parker and the boys.

2. Ace Reese is even better than the player we thought we were getting. I think we knew we were getting a high ceiling player but I don't think we even knew how high the ceiling was on him. I spoke to his parents this weekend and know they want him to stay in Starkville and we need to make sure that happens. He also has been injured since March and has played through it.

3. Pico has lost it. I don't know what's going on but his last 5 starts have just not been good. He needs to find it again if we are going to have any type of postseason success.

4. As bad as Pico was on Friday in Game 1, Siary and Ligon were equally as good in Games 2 and 3. Siary turned into Brooks Auger in Game 2 Friday and Ligon looked like Rickey Vaughn. He couldn't find the zone, but always got out of the trouble. If we can get that out of those two, maybe a shade more control from Ligon, going forward then we could make some noise. Everyone has a good Friday guy in the tournament. The teams that make it have a good Saturday guy and enough of a Sunday guy to get it done.

5. We need Hines to snap out of it. He's gotten better since Lemonis was dismissed but he's still only hitting .274 and was 2-11 on the weekend with 2x as many Ks as hits.

6. Please for the love of God figure out the closer and setup guys. At this point, I would roll with McPherson in the closer role and either let Davis or Dotson be your setup guy. Hungate getting back would be a huge piece for us as well to get back. But we need to define something. We just don't seem like we know what to do with a late lead when it comes to the bullpen.

7. We returned back to some of our old ways this weekend. Left 24 on base and I think we left the bases loaded 3 times this weekend and left two on a few other times. We also had 4 errors this weekend.

8. We don't ABSOLUTELY HAVE to get a sweep this weekend. But we need one to feel comfortable. We definitely need the first two of the weekend or we're going to be all kinds of tense on Sunday.

9. I feel like we'll start seeing some names start leaking on who we're targeting within the next 10-14 days. I think things will start to come into focus a bit. I keep hearing Will Coggin's name A LOT. It seems like O'Conner's name has died down a bit but I think that's more of just him making that statement and some people taking it as gospel. Just like Wes Johnson, I would expect they both have some degree of interest in the job. I also did some digging around on the Eric Bakich and he is definitely a name to keep an eye on. Not saying that's the hire, but the door is cracked there in Clemson.


As always, HailState and GTHOM.

[BigDawg81]

The more things change, the more things stay the same. Through all our change, 5 different HCs in the last 9 series against OM, and we have won all but 1 of them, and should've won that one. We just seem to absolutely have Bianco's number at this juncture.


1. You cannot discount how big of a series win this was for us. Without it, we probably struggle to make the NCAAT because even with Mizzou's sweep, their RPI is still in the gutter. So job well done by Parker and the boys.

2. Ace Reese is even better than the player we thought we were getting. I think we knew we were getting a high ceiling player but I don't think we even knew how high the ceiling was on him. I spoke to his parents this weekend and know they want him to stay in Starkville and we need to make sure that happens. He also has been injured since March and has played through it.

3. Pico has lost it. I don't know what's going on but his last 5 starts have just not been good. He needs to find it again if we are going to have any type of postseason success.

4. As bad as Pico was on Friday in Game 1, Siary and Ligon were equally as good in Games 2 and 3. Siary turned into Brooks Auger in Game 2 Friday and Ligon looked like Rickey Vaughn. He couldn't find the zone, but always got out of the trouble. If we can get that out of those two, maybe a shade more control from Ligon, going forward then we could make some noise. Everyone has a good Friday guy in the tournament. The teams that make it have a good Saturday guy and enough of a Sunday guy to get it done.

5. We need Hines to snap out of it. He's gotten better since Lemonis was dismissed but he's still only hitting .274 and was 2-11 on the weekend with 2x as many Ks as hits.

6. Please for the love of God figure out the closer and setup guys. At this point, I would roll with McPherson in the closer role and either let Davis or Dotson be your setup guy. Hungate getting back would be a huge piece for us as well to get back. But we need to define something. We just don't seem like we know what to do with a late lead when it comes to the bullpen.

7. We returned back to some of our old ways this weekend. Left 24 on base and I think we left the bases loaded 3 times this weekend and left two on a few other times. We also had 4 errors this weekend.

8. We don't ABSOLUTELY HAVE to get a sweep this weekend. But we need one to feel comfortable. We definitely need the first two of the weekend or we're going to be all kinds of tense on Sunday.

9. I feel like we'll start seeing some names start leaking on who we're targeting within the next 10-14 days. I think things will start to come into focus a bit. I keep hearing Will Coggin's name A LOT. It seems like O'Conner's name has died down a bit but I think that's more of just him making that statement and some people taking it as gospel. Just like Wes Johnson, I would expect they both have some degree of interest in the job. I also did some digging around on the Eric Bakich and he is definitely a name to keep an eye on. Not saying that's the hire, but the door is cracked there in Clemson.


As always, HailState and GTHOM.

Like Kendall Rogers said to me, read the statement carefully from O?Connor and Johnson. They are still on the table.

[Coach34]

Ligon has great stuff. He's just weak mentally. You can see it. He held it together Saturday and had a good outing when we had to have it.

Errors happen but good lord but Catch-22's error was bad

Beans (Trout's official nickname) has been playing well. I have a friend who sends me a text every time he does something positive now.

Frei to me has been the biggest surprise. He is hitting around .400 from the left side. Playing him full time and putting Reeves at SS full time is when this season turned around. We are 9-6 since we made that move in SEC play.

We will throw off in G1 in Hoover. As the 13 or 12 seed- they play each other. Should we win- I'd skip Pico's spot. Let him have a full 2 weeks rest with some pens to get loose

Need the sweep- I've got Omaha steaks riding on it

[Santiago]

Ligon has great stuff. He's just weak mentally. You can see it. He held it together Saturday and had a good outing when we had to have it.

Errors happen but good lord but Catch-22's error was bad

Beans (Trout's official nickname) has been playing well. I have a friend who sends me a text every time he does something positive now.

Frei to me has been the biggest surprise. He is hitting around .400 from the left side. Playing him full time and putting Reeves at SS full time is when this season turned around. We are 9-6 since we made that move in SEC play.

We will throw off in G1 in Hoover. As the 13 or 12 seed- they play each other. Should we win- I'd skip Pico's spot. Let him have a full 2 weeks rest with some pens to get loose

Need the sweep- I've got Omaha steaks riding on it

Wish we use Hoover to get some pitchers rotation on the mound for an inning or two, and rest up some guys, like you suggest.

[Santiago]

How much noise on Bloomquist at ASU?
I was against Coggin, initially, just since he was an assistant, but now can see he might be a good portal coach and rebuild quickly. If he was to bring a really good pitching coach, or he gives up salary for the hire of other good coaches, then maybe it is good.

[AlSwearengen]

Pico's velocity is down. Unless the gun was off this weekend, he was topping out at 91 and staying around 90 most of the time. He is probably tired, maybe a little injured.

[StarkVegasSteve]

How much noise on Bloomquist at ASU?
I was against Coggin, initially, just since he was an assistant, but now can see he might be a good portal coach and rebuild quickly. If he was to bring a really good pitching coach, or he gives up salary for the hire of other good coaches, then maybe it is good.

The only person pushing Bloomquist is Bo Bounds. He got into a pissing match on Twitter last night with Todd about it. He's not coming here. He's at his alma mater and is happy. I have no idea why he's pushing that unless Bloomquist's has some connection to Bo.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Wish we use Hoover to get some pitchers rotation on the mound for an inning or two, and rest up some guys, like you suggest.

If we can sweep this weekend then we can do that. We can just pitch Sullivan Game 1 and treat it like a midweek.

[Santiago]

The only person pushing Bloomquist is Bo Bounds. He got into a pissing match on Twitter last night with Todd about it. He's not coming here. He's at his alma mater and is happy. I have no idea why he's pushing that unless Bloomquist's has some connection to Bo.

I saw that, and wondered because Bo has friends in the program. So perhaps that group are pushing their guy.

Coggin, Ammo, a top pitching coach maybe making more than Coggin(while Coggin proves it), would be a great staff actually.

[Coursesuper]

I saw that, and wondered because Bo has friends in the program. So perhaps that group are pushing their guy.

Coggin, Ammo, a top pitching coach maybe making more than Coggin(while Coggin proves it), would be a great staff actually.

Our program or ASU?

[StarkVegasSteve]

I saw that, and wondered because Bo has friends in the program. So perhaps that group are pushing their guy.

Coggin, Ammo, a top pitching coach maybe making more than Coggin(while Coggin proves it), would be a great staff actually.

You're not going to pay a pitching coach more than the HC.........

[DawgFromOxford]

You're not going to pay a pitching coach more than the HC.........

If our new head coach isn't humble enough to make less than his assistants then he's not the right guy!! ***

[Goldendawg]

Is Highfield the best we have available in the outfield at this time? Around the Mendoza line also. Why do we have so few real outfielders, poor roster management/recruiting by Lemonis and staff? Looks to me that promises were made by Lemonis that certain players would play no matter what per example catcher and shortstop and it has taken until very recently to play the best at several positions. That so many portal players are leading this team shows Lemonis HS classes were seriously over rated.

[confucius say]

Ligon has great stuff. He's just weak mentally. You can see it. He held it together Saturday and had a good outing when we had to have it.

Errors happen but good lord but Catch-22's error was bad

Beans (Trout's official nickname) has been playing well. I have a friend who sends me a text every time he does something positive now.

Frei to me has been the biggest surprise. He is hitting around .400 from the left side. Playing him full time and putting Reeves at SS full time is when this season turned around. We are 9-6 since we made that move in SEC play.

We will throw off in G1 in Hoover. As the 13 or 12 seed- they play each other. Should we win- I'd skip Pico's spot. Let him have a full 2 weeks rest with some pens to get loose

Need the sweep- I've got Omaha steaks riding on it

Agree on Frei and reeves. But putting Powell behind the plate full time has been huge. He's running the show back there and doing great.
If we start those 3 and sanders prior to conference play, we are playing for a host spot this weekend.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Is Highfield the best we have available in the outfield at this time? Around the Mendoza line also. Why do we have so few real outfielders, poor roster management/recruiting by Lemonis and staff? Looks to me that promises were made by Lemonis that certain players would play no matter what per example catcher and shortstop and it has taken until very recently to play the best at several positions. That so many portal players are leading this team shows Lemonis HS classes were seriously over rated.

I don't know about Highfill. I know if he wants to stay at this level, then outfield is his future. In regards to other possible choices. I mean the other choices would be Spalitta, O'Brien, Stevens(who I believe is injured), or Stallman.

I think a lot of it is unfortunately bad evals and not filling those holes in the portal.

[Santiago]

You're not going to pay a pitching coach more than the HC.........

I should have noted, just joking on that, but we do need to have a high paid staff.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I should have noted, just joking on that, but we do need to have a high paid staff.

We will. IF, and I have no knowledge that it will be but, if it is Coggin I imagine the salaries would be

Will-950-1.1

Ammo-350-600

PC-500-750

PC would be higher due to needing an elite PC because Coggin and Ammo handle the hitters.

[Coach34]

Is Highfield the best we have available in the outfield at this time? Around the Mendoza line also. Why do we have so few real outfielders, poor roster management/recruiting by Lemonis and staff? Looks to me that promises were made by Lemonis that certain players would play no matter what per example catcher and shortstop and it has taken until very recently to play the best at several positions. That so many portal players are leading this team shows Lemonis HS classes were seriously over rated.

We made promises to Cupp and Catch-22 that they would be the guys. That didnt work out and we waited too damn long to make the change
Juco was brought in for depth at 2B and turns out he is the best option there
We also thought Hunter was going to be drafted and leave. So thats why we took both Stallman and Sullivan. Hunter coming back created a logjam at 1st.
Frei didnt have a very good Fall and Reese was clearly going to be the guy at 3B. Then Frei began hammering the ball and we waited too long to move him to LF. Remember we tried him at 2B first before sending him to LF
We missed on a portal CF'er and there werent many good ooptions out there to begin with. O'Brien has yet to be able to hit SEC pitching

That's why I say it looks like Lemon just met the team on Feb 1st. We should have had some of these things worked out better before mid-Feb got here

[Coach34]

I should have noted, just joking on that, but we do need to have a high paid staff.

Our staff will make less than Vitello does by himself

[Saltydog]

Yeah well, pitch Sully and that'll definitely be a one and done in the tourney. Not sure how much winning a game or two helps us but it darn sure wouldn't hurt us either.