Our Sunday options right now are awful

[chef dixon]

All I know is as it currently stands, Florida will score 15 runs on Sunday.

[CadaverDawg]

To me it's this simple....who do you see replacing Hudson and Sexton in the rotation next year? Who is in your future rotation? Whoever those few guys are....pick one and they are the Sunday guy. Sink or swim. We are wasting valuable SEC experience by giving Brown, Houston, Tatum, etc, their weekly whiplash session on Sunday....it's time to realize that the freshmen have higher ceilings, so let them get to those ceilings by beginning to log valuable innings against the big boys on Sunday. They may surprise us after a start or two....definitely can't do any worse than Brown.

Tatum, Brown, Houston don't have the mental makeup to get it done, so it isn't going to magically happen. Let's start prepping our future rotation, and who knows, we may end up with a reliable third starter come later this season if we get him his bumps and bruises Now. Don't wait until later, the Brown/Houston/Tatum experiment is over...it failed. Too many talented arms with high ceilings need valuable innings right now to be wasting them on veterans that don't have the mental makeup to get the job done.

Let's not over complicate it.

[Jack Lambert]

Pitching did not cost us today. It was ass play by the in field.

[Todd4State]

I disagree. He's not a bullpen guy. Been told some of those times he went in he didn't even get to throw 5 pitches before he came in. Gotta use the strengths of the pitchers. Small competes. He can go 5. He did it against our hitters all fall and spring. It's time to start him and let him give it a go.

Eventually he will be as good or better than Hudson if he stays healthy. But what he did in the spring doesn't mean squat. Daniel Brown dominated our hitters at times too.

In actual live competition he hasn't shown me that he can go more than one inning. Believe you me I hope he turns the corner soon- but as of today as good as he was I don't think he is ready to go five at all. He gave up a run in ONE inning today.

[HSVDawg]

To me it's this simple....who do you see replacing Hudson and Sexton in the rotation next year? Who is in your future rotation? Whoever those few guys are....pick one and they are the Sunday guy. Sink or swim. We are wasting valuable SEC experience by giving Brown, Houston, Tatum, etc, their weekly whiplash session on Sunday....it's time to realize that the freshmen have higher ceilings, so let them get to those ceilings by beginning to log valuable innings against the big boys on Sunday. They may surprise us after a start or two....definitely can't do any worse than Brown.

Tatum, Brown, Houston don't have the mental makeup to get it done, so it isn't going to magically happen. Let's start prepping our future rotation, and who knows, we may end up with a reliable third starter come later this season if we get him his bumps and bruises Now. Don't wait until later, the Brown/Houston/Tatum experiment is over...it failed. Too many talented arms with high ceilings need valuable innings right now to be wasting them on veterans that don't have the mental makeup to get the job done.

Let's not over complicate it.

Agreed. I'd prefer that we go Pilkington with the next chance, then Breaux again if it doesn't work out with him. I would have Houston somewhere in the mix, but after 8 years of Cohen I think one thing we know he is never going to do is have three RHP's as our weekend starters if he can help it. That's probably why Brown has gotten as many chances as he has.

[Todd4State]

To me it's this simple....who do you see replacing Hudson and Sexton in the rotation next year? Who is in your future rotation? Whoever those few guys are....pick one and they are the Sunday guy. Sink or swim. We are wasting valuable SEC experience by giving Brown, Houston, Tatum, etc, their weekly whiplash session on Sunday....it's time to realize that the freshmen have higher ceilings, so let them get to those ceilings by beginning to log valuable innings against the big boys on Sunday. They may surprise us after a start or two....definitely can't do any worse than Brown.

Tatum, Brown, Houston don't have the mental makeup to get it done, so it isn't going to magically happen. Let's start prepping our future rotation, and who knows, we may end up with a reliable third starter come later this season if we get him his bumps and bruises Now. Don't wait until later, the Brown/Houston/Tatum experiment is over...it failed. Too many talented arms with high ceilings need valuable innings right now to be wasting them on veterans that don't have the mental makeup to get the job done.

Let's not over complicate it.

We're going to have several guys competing- Small, Breaux, Hughes, Pilkington, and Keegan James. If we get Mitchell Miller in as a freshman I could see him competing for a spot as well. It's pretty clear to me that our coaches realize that our freshmen have higher ceilings- that's why they have thrown them out there so much. The PROBLEM is they are still freshmen. They have no experience and most of them can barely control their emotions on the mound and are too excited. I mean, Houston and Tatum two of the guys you are calling "failed experiments" have better numbers than most of the guys that are going to compete for spots next year.

And then you HAVE TO BE careful that you don't get freshmen too much exposure because then they can lose confidence. That could really mess us up going forward. I think that's a BIG reason why Breaux and Small aren't quite ready yet because we kept throwing them out there and leaving them out there to "figure it out" and then bad things happen. See FAU game one. And we were more conservative with Pilkington- and that's why he is ahead of those two at the moment.

[Todd4State]

Agreed. I'd prefer that we go Pilkington with the next chance, then Breaux again if it doesn't work out with him. I would have Houston somewhere in the mix, but after 8 years of Cohen I think one thing we know he is never going to do is have three RHP's as our weekend starters if he can help it. That's probably why Brown has gotten as many chances as he has.

I think it's because they were hoping Houston could take over as the closer and be a guy throwing 100 MPH in the 8th and 9th and they think Brown has a high pitching IQ. The other thing about Houston is he has historically pitched better against LH heavy lineups and Ole Miss is RH heavy. I'm not sure how much that affected their overall decision today because I'm sure Pilkington was at least in the discussion to start as well.

[Saltydog]

think of any other options. I fully expect us to get swept this weekend at UF. Losing games like the last one to UGA and yesterday is what is going to kill this team.

[I seen it dawg]

Pitching did not cost us today. It was ass play by the in field.

And the starting pitcher sets the tone for the team...

[maroonmania]

We're going to have several guys competing- Small, Breaux, Hughes, Pilkington, and Keegan James. If we get Mitchell Miller in as a freshman I could see him competing for a spot as well. It's pretty clear to me that our coaches realize that our freshmen have higher ceilings- that's why they have thrown them out there so much. The PROBLEM is they are still freshmen. They have no experience and most of them can barely control their emotions on the mound and are too excited. I mean, Houston and Tatum two of the guys you are calling "failed experiments" have better numbers than most of the guys that are going to compete for spots next year.

And then you HAVE TO BE careful that you don't get freshmen too much exposure because then they can lose confidence. That could really mess us up going forward. I think that's a BIG reason why Breaux and Small aren't quite ready yet because we kept throwing them out there and leaving them out there to "figure it out" and then bad things happen. See FAU game one. And we were more conservative with Pilkington- and that's why he is ahead of those two at the moment.

The fact that we brought in a multitude of high end pitchers this year and still don't have even one of them ready to be an SEC starter at this point would make me have grave reservations about counting on any true freshman that will be coming in next year at least for the first half on next year's SEC schedule, Mitch Miller included. Just have to hope that quite a few of these true freshmen this year take big steps for next year.

[baseballfan]

Breaux and Small have pitched against higher competition. Our starters give up runs too, but stay out there and are able to work through it and get better. Breaux and Small need innings to work through some things. Facing one batter or pitching 1 inning is not getting them the needed time on the mound. These two are by far the best two freshmen pitchers. Neither one of them has got to start a game and see what they can do.

[Bubb Rubb]

One important option that would help - score some runs on Sunday.

[Saltydog]

plenty of runs to win a game but not when you're giving up an average of over 10 rpg.

[maroonmania]

Pitching did not cost us today. It was ass play by the in field.

Our play in the field certainly was not helpful and on the other side I thought UNM played outstanding defense which probably saved them from us scoring an additional 2 or 3 runs. They made several very nice plays in the outfield and Bortles scarfed up at least 2 balls hit down to 3rd base that could have easily gone for hits.

[tcdog70]

It is really simple. We don't walk anybody we win. We Start giving away free passes to first base we lose. Pound the strike zone. You can't load the base without giving up a hit. You cannot wild pitch and balk runners into scoring position. Throw ****ing strikes!!!

[Dawg61]

Reading this thread, its obvious this board is as confused about who should be thrown out there on Sunday as Cohen and Johnson are.

Ha yeah it's comical at this point. Everyone is just naming every pitcher on staff.