40% rookies and other numbers

Among other things, Steve Novotney notes the current roster includes ten rookies.

Joe Rutter notices that eight of the last thirteen losses have been by one run. I'd add that three of the last thirteen wins have been by one run, too, making the Bucs 3-8 in their last eleven one-run games. That's nothing to worry about all by itself.

Bob Dvorchak caught Mac bitching about the payroll. There's no doubt that it is easier to assemble a winning team right now when you spend $100 million, but a team that has several years to piece together a winner with $34 million can't use money as an excuse. Cash is great but it's no guarantee of victories. I don't want to hear the front office or the manager blaming the losing record on the small payroll. A .500 season is not that lofty an expectation and the payroll - given the time the team has taken to collect players like Jason Bay and Oliver Perez - is no longer an excuse.

If this team is a loser, blow it up in the offseason. DL saw a red-hot team in the weeks before the Benson trade and went out and got some pieces that fit with that team. Now they haven't won a game since. If this group plays .450 baseball throughout the second half, I'd blow it up. We could get a lot for some of the arbitration-eligible position players on the trade market. One thing that doesn't work - in my opinion - is waiting for a group of losers to get better. Once a group establishes an identity as a group of losers, the ceiling starts to come down for them. That's how I see it at least.