shooting the shirt(s)

(Once again, cross-posted as a diary on HalosHeaven)

Took the twenty-five minute trek up to the Big A today. With only this upcoming weekend left to enjoy before I have to leave for the icy wastelands of Northern California, I wanted to get my hands on some Halo merch while I still could. There's nothing more depressing than going to a Walmart or Target up there and seeing only Oakland and San Francisco paraphernalia on the shelves.

I've always considered the t-shirt rack at the Team Store as an interesting place to measure a player's standing in the organization (granted I am unaware of the regulations or decisions that go into choosing which players are chosen for the shirts). After deciding to get a Weaver the Younger shirt, I made some interesting observations:

-Why doesn't Lackey get any love? For our ace he was noticeably underrepresented (as in no shirts whatsoever on the rack.
-There are significantly fewer Shields shirts than the last time I was at the stadium. Do they sell quickly or has their production ceased/decreased? A presumptive past decision readying for a possible trade for a bat?
-While I'm on this pitcher thing, why doesn't Santana get any love either? I'd attribute this to trade possibilities, but I noticed a lack of Santana shirts during this past season, too.
-I was (pleasantly) surprised to see Weaver shirts. I always thought it was strange that, during the season, Napoli wear was available but Mr. 9-0 was not.
-Speaking of Napoli, I remember reading here that the popularity of the shirts for the other-catcher-named-Mike is quite high. This was not an exaggeration--there were easily as many Napoli shirts as the dudes we would consider "franchise" players: Frankie, Vlad and GA. (Mathis shirts? Nowhere to be found, unsurprisingly)
-Does anyone actually buy Escobar merch? He had quite a stockpile of shirts on the rack.

And finally, the kicker:

After asking one of the clerks to retrieve my Weaver shirt for me (it's on the top rack, and I'm probably an inch shorter than Figgy), I noticed that the door to the storeroom was open. I took an absentminded peak, and my interest was piqued by what I saw: the number 24. My first thought was "Are you serious?" I took a closer look and sure enough they are hoarding tons of Gary Matthews, Jr. shirts back there. I was surprised they weren't on the rack--they're probably waiting till the season begins so they don't have to order more (one interesting way to mark his progress: go to a game near the end of this upcoming season and count how many people you see wearing number 24).

My one, persisting question was: when can I buy a Justin Speier shirt?

GA Interview and Shea

Some radio somewhere's got an interview w/ Anderson, that apparently took place either yesterday or today:

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/18227/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/18227/podcast/LOSANGELES-CA/KLAC-AM/070201-Garrett%20Anderson%20Interview.mp3?CPROG=PCAST&MARKET=LOSANGELES-CA&NG_FORMAT=sports&SITE_ID=727&STATION_ID=KLAC-AM&PCAST_AUTHOR=AM570&PCAST_CAT=Arts_&_Entertainment&PCAST_TITLE=Roggin_&_Simers2

Interesting that the interviewer tries to get Anderson to say the team as is sucks; note that Anderson doesn't exactly deny it: "they apparently weren't comfortable with Chone [Figgins] playing center, so they went out and got a center fielder"--he also claims that he never took Moreno' s promise for an impact bat seriously.
He also tries to pass off his lack of hustle as a difference in "body language." Somehow I don't buy that--you either dive for the ball when necessary, or you don't. But I guess we should lay off the criticism: "Sometimes I've been criticized in the paper and I took it personally." Well boo-hoo?

In the meantime, I believe that Stoneman actually made a good decision (I know, stop the presses!) by signing Hillenbrand. It gives us good security against the Rivera injury, and it ensures that it doesn't block D-Mac or Kotchman/Morales indefinitely. It does concern me that placing Shea at DH will mean that GA is permanent LF for the season, even if his supposedly cured plantar fascitis (sp?) comes back. However, if DMac goes down to injury again and Chone can't quite cut it at 3B (which I really don't think he can), Shea plays third. If Kotch gets the Clap and Kendry doesn't perform well, Shea plays 1B--if both happen, well, then we're still screwed. At the very least, however, Shea provides a good degree of guaranteed pop (I'll gladly take a guaranteed 18-24 HRs from Shea as opposed to a max. of 7 from GMJ) that just isn't in the line-up as is. The best situation I can think of is for DMac to start producing on a regular, injury-free basis and for Kendry to show us his real power that we got only a glimpse of last season--if that happens, this is what the line-up would probably look like:

1. GMJ--CF
2. O-Cab--SS
3. Vlad--RF
4. GA--LF/DH
5. Kendry--DH
6. Shea--1B (career .992 fielding percentage as opposed to Kendry's .989 at 1B--I'll gladly take good veteran defense over a still developing rookie glove [though don't put H at 3B unless absolutely necessary--a .93-ish is def. not good])
7. DMac--3B
8. Napoli--C
9. Howie (HK-47)--2B (Somehow this placement doesn't seem quite right)

Super-utility: Figgins
Bench (possibilities): Izzy, Molina, Aybar, Murphy, possibly Mathis?

I think this line-up is pretty solid. It's highly dependent on performance up to expectations and we simply cannot afford any more injuries. It certainly ain't the Yankees. But it's also not the Pirates.