Houston's starting five on the mound this season will call to mind both the excellence of contemporary baseball and pleasant memories of pitching staffs from a bygone era. As a duo, Wade Miller and Roy Oswalt have only Randy Johnson and Curt Shilling of Arizona and Barry Zito and Mark Mulder of Oakland as their peers, and the day is coming--perhaps it will arrive this season--when Oswalt and Miller will begin a long run as the pre-eminent pitching tandem in the National League. Although they do not form a left-right combination the way that Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain did for the Boston Braves or Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale did for the Dodgers, the reponsibility that both of Houston's aces carry is exactly the same and nearly as heavy a burden. The game is different now than it was in 1947 through 1951 when Spahn and Sain pitched together or in the 1960s when Koufax and Drysdale shut out every team between here and Mars. All four of these men worked in an era of four-man rotations and logged more starts and usually more innings than most pitchers will today. As any fan of the old Braves will tell you, it really was the case that people could only think of "Spahn and Sain, and pray for rain."
It's been a long time since any Houston baseball fans have had to concern themselves with rain's potential to nudge along a thin pitching staff in April and May and through the occasional showers of June, but Miller and Oswalt nonetheless have the challenge of anchoring a rotation about which there are many questions to be answered in Spring Training. It's been said several times already this off-season, but it cannot be said too often or too strongly: if the leading candidates for spots 3, 4, and 5 in the rotation are healthy and remain so for an extended period, the Houston Astros have a better than 50-50 chance to be a superior team. If they are not healthy, however, then the precious depth that Gerry Hunsicker quietly went about stockpiling over the winter will used to the maximum. Every pitcher has periodic aches and pains during the season but, that said, it is worth remarking that nearly every one of Houston's pitchers--including most of the leading candidates to be pitchers on this year's team has had serious arm trouble in the past. I'm looking at a fair list of Houston pitchers as I write, and the only men who haven't had any arm trouble or other physical problems that I'm aware of are Tim Redding and Kirk Saarloos. With all due respect, then, to the cheerful optimism of a Shane Reynolds or a Brian Moehler in regard to how good they feel about lasting the full year, the odds are that the last three spots of the Astros' starting five will undergo some degree of change as the season unfolds. That probability makes forecasting the productivity of a rotation a hard business but, with the understanding that a 162-game schedule takes place over a long time, there are still some observations about the Astros' starters that can carry appropriate weight, pitchers who can be pencilled in and discussed as likely contributors to the team this season.
Wade Miller (15-4, 3.28)
Miller is no Rodney Dangerfield, but it seems to me that he still doesn't quite get the respect he deserves at the top of Houston's rotation. The season he had in 2002 after recovering from the pinched nerve in his neck was nothing short of phenomenal. His twelve-game winning streak was one of the all-time great sustained pitching performances in Astros' history. That fastball and that slider he throws are completely impressive, intimidating pitches, heavy stuff that most batters just can't handle, especially if they wear a Brewers uniform. As long as his neck feels fine--or as long as there's treatment for it if it doesn't feel fine--Miller will put up outstanding numbers again. Odds are that the spread between his wins and losses won't be as great this year as it was last, but he is now in the fullness of his peak years with the Astros, and I honestly expect that with good health and a team hitting and fielding for him as well as they are capable, he will be a twenty-game winner this year. Projection: (20-12,3.20).
Roy Oswalt (19-9, 3.01)
Almost unnoticed at the end of Oswalt's wonderful 19-9 season, a season that included a nine-game winning streak, was the fact that he lost three out of his last four starts and looked bad doing it. I mention this to suggest that, as valuable as he is, Oswalt needs to be handled carefully during the year. Weight training has bulked up his once pencil-thin legs, enabling him to drive off the mound more consistently in each of his games, but he is still susceptible to pulled hamstrings and fatigue. Then again, so is Pedro Martinez, among his other ailments. But that cautionary note aside, I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I think that this year, with this team, Oswalt will take his place as the second-finest pitcher in the National League. Randy Johnson is still the best there is and will remain so until his body no longer enables him to throw, but Oswalt will pass Curt Shilling by as the # 2 guy. I tend to wax rhapsodic about Oswalt, but I can't help it. The man's stuff, and his command of it, is just extraordinary. "Command" is the right word for it, by the way; a good pitcher has control of his stuff, but Oswalt lashes that fastball and slider of his over the outside corner, or snaps that curveball off at a hitter's belt, like Indiana Jones cracking his bullwhip at the German army. When he pitches, there is absolutely no doubt who is in charge or what the outcome of the game will be. Oswalt can go through periods of wildness or hittabilty, but we tend to remember them precisely because they are very rare and very brief. It would help him quite a bit this year, particularly psychologically, if Shane Reynolds could step up and have one last Shane Reynolds-like season to take some of the pressure off that Oswalt feels from being counted on so heavily. I have a feeling, however, that this year, though Oswalt would welcome such support, he won't need it. Projection: (23-6/3.16).
Shane Reynolds (3-6, 4.86)
Reynolds went down so quickly last season that I don't honestly have a clear recollection of it happening, even after consulting my notes. His chronic back trouble has been such a concern over the past couple of seasons that it has misled some fans--including this one--into thinking that Reynolds is injury-prone when, in fact, he is not. Chronic conditions are, by definition, ongoing medical issues, but if Reynolds is indeed healthy and can handle a regular load of work again, he could be a major boost to a rotation that urgently needs to find a top-quality third starter. At this stage of his career, that is exactly the role Reynolds should be filling, rather than the role of a # 1 or a # 2 man. If his back holds up, he'll get a lot of starts and rack up a lot of decisions, but his innings pitched last season divided by the number of games started yields a figure we ought to pay attention to: Reynolds is trending toward becoming a five and six-inning pitcher rather than the seven and eight inning pitcher that he once was and that Miller and Oswalt now are. The bullpen will have to pick up for him quite a bit. Yet part of that decline is traceable not just to injury but to simple, inevitable aging. Reynolds still has a lot to offer the Astros. His poise and knowledge of how to pitch were just as sorely missed last season as his curve and split-finger pitches were. Reynolds is around the plate a little too much for my taste, a lot like Dave Roberts used to be, but when he's pitching well and there's a game out there that the Astros have to win, I'll take my chances with Reynolds any day of the week. I'm also going to buy into the notion that he truly is ready to return to his old form this season, in part because I believe it, and in part because Houston needs him in order to win the NL Central. Projection: (14-14,4.15).
Brian Moehler
Moehler, like Astro newcomer Jared Fernandez, defeated Houston in a game with Cincinnati last season, prompting Gerry Hunsicker to place his name along with Fernandez's in this year's competition for the coveted Bob Knepper "Since-You-Can-Beat-'Em, Join-'Em" Award. All kidding aside, the acquisition of Moehler might turn out to be one of Hunsicker's best deals, if the ex-Tiger and Red is as healthy as he says he is. At the very least, the signing of Moehler makes more sense than taking a gamble on Kent Bottenfield did three years ago. Moehler has had double figures in wins in four of his seven big-league seasons, and those wins were achieved for Tiger teams that weren't nearly as good as Houston is. His curve and hard sinker should make pitching at home a less traumatic experience than it was for Bottenfield or Jose Lima, and he has Brad Ausmus to help him with the transition. Still, no one will know for sure how much Moehler can give the Astros until he actually begins pitching, and he has never pitched in a ballpark quite like the one in downtown Houston. But he is, when healthy, a reliable fourth starter, and I respect any pitcher who can labor with Detroit as effectively as Moehler did while facing all those power-laden, no-rest-for-the-weary lineups of the American League. We might fairly expect Moehler's arm to be a little stronger, a little more durable than it was in 2002, and thereby optimistically project that he'll return to ten wins a season and, with a better ballclub behind him, maybe do a touch better than that. Projection: (12-13, 4.06).
Peter Munro (5-5, 3.57)
Munro was an unsung hero of last season's 84-78 team. He had the best ERA of any starting pitcher on the Astros' staff not named Oswalt or Miller, and in doing a creditable job he perhaps put himself in the lead to claim the fifth spot this year in Spring Training. Munro doesn't have exceptional stuff, but he does have good control and a solid idea of what he wants to do out there. There's some question about whether he could hold up over the long rigors of an entire season, but that question is likely to be answered pretty quickly in ST, both by his performance on the mound and by management, which plans to sit down early with their pitchers and divide them into candidates for the bullpen or candidates for the starting rotation. Munro fits more comfortably in the latter group and, because of the location problems that cropped up for Tim Redding and Kirk Saarloos last season, rates a slight edge right now over the other contenders for the fifth spot. He may find, however, that keeping the fifth spot the whole season is just as tough as earning it. Projection: (3-6, 4.01).
Such is the fluid nature of the situation, however--what with injury problems, varying levels of talent and experience, and the needs of the ballclub--that I could very well be wrong about the impact of both Reynolds and Moehler on the team. It just might turn out that Moehler and Reynolds will collapse, so to speak, and that a younger man will step forward and develop, giving the Astros the output I've predicted for the veterans, while Reynolds and Moehler drop back to numbers like those that Munro and Saarloos posted last year.
Munro is by no means the only good candidate to crack the rotation. The man the Astros' front office probably hopes will mature into that last starter is Tim Redding. To say that management favors Redding over everyone else would be wrong; it's just that, if he ever does harness his fastball and formidable curve, he could change the equation in the rotation completely, making an impact beyond anyone else. His stuff is that good. You may have read his comments last week in his hometown newspaper about how excited he is to get the season underway. It is good that he feels that way, but he also knows that this is a big year for him. If he doesn't land a rotation spot, he may find his options narrowing. It is possible--but not likely--that if he misses out on a starter's job, Houston could put him in the bullpen, though there are more suitable alternatives than Redding for a set-up man. He could also be traded. If Redding wants to avoid both of these outcomes, he'll have to get focused and stay that way from day one of camp. Otherwise, he'll find himself in the company of life's other famous Redding, sittin' on the dock of the bay.
Kirk Saarloos deserves as full a shot as the Astros can possibly give him. He had a pretty good shot last season, too, and was sometimes brilliant, sometimes horrible in posting a 6-7 record. I see visions of Greg Maddux in this man. Whether he has the passion to study hitters like Maddux does, or the drive to throw pitches in practice over and over until the pitch goes here and not there the way Maddux does is not clear to me, but in regard to the characteristics of poise and having a very good idea of what he wants to do with each pitch, Saarloos is ahead of his competition. There was a report early last week from an Internet source--I forget whom--which suggested that Saarloos is an excellent candidate for a long relief man if he does not win a starting job. Unless that writer was getting his information from a highly placed official of the Astros, though, I have to question whether the suggestion is believable. Saarloos doesn't have burning stuff, like Redding does, that he can blow by a hitter even if he misses his location. It would be hard for him to come into a game and immediately find a groove. I have to believe that if he doesn't make the Opening Day roster as a starter, he'll be sent to New Orleans.
If the Astros are in fact looking for a swing man, Jesus Sanchez might be a better candidate than Saarloos. He's got pretty good stuff, and has experience coming out of the 'pen. He's also left-handed, which is a point in his favor no matter what role he fills. He has one principal drawback: as a starter, he's given up a lot of homers, but that tendency might be curtailed in a relief role. Reading between the lines of Gerry Hunsicker's press conference when he announced the Sanchez signing, I got the impression that this was a man Hunsicker really wanted, so I would rate the chances of him sticking around as fairly high.
Jeriome Robertson almost has to be listed as a dark horse candidate for the starting spot, though he may privately be up higher in the estimation of the club than anybody knows. Like Sanchez, he's a lefty with good stuff, who seems to have gotten his game together after a troublesome career in the high minors with nagging injuries. Since Robertson has so little big-league experience (9.2 innings with Houston last season), I regard him as a man who'll have to work even harder than the others to win a spot.
There's a final pair of pitchers who, until they prove otherwise, might be regarded as ST fodder: Jared Fernandez, a knuckleballer, and Anthony Telford, who pitched most recently for the Rangers. Both of these men are going to have to push it to win a starting spot, but even that may not be enough. They may have to hope that one or more of the other candidates goes down. Fernandez actually beat the Astros last season, so he can pitch, but whether he can sustain more than periodic excellence for a big-league team is a serious question. I'll say more about one other pitcher the Astros have, Chris Gissell, in a moment.
Whatever the outcome of the competition for the fifth spot in the rotation, you can bet one thing: Hunsicker will keep the phone numbers of every one of them handy, including the non-roster invitees (Sanchez, Fernandez, Telford, Linebrink, Munro). What that may mean is that when July 31st rolls around this year, Drayton McLane, who is watching his budget even more carefully after the signings of Jeff Kent and Craig Biggio, may not authorize a trade for pitching help. Instead, one of these guys may get a call back. As for how I think the survivors of the battle for the fifth rotation spot will fare with the Astros, you'll have to wait for Part Three of the Preview on Tuesday.
The Astros did not do as I hoped they'd do in the off-season and acquire a top-tier starting pitcher, but what they did do was obtain enough mid-level arms--Moehler, Sanchez, Fernandez, Telford--to push last year's inconsistent young starters, Saarloos and Redding, down one slot in the pitching order. The Astros were stung several times last season, especially late in the year, by pitching matchups that simply didn't favor them--Munro loses to Woody Williams of the Cardinals; Saarloos pitches well out west against Hideo Nomo of the Dodgers, but has to turn things over to the bullpen and the Astros fall; Jeriome Robertson is pressed into service in a make-up game at Arlington and falls victim to bad fielding and a better-than-it-should-have-been-allowed-to-be performance from Chan Ho Park of the Rangers. Those matchups figure to change this season, assuming that Reynolds and Moehler are healthy enough to do the lion's share of the work in turns # 3 and # 4. Unless Saarloos or Redding takes a giant step this Spring and develops to a degree I cannot anticipate (and either man could do so), it was my feeling late last season and is my feeling now that neither man alone is likely to emerge as a full-fledged, full-time fifth starter, but there's a reasonable chance that, collectively, Munro, Redding, Saarloos and possibly Jesus Sanchez, will give the Astros better work at the bottom of the rotation this year than the club got last year
If Reynolds and Moehler remain in the rotation all or most of the season, the bullpen will get less work and fewer W-L decisions than in last year's busy 22-23 season. The number of appearances will decrease slightly for the middle relievers, but save opportunities should be abundant for the late-inning men.
Because the Astros have a number of players who can play several positions, there's a strong possibility Houston may carry twelve pitchers on its Opening Day roster. If so, that may temporarily help someone like Brandon Puffer, who did a fair job last season but who will likely find himself getting squeezed out as this year's camp opens up. As the season unfolds, I expect some contributions from a few of the men I've already mentioned, particularly Sanchez and Saarloos, and I've listed what I think those contributions will be here, under the bullpen. At the moment, both depth and quality appear to be issues for the relief corps, but the Astros do have some interesting though untested arms down there and three locks:
Billy Wagner (4-2, 2.52, 35 saves)
Doubtless the fan debate over Wagner should be (or should have been) traded will continue, but the argument is over whether Wagner's salary is too high given his relative contribution to the team, not over the talent that he brings to the mound whenever he's called upon. Rather than spending a lot of time wishing he were somewhere else, I'd encourage Astros fans to meditate for a while on what a joy it is to have as solid a duo as Wagner and Octavio Dotel in the bullpen. Hope springs eternal that Wagner will someday gain full command over his sometimes wayward slider or that he will add a wicked off-speed pitch to his two awesome out pitches, but he's pretty good as it is. If the Astros' offense improves as anticipated, Wagner should come in holding a two-run lead rather than one-run lead more often this year, and that should translate into a few more saves. Projection: (2-2, 2.12, 38 saves).
Octavio Dotel (6-4, 1.85, 6 saves)
Dotel makes me happy. You know why? It became clear during the 2000 season that Dotel was a pitcher more suited to the bullpen. After a little bit of grousing, Dotel accepted the new role in 2001 and 2002 and became the great set-up man it was apparent he could be. Dotel can also be a closer, but it is best not to wish anything bad on Wagner; Wagner's percentage of blown saves is lower than Dotel's over the last three seasons. That means Dotel is best right where he is, as a frequently-unhittable force in the seventh and eighth innings. You may also recall the words I wrote in appreciation of him for the recent All-Time Astros Team: when Dotel is on, his stuff is harder to hit than Wagner's. Projection: (3-1, 1.97, 4 saves).
Ricky Stone (3-3, 3.61)
Why is it that every time I think about Stone I think about Lucy Ricardo and want to call him Little Ricky Stone? The man's way better than the ratings-generated son of a famous TV bandleader. He's a sturdy, reliable middle-reliever who may be better this season for Houston if he doesn't have to work quite so often (78 games in 2002). He won't be in a position to gain many wins, losses, or saves, but the work he does in picking up for Reynolds, Moehler, and Munro will be invaluable. Projection: (2-2/3.3.30).
Brad Lidge (1-0, 6.23)
Lidge, I think, will be one of ST's most pleasant surprises. He'll make the club and spend the year healthy in the 'pen, being used mostly an inning at a time--frequently the seventh--pushing Dotel's appearances more often to the eighth inning. Lidge has great, blow-'em away stuff, and if he takes hold of the job even more greatly than I anticipate, the Astros' win total will be even higher than I have calculated. One intriguing possibility about the way a healthy Lidge could affect Jimy Williams's use of the staff: if the Astros' starting pitchers get in a really tight bind, Dotel could make a start or two if necessary and Lidge could take Dotel's set-up spot. I put this thought out mostly as an offering of ST fun and dreaming, but it does serve as an example of what I mean by greater flexibility from the bullpen this year. Projection: (1-2/2.45).
Jesus Sanchez
Whether Sanchez makes the starting rotation or not, I expect him to make the club. The temptation to include a left-hander on the staff--and the potential usefulness of adding such a pitcher--will be too great for management to ignore. Sanchez could be fine in long relief, 2-3 innings at a time, and he can be a spot starter if the Astros need him to be, although if everyone remains healthy, he won't be overloaded with work. Projection: (2-3, 4.24).
Scott Linebrink
Linebrink is a non-roster invitee this Spring who'll be battling Puffer for the last spot in the 'pen if the Astros carry twelve pitchers. The front office remains intrigued by Linebrink's sinking stuff, and if he has learned to command it better and can remain free of injury, he could be a stronger contributor than he has been in the past. Projection: (0-0, 4.17).
Tim Redding (3-6, 5.40)
Redding has apparently worked hard this off-season with his old coaches refining his mechanics. He's also had more than one conversation with those coaches about his composure and approach to the game. If those talks and that work pay dividends, both Redding and the Astros will be better. But if Redding does not become the fifth starter, he need not despair. I believe there's an excellent chance that he'll be called upon fairly early in the season. The stats he'll put up if he remains much like the pitcher we've seen the past two seasons may not be all that impressive, but down in the fifth spot, or as a temporary starter in place of one of the other four, they'll be impressive enough. Projection: (6-8, 4.12).
Kirk Saarloos (6-7, 6.01)
If Saarloos doesn't win the last rotation spot, he'll be sent to New Orleans. He will spend some time with the big club this year, but exactly how much, if he's not in there every fifth day, remains to be seen. Management may have taken more notice of how hard Saarloos got whacked around last season in his bad games than it did the good work in his most impressive performances, but I do expect that, one way or another, Saarloos will contribute a share to the Astros' success. Projection: (3-2, 4.28).
Left Outside The Mix
If one of your favorites is on this list, my apologies, but look at it philosophically: every year on every club, there are guys who get left out. It happened to Ricky Stone two seasons ago, and it'll happen to somebody this year. The most prominent candidate to get left out, to me, as you may have already guessed, is Brandon Puffer, who really shouldered a load for Houston last season, but whose slider flattened out too often in the second half of the year. If Williams and Hooten find better men among this year's alternatives, I don't see Puffer making an impact. The best he can do, perhaps, is to switch places with Linebrink. Also to be cut at some point are Anthony Telford and Jared Fernandez, who was already cut loose by the pitching-thin Reds. Jeriome Robertson will be given a couple of starts in ST probably, but he will not make the club. To be honest, I don't know what his future with the club will be if he can't be a starting pitcher, and the Astros themselves may not know, either.
I am worried about the Astros' bench this year. There's just not a lot of pop there, and there will be less if the Astros carry twelve pitchers. But the bench does have a virtue: it figures to be versatile.
Jose Vizcaino (.303-5-37)
In answer to a question that was asked after Part One was posted, I do expect that Vizcaino's playing time will decrease in 2003. Julio Lugo's injury was a freak thing and unlike the Bagwell scenario, wherein Bagwell dives into the ball at the plate, exposing his left hand, such an injury is not likely to happen again. Yet, Vizcaino should remain a useful man on the club, filling in at both SS and 2B and being a reliable singles hitter off the bench. Projection: (.263/2/25).
Gregg Zaun (.222/3/24)
Zaun was a big disappointment to me last season. I thought he'd be better in both aspects of the game. It remains to be seen this year whether he is truly as poor a hitter as he was last season and whether he can make any improvement defensively, which is what the Astros should be hoping. Projection: (.235/2/31).
Morgan Ensberg (.242/3/19)
There's an argument to be made, I suppose, that Ensberg would be better left in New Orleans as a candidate to be called up in the event of an emergency, but that argument carries less weight now than it did a year ago. Time marches on, and prospects have moved up in the Astros' chain. If all that Ensberg can lay claim to is a reserve spot, then that will have to do. And that may not be such a bad thing. Ensberg is one of the few men the Astros have on the bench who carries some power in his bat, and I expect the club to keep him around because of it. Otherwise, Jimy Williams faces the troublesome prospect of watching Vizcaino fill in at 3B, a position he just doesn't have the quickness for. Projection: (.255/6/31).
Jason Lane (.290/4/10)
One of the most interesting questions we can ask in ST is how much playing time will Lane get in 2003? As in the case of Ensberg, the same argument for sending Lane over to New Orleans can be made, but Houston will need his bat sooner or later. It might as well be sooner. Lane can hit for average and, given time (chronological time, not necessarily tons of playing time) he'll hit for more power than he showed last season. He can play an adequate RF or CF, and he appears to have the happy, Bill Spiers-like trait of seeming to get more out of his ability than we think possible. If the Astros do send him back down, they'll be delaying an opportunity for a young man who can contribute right now. I think Lane could become what Euribel Durazo was to the Diamondbacks' bench the past two seasons. But ya gotta let him play and find his niche. Projection: (.296/7/35).
Brian Hunter (.269/3/20)
Here's where matters get dicey on the Astros' bench. Eventually, I believe, the Astros are going to have to choose between Hunter and Orlando Merced. Both carry heavy contracts relative to their contributions (Hunter $1.2 million, Merced $1.7) and one of them will be traded or let go at some point, although it's not clear which one it will be. Assuming for the purposes of this preview that the Astros carry twelve pitchers rather than eleven, Hunter would be my choice over Merced because of his speed. He's a decent singles hitter, a good defensive OF and the Astros' best pinch-running option to boot.
Projection: (.274/2/25).
Bench Splinters
Two other possible bench players are Orlando Merced and Victor Hall. If the Astros keep only eleven pitchers, then they'll have the luxury of retaining Merced's services. Merced can still hit (.287/6/30) but both injury and age slowed him down last season, and he's not as valuable in the field as he once was. Barring a payroll trade or other move in ST, look for the Astros to eat his salary at some point during the year and let him go. They could do so particularly if Hall, who was obtained in the Rule V draft, gets enough seasoning in the minor leagues by the middle of the year. Hall is fast and can hit, although right now he's also a strikeout machine. His game is a little rough around the edges, but if you're lookin' for a guy who could come in and give the Astros a boost before the All-Star Break, Hall could be it. SS Adam Everett is still in the hunt for a bench spot, but he probably won't hit enough in the Spring to merit one. The same goes for Alan Zinter, whose well-earned fifteen minutes of fame last season have now been used up.
C John Buck, P Greg Miller, P Chris Gissell, P Santiago Ramirez, P Jimmy Barrett, P Miguel Saladin, LF Henri Stanley, CF Collin Porter--Miller, obtained a few years ago in the Carl Everett trade with the Red Sox, could make the opening roster if Linebrink or Puffer or Sanchez is just are not impressive enough. He has good stuff but has struggled with both minor injuries and command of that stuff in the minors. Gissell was 8-12 with Iowa last season in the PCL and could push his way past the Fernandezes and Telfords of the world with a good spring. If Saarloos or Redding should get hurt, robbing the Astros of that depth, Gissell could step in. Buck, Barrett, Ramirez, Saladin, Stanley, and Porter are all candidates to be called up in September based on their performances in the minors this year and on the Astros' needs eight months from now. Buck has all the tools to be a major league catcher; Ramirez, Saladin, and Barrett have live arms and good control; Stanley and Porter are overachievers who have forced their way into future consideration by the organization. It's unlikely that any of them will be summoned before September, but Buck will be the Astros' backup catcher, if not the starter, in 2004, and Ramirez and Saladin will press for spots on the staff, then, too.