March 3, 2006:
Andy Furman: Moving on to our next caller, Jim you're on the air.
Jim: Hi Andy. I just wanted to say that I think it's a crying shame that we let Joe Randa go for some unproven kid. Haven't we done this before? Remember the Brandon Larson fiasco? Why not just keep what works? I always say if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Andy Furman: Jim, you know, you're absolutely right. Now Ed - Edwin Encarnacion might turn out to be a heck of a third baseman - I don't know - but Joe Randa is a solid major league hitter right now. He knows how to get a runner from second to third, he plays good defense. And he's clutch -
Jim (Interrupting): Yeah, no kidding he's clutch! You remember that home run he hit on Opening Day last year?
[End]
You know that's what we're going to be subjected to this offseason; yesterday cemented it.
But what a day huh? It's always easy to read too much into Opening Day, especially in Cincinnati, but yesterday was a fitting beginning to the 2005 season. Adam Dunn is an absolute superstar. Overlooked in all the home run hoopla was Paul Wilson's relatively solid game. I'll take it, with it being his first start of the year and all.
The newcomers were another story. David Weathers was pretty bad. Combine yesterday with his spring training and you've got a potential problem. Kent Mercker didn't fare too well either, but I'm not too worried about him based on his track record.
But it's tough to complain about things when Opening Day is won by back to back home runs. Hopefully this is a good omen and things just get better from here.