Bucs full squad workouts begin; Hope springs eternal...

The Buccos took the field today for their first full squad workouts of the year.

Of course, during the 40 day or so adventure commonly known as spring training, you're gonna see a lot of different combinations of players, playing all kinds of positions.

Most of which you don't give a second thought to, until at least mid-March anyways.

But perhaps it was a little more than interesting to see that for the entire day Jose Castillo was taking ground balls at third base as opposed to second base, which was where Freddy Sanchez was parked.

Should anyone read anything into it ?? Well, in my opinion, the only way you should read anything into it is if you're looking at the positioning of Castillo at third strictly as a psychological move on Jim Tracy's part.

And nothing more.

Hey, it couldn't hurt, ya know ?

In the past 45 days or so, Castillo has been called out by his double play partner and has been told by his manager that he must beat out Jose Bautista to keep his starting job.

Maybe a little more motivation is gained by sticking him at third base on the first day of practice.

Besides that, I sure hope all of the soap opera bullshit between Laverne and Shirley is put to rest.

Bucs sign Armas Jr., avoid arbitration with LaRoche + Grabow

You'll have to forgive me if I'm not making plans to grab playoff tickets just yet.

The Pirates signed that elusive contender for the 5th starters job, that would be Tony Armas Jr., signed for about 3 million clams, with a 2008 option for $5 million.

Uh, hooray.

I guess this is the horrendous state of MLB economics nowadays, that a sub .500 pitcher with a history of arm trouble still gets 3 million a year.

In more positive Bucs news, they did avoid arbitration today with both Adam LaRoche ($3.2 million) and John Grabow ($832,500). That only leaves Freddy Sanchez and Jose Castillo as being arbitration-eligible.

Pitchers and catchers report in 13 days.

Wilson throws Castillo under the Bucs' bus; Will signing Armas actually be an asset ??

Do as I say, not as I do.

Give Jack Wilson credit, he's got some major-league cojones.

Jack appeared on Sportsbeat with Stan last night, along with LaRoche, Snell, and Jim Tracy.

Wilson, he of his whopping 35 RBI's and a career-high 18 errors at shortstop last year, completely bitch-slapped Jose Castillo while talking with Stan. Jack boldly said, "Right now, Freddy is my second baseman, in my mind. He's the guy I can trust to go 100 percent and get the job done. Castillo's got to show me something. You're going to see it in spring training. If he's slimmed down and ready to work, he's going to have a good year. But, if it's the other way around, we're going to have some problems".

Now, let me say this; You won't see me defend Castillo too much at all. I concur with Jack's statements for the most part. He's been inconsistent far too much, his mind wandering off and missing defensive assignments. I would not disagree at all if, as Jack desires, Freddy Sanchez started the season as the starting second baseman.

But Jack Wilson needs to clean up his own house before worrying about Jose Castillo's.

When Jack gets back to playing his game, both offensively and defensively, then he can start making these bold statements to the media. That includes moving runners into scoring position, something he hasn't done as well as he used. In addition, cutting down on those 18 errors would be appeciated.

To his credit, Jack stated last night that he's dropped about 10 pounds, so hopefully that means he'll be a little more mobile out there at shortstop this year.

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As most Bucs fans could've predicted, they quickly fell out of the Jeff Weaver sweepstakes, as Weaver signed with the Mariners for 1 year, 8.325 million clams. Forgive me if I'm not too upset over that.

So that reportedly has the Bucs focusing in on Tony Armas Jr. It's not like Armas' numbers are earthshattering, to say the least. Last year, he was was 9-12 with a 5.03 ERA, and he's been quite injury prone.

But the question really becomes, would the signing of Armas actually be an improvement to the pitching staff, or will it turn out to be a liability ?

The alternatives ?? Chacon ?? Burnett ?? VanBenschoten ?? Bullington ??

Part of me just says to pocket that money, and use it to aid in more constructive means, like locking up either Sanchez or LaRoche to long-term contracts.