Snell solid again

Ian Snell put together yet another solid start today, going four scoreless innings against the Tribe with 4 Ks, 2 hits, and no walks. I have to say, I was a little worried about him coming into the spring after the DL smear campaign late in the fall after he backed out of the AFL, but Snell has stepped up big time this spring by working on that changeup and it looks like he's cemented probably the #2 slot in the rotation, assuming Tracy will want to alternate left/right as much as possible. If I had to guess right now, I'd say that opening the year the rotation will be:

1. Duke
2. Snell
3. Maholm
4. Santos
5. Perez

Zach Duke should keep the following names in mind: Tim Wakefield, Zane Smith, John Lieber, Paul Wagner, John Lieber, Francisco Cordova, Francisco Cordova, Jason Schmidt, Todd Ritchie, Ron Villone, Kris Benson, Kip Wells, Oliver Perez

Yep, you guessed it, the last 13 Opening Day starters for the Buccos (courtesy of some Retrosheet browsing, of course). I suppose you could say that Duke doesn't have much to live up to.