John Cohen say...

[Xenomorph]

...that he'll sign at least 14 for the 2009 class and perhaps as many as 20.

Discuss.

 

[Todd4State]

He has gone up against us as a Coach, and now he has reports on our players, and it seemed like he had this undertone that we don't have SEC talent. He also said that you have to have talent to win, and that his staff was going to bring it in.

I would not be surprised if he is going to do something very similar to Paul Manieri and do a purge at the end of next season. He is going to use this season in part as an evaluation period to see who can play his style, and who "is here to be cool" to paraphrase Cohen. Those that he feel can not play his style or that he feels are not SEC caliber (cough, Russ Sneed) will be purged.

Next year will be a an establishment year. Cohen will implement his style and his way of doing things, and at the same time, we will be trying to win. I do think we will improve over last year, and my expectations for next year are to make a Regional and maybe slip into the SEC Tournament. As much as I hate to say it, another losing season is not out of the equation, but I also don't think that is likely either. As bad as we were last year, we were only about six games from going .500 (without looking it up).

I think 2010 will be a rebuilding year in that by that time, he will have his recruits in from a full recruiting period and will have cleaned out the dugout of any potential problems. I think that team will be pretty young, but if they have some talent and a few veterans like Cody Freeman and Ryan Collins, who will be juniors, they can still be pretty good.

By 2011, Look out.

Also, since we are recruiting better players, that also means that they are going to be more attractive to MLB. That means, of course that they are more likely to get drafted, and that means that we might lose a few. Polk really went away from that. He only recruited players that he knew were going to come to State, but you're only going to find so many players like Forrest Moore and Ed Easley who are really talented and really want to play at State and aren't going to listen to MLB at all. But by recruiting this way, we're also going to start to get our share of great players as well. And as Cohen said, that's what you have to have to win in the SEC.

 

[patdog]

We simply do not have more than 6-8 SEC caliber returning baseball players. Cohen knows he's starting from scratch. Look for another tough season next year and then a lot of true freshman & JUCO starters in 2010.

 

[RobertF50]

I can't wait. I don't think he will have a losing season though. Heck without hardly trying we almost had a break even season like mentioned. I hope we have more talent than we think, and they just needed a bit of pushing and coaching.

 

[maroonmania]

the Diamond Girls are here to stay. On a more serious note though, I think next year may be tough as far as making a regional and the SEC tournament but I will be disappointed with an overall losing record. If Cohen gets our players to play with the effort he demands, we should muster enough wins to have a winning record. Even most mediocre SEC teams end up with winning records. In fact, an SEC baseball team that has an overall losing record would equate to an SEC football team that has like a 2 or 3 win year. There has actually only been a handful of SEC baseball teams over the past ten years to have losing records. When one does, like we did this year, it means you are really, really bad.

 

[Todd4State]

that the Diamond Girls will be doing different things next year. Wet t-shirt contest? Mud wrestling?

I actually think that we have enough (barely) offensively to compete in the SEC, but once again, it's the freaking pitching staff. Everyone except for Greg Houston has either had injuries, comes back with an ERA over 7 or is a Fr. If we can get our ERA down to 5.00, we'll probably be OK. Thankfully we have a new pitching coach that I think can use duct tape, bailing wire, and gum with this staff. Also, I don't think Cohen is going to let our pitchers stay in the game until they give up seven runs, and I also doubt that he cares if "they get their pitches in". You can "get your pitches in" the bullpen if you're going to pitch like **** as far as I'm concerned. I bet we can cut our team ERA down by at least half a run just manging the staff better.

 

[geneshorts.sixpack]

Russ Sneed played with a torn hip all season long. People have said he doesn't have heart, they couldn't be more wrong about anyone's character ever. He's a competitor who gets after it and played hurt all year.</p>

 

[Todd4State]

Russ Sneed played with a torn hip all season long. People have said he doesn't have heart, they couldn't be more wrong about anyone's character ever. He's a competitor who gets after it and played hurt all year.</p>

</p> what about the year before that? If he's the competitor that you say he is, Cohen can maybe turn him around.

 

[jackstefano]

*

 

[patdog]

I haven't seen anything at all to give me reason to believe that we do. Our talent gave us the only losing season in Polk's 30-year coaching career. And we'll lose some of the best players from that team, including Weatherford who won or saved almost 1/2 of our wins last year. I really think next season is looking bleak, no matter who the coach is.

 

[geneshorts.sixpack]

Russ Sneed started the first game of the year against a lefty and because we didn't face another lefty for 14 games he didn't get almost any at bats for the majority of the year. (because Polk makes up his mind in the first 14 non-conference games about who is going to play). When he was given the chance to start again in the ncaa tournament he stepped up and made great defensive plays and hit .384 with 7 RBI and a bomb. He had a hit in every ncaa game. In his starts he hit .341. He was a leader as a freshman. He didn't complain. He tried to keep moral high and worked hard when he was riding the bench. When the time came, he stepped up and helped to lead the team through a regional. You could not be more wrong about anyone ever.</p>

 

[Todd4State]

Yeah, the only reason he wasn't playing was because we didn't have to face a LH pitcher until the Regionals. And the fact that he swings with just his arms in at least half of his at bats. The fact is, he's a 3B with no power. He doesn't have range to play in the middle infield. And where was his GPAA leadership skills this year?

Look, I'm sure he's a nice guy, but that doesn't mean he's SEC caliber.

Like I said, I hope Cohen can make him better.

 

[RobertF50]

will make a much bigger difference than some think. I think our boys had the attitude of the coaches and the pitchers will get much more physical work. You never know about baseball. Lots of things can line up and make you real good or real bad. I don't think they had much coaching and every new coach we've hired has a much better attitude and energy. I believe our pitching will come around too if we get a couple of more good arms. Maybe I'm looking through maroon glasses, but considering the coaching the last few years I don't think we should be down on any of our players until we see who's back, and how they do with the new staff. If our new staff gets them to try their hardest that's enough for me for the first year.

 

[TR.sixpack]

By my math that's 19.23 scholarships.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

By my math that's 19.23 scholarships.

That's 19.83 scholarships. Dubmass. *****.</p>