30 COMMENTS

  1. My guess:
    C – Esposito
    1B – Clark
    2B – Peterson
    SS – Morrison
    3B/DH – Keyes/Mildenberg
    OF – Conforto/Davis/Jarmon/Hendrix/King

  2. OT……Here is a quote from Scott Rueck after the Lady Beavs whipped WSU. Regarding the Cougs push to come back in the second half, “It goes into the psychology of it and that’s what the second half was. We lost our aggressiveness. The second you take your foot off the gas…they’re in control and have momentum.”

    The kind of thing I’ve never heard Riley say. Casey yes, Riley no; must be something in that Newberg water?

    http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2014/01/womens_college_basketball_oreg.html

  3. I can’t stop running through the possibilities for OC. So I have a list of guesswork for possibilities running through my head.

    The lazy: Jay Locey – No new perspective. No real search for anything new.

    The easy: Promote Brennan – Some new perspective and energy, but unproven.

    The usual: Joe Smith – Yup… let Linfield do all the work for us, and we’ll just keep taking their coaches.

    The not likely: Kevin Gilbride – He would be fine, but how much energy would he bring… and would he even want to do the college thing? His name represents all unemployed NFL coaches. I just put him here because he has family ties to OSU.

    The up-and-comer we won’t even think to look at: George McDonald

    The never gonna happen: Leipold – I like him for this and have been saying so for years now. That’s why it will never happen.

    So I run the checklist for a Riley hire. Has he worked with so-and-so? Is he a friend of Riley’s or a friend of a friend or a relative of a friend? Does he have the requisite experience so that the hire would not be a shot in the dark or just a joke? Would he bring recruiting energy/abilities.

    Taking those into account, I’m going to give you this name: Mike Groh

  4. Some roster notes,

    1. Players not returning – Martinez, Day, Jansen and Carlos Rodriguez.
    2. There are 41 players on the roster and they need to get down to 35 before the 1st game. So there is still 6 guys who are not going to make it. There are 16 freshman listed. I expect the cuts to come from this group.
    3. Curious to see which freshman can make an impact. Can Jarmon break through in the OF?

    C- Esposito
    1B – Clark/Kayes
    2B – Peterson
    3B – Kayes
    SS – Morrison
    LF – Conforto
    CF – Hendrix
    RF – Hayes
    DH – ???

    Fri SP – Weztler
    Sat SP – Moore
    Sun SP – Fry

    Weekday – Eden/Schultz/Fox

    RP – Painton, Jackson, the new JC transfers

    CP – Englebrekt/Schultz

    As long as the new starters don’t go bust at the plate, a deep run into the postseason will happen. Morrison and Eden would have been high picks if they didn’t make it clear they were going to college.

      • It says he is in the link, and Casey dropped him in some tight games late in the season last year. I don’t know if he’ll have the same velocity he did before injury, but history says he probably will.

        • I remember that, but they also said that he had altered his arm slot/delivery and was not getting the same movement that had made him so effective as a freshman.

    • I thought about Keyes platooning at 1B with Clark. That might be a good solution for his problems in the field. Hendrix will be pushed by Howard, Jarmon or King. All three have the same or better range in CF. But King could move to 3B as well.

      I’m really excited to see Morrison at SS… and on the base paths. And I wonder how much of a commitment Jarmon will be allowed to have with the team given his football duties and Riley never really letting his guys do too much else.

        • Having watched Jeff Hendrix play 40+ games a couple of summers ago in American Legion, I can say with confidence that Hendrix has pop in his bat, has good footspeed (on the bases and in center field), and has a strong arm. In each area, Jeff has significantly more talent and upside than Max Gordon. Jeff’s big problem was hitting left-handed curveballs, and (more generally) striking out way too often. If Jeff has fixed those two problems, he will be an asset to the OSU offense. Otherwise, not.

    • It looks like Casey is confident in the OF talent. I’d say Davis is the only one who is locked in. Hendrix has the inside track if he can produce at the plate. And if Howard transitions well, he could be productive. King is supposed to have good wheels. We’ll just see if Jarmon dials it in for baseball… or is allowed to do so.

  5. OT:
    Connor Letourneau ?@ConnOregonian 34m
    Mike Riley will not begin searching for a new offensive coordinator until after the Feb. 5 national signing day, a team spokesman said.

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