look... ranaudo is probably one of my favorite pitchers at LSU because he was relatively un-hyped/unknown when coming to LSU and he was a guy who has definitely bought into the system, and i think he will have a better season than coleman did last season... and i mean from purely a pitcher's perspective... he'll be mechanically/technically better, but the W/L may be different. still, i think this season we'll see a very, very solid team.

I'm not worried at all about the offense. With Dean, Mahtook, Landry, Gibbs and the others in the batting order the Tigers should pick right up where they left off.

My biggest concern is finding a solid second starter. LSU won't likely have the two superstar rotation as last year (If you remember last year the Tigers didn't sweep many SEC series but were able to win two out of three in most of them) I never heard of Joey Bougeois and even though Bradshaw was very effective at times we will have to wait and see how much he might have improved to be the Saturday guy. If CPM is not touting Austin Nola as a possible #2 then he must not have made much significant improvement over last year.

I love Matty Ott in the closer role and I would hate to see him have to move to a starter in order to fill a role that nobody else could take over. Making Ott the #2 starter would have been good if Chad Jones was still around to become the closer/DH/outfielder but thats not how it worked out. Ott has the closer mentality. He is LSU's Mariano Rivera

well, fwiw, mainieri is very, very high on bourgeois and has all but named him the second starter. of course things happen, and things change, but either he or bradshaw will be more than most teams can handle. of course CPM isn't burning bridges either, he's giving bradshaw his chance to compete for the job. 2/3 is all you can really ask for. it's better to win every series 2/3 than to sweep a couple of times and lose a few series (obviously.) plus there are a couple of freshman that are going to step up as well. the only problem LSU will have with pitching is who to pitch, and when to pitch them. :wink:

and i think you meant ross, not nola, but i think you're not hearing CPM talk about moving ross to saturday because he is fairly comfortable in his sunday role and CPM doesn't want to mess with his head, IMO. and i'm pretty sure that matty ott will get significant time as a starting pitcher early this season regardless of how all the other pitchers develop -- especially if the offense falters a bit. but, i don't think we'll have offense problems.

i don't see many weak spots on this team at all other than lack of quality depth. if a starter gets hurt, it's not going to be good at all. they have a couple of utility players, but beyond that someone would have to step up in a HUGE way.

kyle koeneman apparently isn't setting CPM's world on fire defensively according to a press release in october (after fall practice,) but he was injured and (IMO) didn't get a fair shot at 1B because of CPM's commitment to dean playing first.

i hope that wet dellate's defense is solid. i heard that he had been hitting well, but hopefully he has a glove to go with it.

My bad. I must have been confusing LSU with Texas. Almost everbody on the Longhorns's roster is named either Austin or Travis

well, i just meant because we have both an austin ross and austin nola on the team. :yelwink2:

Compare to the Baseball America Poll that was released today:

#3 LSU

#7 Florida (LSU plays them in Gainesville, Apr 30-May 2)

#17 Arkansas (LSU plays them in Baton Rouge, Mar 19-21)

#21 Southern Miss (LSU plays them in the Wally Pontiff, Jr. Classic in Zephyr Field, Apr 7)

#22 Georgia (LSU plays them in Baton Rouge, Apr 2-4)

#24 Ole Miss (LSU plays them in Oxford, Apr 23-25)

BaseballAmerica.com: College: Top 25 Rankings: Preseason College Top 25

Here's a list of the best 100 players in college baseball this season. 21 or so are from the SEC, including five of their top 8. Six of the 100 are from LSU, including two of the top 8. Gives a bio of each player.

#1 Ranaudo
#8 Dean
#30 Gibbs
#42 Mahtook
#45 Ott
#91 Landry

The College Baseball Blog » Top 100 Players

ranaudo number one?! wow. the kid is effin' good, but number one!? i'm not complaining, mind you.

Collegiate Baseball also named him the #1 player in the nation

Ranaudo Named Preseason Player of the Year - LSUsports.net - The Official Web Site of LSU Tigers Athletics

Baseball America magazine names Ace LSU pitcher Ranaudo and his catcher Gibbs as Preseason First-Team All-Americans.

Landry was selected to the third team.

LSU baseball: Anthony Ranaudo, Micah Gibbs named to All America team | - NOLA.com