i actually think lance's success this year is due to his sideburns. he has to keep those.

was that it'd come at the expense of the bullpen, which i percieve as being a short term thing, that they'd only carry 14 position players for a little while.  i think part of the concern is that if they don't put Q on the 25-man, he'll have to clear waivers and might be lost.  i could see how maybe he'd have a better shot at clearing waivers a few weeks into the season.  maybe i'm projecting, because unless you have a power-hitting, weak fielding catcher (ala Mike Piazza), i really don't understand why you'd ever want TWO defensive replacement catchers clogging up your bench.  Q's having a great spring, but i don't believe that he's made some huge leap as an offensive player and would be somebody we'd envision as a pinch hitting bench player.

to start last week, but the neck stiffness kept him out for several days.  At this point in spring training, he needed to get his designated number of pitches in.  It seemed like his pitch count probably was low going into the 5th inning, so I can understand why the Astros continued him in the game at that point.