"These are the times that try men's souls".......

Thomas Paine

“The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot may, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.”

Oh how I can identify with the meaning behind the message that Paine tried to deliver to the colonists during the American Revolution. As things were looking bleak, many people were ready to abandon the fight and simply walk away. Paine tried to tap into their inner spirit by challenging them to measure themselves by their commitment to stay the course.

And the rest is history

With 25% of the regular season in things are certainly looking bleak on the Hardballers front. Never have I questioned myself more than I have the last couple of weeks. "Did I not prepare for this draft?" "Is this not a contending team?" Something is surely amiss here!

Any player can get off to a slow start. In fact many are traditional slow starters. Any player can have an off season. But is it possible to for your first 7 picks to collectively decide to have sub-par, career low years simultaneously?

Here are my first 6 hitters drafted with their career batting average at the end for comparison.

No doubt it is not reasonable to expect career average #'s from every player. Certainly Jeter is in decline and apparently even more so than I was hoping. Even Pujols has trended down the last couple of seasons but only by increments of "hundredths" of points! Rios has always been a little up and down but even he batted .284 last season. D Young is just now getting his season started as he has been dealing with minor health issues from flu-like symptoms to rib cage issues.

And my #4 pick Jimenez? OMG! He is worse than waiver fodder so far with no wins, 22 walks and a 6.67 ERA!!

We won't even get into my closer situation as I have completely abandoned my first closer pick and his backup.

It is quite possible there is a bust in that list somewhere. Maybe two of them. But I cannot at this point determine who (Jeter exception noted). So as I sit here with my worst season start ever, watching  myself get kicked around week after week, I look inside myself and ask.... "do I have the courage to stay the course?"

Actually I really have no choice. I believe I drafted a good team. I believe all the players listed above are capable of good seasons (or in Jeter's case maybe just acceptable). I could react to a down player here or there but as widespread as this is I can only believe that things are going to turn for the better soon.

These are certainly the times that try men's souls.........

Hardballers