THE TALENTED MR. ROTO

Does MB have any faith left in Pronk? Read onward.

by Matthew "The Talented Mr. Roto" Berry

There comes a point. A point when hope no longer springs eternal. When you realize there is no silver lining. That it isn't always darkest before dawn—sometimes it's just dark. When you decide, once and for all, that Ian Snell just sucks.

That point is now. Here are nine players I'm selling for whatever I can get.

1 TRAVIS HAFNER I wanted to believe, Pronk. I really did. But forget home runs. Now you're not even hitting doubles.

2 JEFF FRANCIS It's not the ballpark or the continually rising ERA so much as it is the lack of strikeouts (5.9 K/9 ratio this season, down from 6.9 in '07).

3 Speaking of Colorado, TROY TULOWITZKI is done for the year. Oh, maybe he comes back from his quad tear. But it won't be by the All-Star break as the Rockies say, not if they fall further out of the race. Even when healthy, Tulo just wasn't hitting in his second season.

4 TOM GLAVINE In fairness, he's made this list three years in a row.

5 ANDRUW JONES The new Bartolo Colón.

6 ANDY PETTITTE He should have taken more than two days' worth.

7 BARRY BONDS He's not coming back. Never was.

8 JASON ISRINGHAUSEN Sometimes guys aren't fired, it's just that their "contract isn't renewed" or "the company is going in a different direction." Or in Izzy's case, "he's going on the disabled list."

9 RAFAEL BETANCOURT The oh-we-can't-wait-until-he-becomes-a-closer-I-just-know-he-will-get-the-gig-seriously-I've-been-waiting-on-this-guy-forever player needs a new poster boy.

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