Reader Challenge: One "Hot" Team?

Saturday, January 17 2009 @ 08:26 PM EST

Contributed by: Mick Doherty

The top offensive prospect in the Texas Rangers minor league system -- I guess you'd call him a "hot" prospect -- is 1B Justin Smoak. Okay, okay, get it overwith -- yes, the power-hitting youngster can really "Smoak" the ball. He's "Smoak"-ing hot. But the Hall of Names question arises -- is it true that where there's Smoak, there's Fire?

Coming up with a team of players with heat-related names -- one that could "Smoak" the opposition -- might prove a hot proposition, as the owner of the one name we've punned on forty-six times already, young Smoak, hasn't even reached the major leagues yet. So anyway ...

The usual rules apply. No nicknames, so sorry Smokey Burgess. Either first or last names are fine, though it seems unlikely we'll have many of the former. (Middle names for that matter, are cool, er hot, as well -- even netting us a former 20-game winner.)

And let's try to not load up the team with players named Burns -- that's too easy. We'll see if we can limit ourselves to using each last/family and each first/given name just once. Homonyms are just fine, of course. So be creative!

To start us off, we could consider filling this roster with guys like ...

RHRP Steve Fireovid
LHSP Neal Heaton*
LHSP Cy Warmoth
LHSP Cole Hamels* (For "coal")
OF Alex Cole (For "coal")
IF Tom Matchick
RHSP AJ Burnett
OF Jeromy Burnitz*
LHSP Britt Burns*
RHSP Jack Burns McDowell*
RHSP Jesse Litsch
RHRP Kerry Ligtenberg
LHRP Mark Littell
LHRP Alan Embree (for "ember")
OF Ken Hottman

Yes, yes, Gord Ash could conceiveably be the GM.

Pretty nice pitching staff shaping up, and Jay-heavy at that -- but that offense runs cold so far. Bauxites, over to you! Heat up this thread with your ideas, suggestions and nominations!


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