I'm wondering what is actually going to happen here in a few weeks when we get Hudson, Elarton, and Dotel off the DL. Buddy says that they need to have a plan, well...I have a plan.
Let's say that when those 3 come off the DL, they pitch relatively well; obviously Hudson and Elarton at starter and Dotel at closer. Right now we have 7 pitchers worthy of a spot on the pitching staff; the 4 starters (Meche, Greinke, Perez, and De La Rosa), 2 relievers (Duckworth and Soria), and for some reason I'm counting Brian Bannister who I saw pitch tuesday night. He looked pretty good. You put those 7 with Hudson, Elarton, and Dotel and you got yourself a pitching staff. That's 10 guys, and 8 of them will be able to go multiple innings on any given night. Only Soria and Dotel will be 1 inning guys.
Now, what to do with those 10 pitchers... I guess we need 5 starters. Automatics: Meche and Greinke. I also can't see us bringing Hudson and Elarton back and putting them into the bullpen. They will both get chances to start. That leaves one spot between De La Rosa and Perez. So far, Jorge has definitely outperformed Odalis, but remember what happened in LA with Perez? He got sent to the bullpen and became a cancer. Now, while I think he will keep his job in the rotation for the time being, there should be a short leash. It will be a shame if De La Rosa loses his spot with how well he's pitched, but I think he would be a GREAT middle relief guy. In my mind, we should have Meche, Greinke, Hudson, and Elarton, with Perez as the 5th starter; with Bannister, Duckworth, and De La Rosa as long relief; and Soria and Dotel as your end of the game guys.
WE CAN WIN WITH THAT...
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Monday, April 23, 2007
At the K...
I think I'm going to the game again tomorrow night. That will be 4 of the 11 homegames I will have attended. So far, our record is 2-1 with me there. We were there on Friday when I heard people stood in line for a couple hours. Rediculous.
It seems like the middle of our lineup is starting to come around, especially Teahen and Sweeney. We just need Gordon and Shealy to step it up now. And how about De La Rosa yesterday? He was a stud. I guess right now he's not on the list to be replaced once we get Elarton or Hudson back. And hopefully the bullpen will be better now that Bannister is starting and we have Duckworth for long relief. Wellemeyer, Peralta, and Standridge have been brutal.
We definitely have something going with Soria at the back of the pen though. I would consider keeping him at closer even when Dotel gets back if he looks like this all the time. At worst, he's the 7th and 8th inning guy. If Dotel comes back strong, this year will feel a lot different if we can keep most of the leads we get before the 7th. You'd think that would make a starter feel confident knowing he had a couple automatics coming out after him.
When are we going to trade an outfielder? Reggie Sanders is at his high point right now, you'd think we could get SOMETHING for him. Can we package him and Emil Brown for some minor league pitching prospects? We don't need either one of them with the outfield of Teahen, Dejesus, and Gload. And Gathright could come up, or Costa, or Maier, and Butler will be giving it a go out there next year anyway. THERE'S JUST TOO MANY GUYS!!!
3 out of 4 wins ain't too bad, I hope we can keep it up against the Sox this week. KEEP IT UP, MECHE!!!
It seems like the middle of our lineup is starting to come around, especially Teahen and Sweeney. We just need Gordon and Shealy to step it up now. And how about De La Rosa yesterday? He was a stud. I guess right now he's not on the list to be replaced once we get Elarton or Hudson back. And hopefully the bullpen will be better now that Bannister is starting and we have Duckworth for long relief. Wellemeyer, Peralta, and Standridge have been brutal.
We definitely have something going with Soria at the back of the pen though. I would consider keeping him at closer even when Dotel gets back if he looks like this all the time. At worst, he's the 7th and 8th inning guy. If Dotel comes back strong, this year will feel a lot different if we can keep most of the leads we get before the 7th. You'd think that would make a starter feel confident knowing he had a couple automatics coming out after him.
When are we going to trade an outfielder? Reggie Sanders is at his high point right now, you'd think we could get SOMETHING for him. Can we package him and Emil Brown for some minor league pitching prospects? We don't need either one of them with the outfield of Teahen, Dejesus, and Gload. And Gathright could come up, or Costa, or Maier, and Butler will be giving it a go out there next year anyway. THERE'S JUST TOO MANY GUYS!!!
3 out of 4 wins ain't too bad, I hope we can keep it up against the Sox this week. KEEP IT UP, MECHE!!!
Monday, April 9, 2007
The more things change...
Unfortunately, the more they stay the same. Painful. At least it wasn't Dotel, the guy we paid all the money to NOT blow saves, in the game. It was just Riske. But he was supposed to be good too! Whatever. My theory is this: there are only about 10-12 guys in baseball that NO MATTER WHAT you turn the ball over to them in the 9th with a lead. I believe that if the guy you put in in the 8th is blowing them away, STICK WITH HIM. If you have Rivera, put him in. If you have Papelbon, put him in. Maybe BJ Ryan, maybe Street, probably K-Rod. Not David Riske. I have no problem with David Riske pitching, but if you have a guy in the game that dominated the 8th, and the guy (Joakim Soria) hasn't allowed a run this year yet anyway, let him pitch the 9th. Ok, I'm off my soap box.
Well, so far it seems like this season has been right about the exact opposite of what I thought. I went into the season thinking,"Even though we don't have any pitching, the middle of our lineup will get us some wins, with Teahen, Sweeney, Gordon, and Shealy." Then, of course, are starters go out with a 2 ERA in the 1st six games and Sweeney, Gordon, and Shealy start 3-60. I know that looks like I'm exaggerating, but that's about right.
I went to 2 games last week, opening day and Greinke vs. Dice-K. Gotta love that KC weather, 85 degrees monday and 35 thursday. With all the hype around Dice-K, he and Greinke had about the same line: 7 IP, 1 ER, 8-10 K's. And Greinke K'ed Big Papi 3 times. It was beautiful. Hitting...not so beautiful.
CRAP!! We should be 3-3 against probably the best team in baseball and the defending AL champs. 2-4 just doesn't feel the same.
Side note: JJ and I went to opening day with our friends Jason and Danielle. They weren't keeping track like they usually do, but Jason threw the fastest pitch of the day at the "speed pitch" area. Usually, they list that on the scoreboard around the 7th inning. He threw 75 MPH. And he's left handed. Put him out there instead of Jimmy Gobble and no one would know the difference.
With all of our starters pitching well, I wonder what we'll do when Luke Hudson is back. Before everyone pitched it seemed obvious that it would be either De La Rosa or Duckworth. But right now, those 2 combined have thrown about 14 innings allowing 1 earned run. It better not be Greinke. I don't see how it would. It has always seemed to me that De La Rosa is the perfect 1 inning lefty out of the pen, or the lefty-lefty guy. That's a lot of lefties. Can I say lefty 34 more times, please? I still see our rotation as Meche, Perez, Greinke, Hudson, Elarton with De La Rosa and Duckworth taking Wellemeyer and Braun's places in the bullpen.
Whatever. None of this matters if we can't get the middle of our lineup over .150.
Well, so far it seems like this season has been right about the exact opposite of what I thought. I went into the season thinking,"Even though we don't have any pitching, the middle of our lineup will get us some wins, with Teahen, Sweeney, Gordon, and Shealy." Then, of course, are starters go out with a 2 ERA in the 1st six games and Sweeney, Gordon, and Shealy start 3-60. I know that looks like I'm exaggerating, but that's about right.
I went to 2 games last week, opening day and Greinke vs. Dice-K. Gotta love that KC weather, 85 degrees monday and 35 thursday. With all the hype around Dice-K, he and Greinke had about the same line: 7 IP, 1 ER, 8-10 K's. And Greinke K'ed Big Papi 3 times. It was beautiful. Hitting...not so beautiful.
CRAP!! We should be 3-3 against probably the best team in baseball and the defending AL champs. 2-4 just doesn't feel the same.
Side note: JJ and I went to opening day with our friends Jason and Danielle. They weren't keeping track like they usually do, but Jason threw the fastest pitch of the day at the "speed pitch" area. Usually, they list that on the scoreboard around the 7th inning. He threw 75 MPH. And he's left handed. Put him out there instead of Jimmy Gobble and no one would know the difference.
With all of our starters pitching well, I wonder what we'll do when Luke Hudson is back. Before everyone pitched it seemed obvious that it would be either De La Rosa or Duckworth. But right now, those 2 combined have thrown about 14 innings allowing 1 earned run. It better not be Greinke. I don't see how it would. It has always seemed to me that De La Rosa is the perfect 1 inning lefty out of the pen, or the lefty-lefty guy. That's a lot of lefties. Can I say lefty 34 more times, please? I still see our rotation as Meche, Perez, Greinke, Hudson, Elarton with De La Rosa and Duckworth taking Wellemeyer and Braun's places in the bullpen.
Whatever. None of this matters if we can't get the middle of our lineup over .150.
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