For about the millionth time, I'm writing about how babying pitchers with pitch limits and specialized roles that limit relief pitching to a series of one-inning stands leads to weak arms and more injuries, not fewer.
Given the number of starters, some even of major league caliber, who went on the disabled list today, we can expect a lot more games like the Rangers' 19-6 victory over the Orioles tonight. It's not a good sign when Kris Benson is the best pitcher in a game. Well, Willie Eyre might have been, but is he really any better than Benson.
Anyway, the disabled list became clogged today with Diasuke Matsuzaka, Chris Carpenter, Brian Moehler and Alfredo Simon joined their weak-winged brethren. They were replaced by such pitching luminaries as Hunter Jones, Mitchell Boggs, Radhames Liz and -- well, who cares who replaced Moehler, whoever it is couldn't be a whole lot worse. There also are indications that the Dodgers' Hiroki Kuroda will miss significant time after winning as LA's Opening Night starter.
Just when pitchers were beginning to restore some order as hitting stars got older, this had to happen. They're creating the fictional Quadruple-A league we've heard of as legend. That's why Nelson Cruz could drive in six runs tonight.
At least Scott Baker returned from the DL to the Twins, replacing R.A. Dickey ... No, wait a minute, Baker sucked tonight too.
Max Scherzer is back off the DL too. He returned last night, taking the karmic space of the Blue Jays' Jesse Litsch, who at this point is a better pitcher.
I don't think losing such batters as Dewayne Wise, Jed Lowrie, Shawn Riggans and Willie Harris will put a major dent in big-league offense.
This just in. The Yankees will be putting Xavier Nady on the disabled list because of an elbow injury. Now he's a major league-caliber batter, but in the early going Nick Swisher has been more productive. He'll now have a place to play regularly.
No comments:
Post a Comment