No specific discussion thread for the rotation at this point surprisingly.
Not much time to lead anything this morning heading out the door, but so far it's been generally not good... but not surprisingly so. Without Sale and Paxton, the rotation leans on Eovaldi to be the ace.... which he simply should not ever be looked upon as IMO. While he can be great... he has never had a long track record to command $25M per season contracts or teams offering top minor league talent to acquire. So far though he's been pretty good.
Michael Wacha has been good. Surprisingly so thus far... but I can't trust it for long term.
Houck is pitching better than expected but needs to get deeper into games and should be bumped to the pen at some point to keep his innings down for the season.... not bad.
Rich Hill.... not surprisingly... has been pretty bad. I don't see a role for him on the team after either Sale or Paxton return.
Ugly. Yes.... Pivetta. I'm expecting this to turn around, hoping he's hitting some dead arm stretch. I was at least impressed that he seemed to figure something out yesterday in his last few innings after getting man-handled. Pivetta needs to stay in the rotation.
The Question. Whitlock. What if he dominates in his two upcoming likely starts? Should he stay there?
My long term guess is that we'll see Sale return in early June and Hill will be dropped to the pen and be given some opportunities there for old-style long relief and spot starts.
Paxton returns and Houck will go to the pen. Whitlock will return to the pen.
Not much time to lead anything this morning heading out the door, but so far it's been generally not good... but not surprisingly so. Without Sale and Paxton, the rotation leans on Eovaldi to be the ace.... which he simply should not ever be looked upon as IMO. While he can be great... he has never had a long track record to command $25M per season contracts or teams offering top minor league talent to acquire. So far though he's been pretty good.
Michael Wacha has been good. Surprisingly so thus far... but I can't trust it for long term.
Houck is pitching better than expected but needs to get deeper into games and should be bumped to the pen at some point to keep his innings down for the season.... not bad.
Rich Hill.... not surprisingly... has been pretty bad. I don't see a role for him on the team after either Sale or Paxton return.
Ugly. Yes.... Pivetta. I'm expecting this to turn around, hoping he's hitting some dead arm stretch. I was at least impressed that he seemed to figure something out yesterday in his last few innings after getting man-handled. Pivetta needs to stay in the rotation.
The Question. Whitlock. What if he dominates in his two upcoming likely starts? Should he stay there?
My long term guess is that we'll see Sale return in early June and Hill will be dropped to the pen and be given some opportunities there for old-style long relief and spot starts.
Paxton returns and Houck will go to the pen. Whitlock will return to the pen.