Dejan reports from minicamp in Bradenton today on the fifth spot in the rotation, namely to add Sean Burnett and Ryan Vogelsong's name to the mix with Victor Santos and Ian Snell. Immediately when I read it last night (as it was posted at midnight) I had a double reaction:
- Wow Burnett might be ready earlier than they thought, that's awesome.
- Ryan Vogelsong? In the rotation? WHYYYYYYY? (I then went to Charlie's blog and saw the same reaction).
Then I went to sleep. I woke up. I went to Art History class (stupid required electives) and thought about it (because what the hell else am I supposed to do in Art History?). Now I'm thinking this might not be the stupidest thing in the world. There's a couple reasons why, first off, Victor Santos sucks. Last year he put up his career lowest ERA, 4.57, but he still had a WHIP over 1.50. There's nothing in his past to suggest this year could be better (so he's not a Kip Wells). He's just all around pretty bad. Then there's Snell. I like Snell more than a lot of people, but I'll admit there's still enough questions about him that handing him the job (which is what would most likely be happening in a competition with only Santos) probably isn't the best idea. That leads us to Vogelsong. Everyone knows I like Vogelsong more than a Pirate fan rationally should, I'll admit it. But I do think that Santos and Snell need another name thrown in there with them, if only to make it feel like more of a competition (because while Vogelsong isn't perfect, Santos and Snell are also far from it). The thing to keep in mind is that whoever breaks camp as the 5th starter is probably going to be a placeholder for Burnett for the first 6 weeks of the season or so. I doubt he'll be ready for the bigs in early April, but the fact they're even considering him is probably a sign he's fairly healthy. As today's article points out, he's somehow only 23 years old and if he's healthy I have a feeling that by July we'll have forgotten this debate ever took place.
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