Snell

I've seen this wire article on Ian Snell linked by both Charlie and Rowdy, and the resulting discussions on both sites, and figured that I'd throw my two cents in on the Ian Snell situation as it stands at the moment.

Apparently, the Pirates have taken another manic turn on Ian Snell, they were down on him last fall when he pulled out of the AFL, high on him this spring after a couple of Grapefruit League starts, and they're down on him again now, after a whopping three starts since the season's begun. If the Bucs want to bring Gorzellany up, that's fine with me, the guy probably deserves it with the way he's pitched this spring and the way he's opened the season at Indy (he made another start today and gave up three runs in five innings, but on only four hits and two walks to go with 6 K's), but if he's coming up right now or any time fairly soon, it should be in Santos' spot, not Snell's. It would make no sense to keep Santos in the rotation over Snell if only because Snell has something to offer us down the road, whether it's in the rotation or the pen, while I'm not so sure that Santos does. If it gets to be June and Snell still hasn't turned the corner then I certainly won't be opposed to sticking Burnett or Kip into the rotation in his spot, but at this point it just doesn't make sense to build a team around a young staff and then start bailing on guys 3 starts into the season. If anything, Snell's stellar minor league record has earned him that.