As I mentioned in my previous post, I'm a big fan of Casey Janssen and feel he deserves to be on the club. He's up against Dana Eveland, amongst others, for a spot in the bullpen. Eveland shouldn't even be considered for the 'pen; Toronto should make him a part of the rotation and send Marc Rzepczynski down to AAA because he has looked brutal during spring training. Even though Rzepczynski had a very solid rookie campaign, he is still extremely young and unproven despite his 3.67 ERA in 11 starts last season. However, in the spring this year, he has struggled with his command, allowing 9 earned runs in 16 innings, giving up 17 hits for a 5.06 ERA. The 24 year old has pretty good potential, but why not allow him to find his game in the minors and allow the veteran Eveland to start out the campaign as part of the rotation?
The 26 year old Eveland started 29 games in 2008, with a decent ERA of 4.34. He is being considered for the Blue Jays bullpen, where he'd fit in well as a long reliever. However, with the influx of pitchers vying for a job in the pen, including incumbents Jeremy Accardo, Josh Roenicke and Casey Janssen, why not move Eveland to the rotation, freeing up another spot for one of the young relievers? After all, he has a 1.69 ERA over the course of 16 innings, including one start.
3 comments:
Agreed! It isn't going to hurt Zep's development by starting in the minors and working his way onto the team; mid-season. Eveland looks good and deserves a shot...but certainly not in the bullpen.
I still can't believe the A's gave up on Eveland so quickly. The Jays only had to give up cash to acquire him? Wow. Anthopoulos is the man!
Last comment tonight I swear... procrastination is fun!
Never thought of this before, but you're absolutely right. R-Zep has been presented as a definite to make the rotation, but on what grounds? Yeah, he was solid last year, but so was Robert Ray when I saw him start against the Sox last year, and he's already been cut.
Whether or not R-Zep gets it, you're absolutely right that Eveland has no business taking a valuable bullpen spot away from Janssen, Accardo, Roenicke... list goes on and on. Based on R-Zep's spring, they should send him down so that they don't rush his development to kill his confidence.
I would also argue that Eveland has way more business being in the starting five than Tallet. While I don't mind Tallet, I honestly don't think he has the endurance to be a starter. Even in his strong starts, he generally fizzles out by the 6th or 7th. He should be the long reliever. Eveland was decent last year, he's younger, and he's an established starter.
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