Friday, February 20, 2009

Lefty Necessity?

Short Friday post today.  Well, the news came out that Orlando Hudson has signed with the Dodgers.  Still waiting on news on the contract, but I imagine it will only make me more depressed that we failed unable to sign him.  So far everything seems to be clicking right along in spring training.  On the injury front, Jose Guillen is still a few days away from full participation and John Bale has yet to throw.  On another note, Mike Aviles will be playing for team Puerto Rico in the fast approaching World Baseball Classic.  

No news on Andy Marte, though I read a report that the Twins were interested in him.  (They did just ink Joe Crede tonight though, so that interest may or may not be diminished.)  On to something that bugs me.  Why is it assumed that you need a lefty in your rotation?  More and more I'm getting the feeling that Horacio Ramirez is essentially guaranteed the #4 spot in the rotation simply because he is a southpaw.  I simply do not understand this thinking.  I understand the thought process that you want to mix up your pitchers from day to day so hitters don't get accustomed to the same type of pitching.  (Though I think this theory is much more applicable for in game situations, i.e. Joel Zumaya after Tim Wakefield.)  I think it is much more important to put the best rotation together possible, regardless of handedness.

That being said, I think this rotation would best suit the Royals, at least for the beginning of the year:

Gil Meche
Zack Greinke
Kyle Davies
Brian Bannister
Luke Hochevar

I imagine it will look more like this, however:

Gil Meche
Zack Greinke
Brian Bannister
Horacio Ramirez
Kyle Davies

Which I am OK with, I would just rather see Luke start to make more of an impact, considering he was the #1 pick in the draft in '06.  

I think I'll end my short post on that note.  If anyone has any questions or would like me to cover any certain topics leave a comment and I'll be sure to look it over.  Thanks.

1 comment:

  1. They've all but admitted that HoRam is in the rotation and it'll take a poor spring to keep him out of it. And yeah it's because he's lefty. Same thing happened with Tomko & Bale last year, they were both outpitched in ST by Davies and Hochevar. Tomko despite a spring era over 10 got a rotation spot because DM rather insanely gave him 3 million dollars. Bale got a spot because he was, wait for it, left handed.

    Some things never change.

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