Big day for Hess

[wildcard]

If he get rocked does it take him out of the rotation competition?    Rogers and Wright fighting for a rotation spot.

[Moose Milligan]

Wright is what he is, he shouldn't be in any conversation for a rotation spot or anywhere in the pen.  

I know people are going to say I'm wrong and I don't care.  There's no difference between Hess and Rogers.  They're both fringy, 5th starters with middling stuff.  From that perspective, they're the same.  

If we are going off what they've done in ST, then it look like the position is Rogers to lose.  He's done pretty well so far this spring, 2.33 k/bb ratio.  The WHIP is almost 1.4.  I don't know if a good start from Hess today is enough to overcome that.

If he could do that for a whole season and keep a 4.25 ERA, I'd be happy with that.  

[Aristotelian]

No, unless he is hurt, let him stink in the regular season some before changing the plan. He has a good body of work in the minors and MLB.

[Tony-OH]

Obviously Hess would want a good start, but I think he's in the rotation to start the year regardless. 

[oriole]

Considering the lack of options I would say Hess has a pretty good hold on his rotation spot. 

[HowAboutThat]

 You could probably flip a coin at this point. I agree with moose that Wright has no place here at all, but my own feeling is that he’ll start with the team and will get two or three starts until Araujo Finishes his 17 days.  That gives the team a chance to evaluate the other potential starters. After the 17 days, Pedro goes down, and Mike goes to the pen or away depending on how he did. The other guys, whatever. Pitching is not going to be one of our strong points this year. 

[LookinUp]

59 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

I know people are going to say I'm wrong and I don't care.  There's no difference between Hess and Rogers.  They're both fringy, 5th starters with middling stuff. 

I imagine neither being allowed to see a hitter three times in a game. Should help their results a bit. Heck, they might be used in a way that they rarely see hitters twice, lol. Wright too, actually. 

I just feel like the bottom of the rotation won't be a traditional #4/5 at all. It will be held together with bubble gum and toothpicks, and probably comprising of a large number of fringy starters and weird choices as openers. That's what Tampa would do.

[Frobby]

I’m thinking positive.    Hess won’t get rocked today.    He’ll pitch well.

[HowAboutThat]

7 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

 

I just feel like the bottom of the rotation won't be a traditional #4/5 at all. It will be held together with bubble gum and toothpicks, and probably comprising of a large number of fringy starters and weird choices as openers. That's what Tampa would do.

A large part of Tampa’s success is because of outside the box thinking like that. I remember when Bo Porter was managing the Astros, He tried the same thing, but it doesn’t seem to have worked.

 It will be  very interesting to see if Brandon can be innovative and come up with ways to make our ragtag group more successful.

[LookinUp]

3 minutes ago, Philip said:

A large part of Tampa’s success is because of outside the box thinking like that. I remember when Bo Porter was managing the Astros, He tried the same thing, but it doesn’t seem to have worked.

 It will be  very interesting to see if Brandon can be innovative and come up with ways to make our ragtag group more successful.

Given our talent base, I think he has to. If he approaches the season like a traditional manager, he's essentially purposefully tanking, IMO. He could theoretically do that, but I suspect he won't. He, as much as anyone, has to show the ability to win smart if he wants to be here when we're competitive.

[HowAboutThat]

17 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Given our talent base, I think he has to. If he approaches the season like a traditional manager, he's essentially purposefully tanking, IMO. He could theoretically do that, but I suspect he won't. He, as much as anyone, has to show the ability to win smart if he wants to be here when we're competitive.

Yes, exactly. We want somebody who doesn’t necessarily throw out traditional approaches, but is open to other solutions.

And what better time to try other solutions then when the guys you have would be historically awful if used the traditional way?

 Right now, the approach seems to be, “don’t bring up the guys until you are sure they are ready, and even then, maybe don’t bring up the guys.“

OK, now what’s Plan B? We’re about to find out.

[interloper]

1 hour ago, Tony-OH said:

Obviously Hess would want a good start, but I think he's in the rotation to start the year regardless. 

 

38 minutes ago, Frobby said:

I’m thinking positive.    Hess won’t get rocked today.    He’ll pitch well.

Agree on both. There's no real reason to NOT roll with Hess for awhile and see if he can continue on his good second half 2018. 

And he seems to be a guy that can make adjustments and bounce back. I've enjoyed watching him pitch for the most part. Underrated curveball when it's on. Firm fastball. Just needs to limit damage and hit his spots. If he does, he's pretty good. If he doesn't, he gets shellacked.

He's a 5th starter guy. 

[jamalshw]

1 hour ago, Philip said:

 You could probably flip a coin at this point. I agree with moose that Wright has no place here at all, but my own feeling is that he’ll start with the team and will get two or three starts until Araujo Finishes his 17 days.  That gives the team a chance to evaluate the other potential starters. After the 17 days, Pedro goes down, and Mike goes to the pen or away depending on how he did. The other guys, whatever. Pitching is not going to be one of our strong points this year. 

Does this mean we'll have strong points elsewhere?

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, jamalshw said:

Does this mean we'll have strong points elsewhere?

We have a good mascot.   

[jamalshw]

5 minutes ago, Frobby said:

We have a good mascot.   

True. The stadium is pretty sweet, too...though atmosphere with nobody there may suffer.