Rays Headlines
Monday, June 1, 2009
SONNANSTINE AT A MINIMUM SHOULD MISS A START
With the off day today, this was the perfect chance for Joe Maddon to sit down Andy Sonnanstine and his bloated 7.66 ERA for a game, and simply skip his turn. Maddon however has insisted he will pitch Sonnanstine and also bat BJ UPTON lead off again. On Sunday, when BJ Upton pinch hit and hit a rocket off the wall, it was mentioned by Rays broadcaster Kevin Kennedy, that the pressure was off Upton as he wasn't leading off and could simply relax at the plate. Even the broadcast team is calling for Upton to be shifted down in the lineup, but Stubborn Joe simply won't budge. If Sonnanstine has yet another poor outing, maybe Maddon will finally sit him down, or option him to AAA. Wade Davis would be the obvious choice to come up as a replacement, but from the rumblings we have heard about Kazmir, he may not be too far off from coming back as well. It is rumored that his injury to his elbow forced him to use a different throwing motion and mechanics, and that he never changed back after fixing the elbow, an has continued in the bad habits he learned when injured. If it is that simple, then why wasn't this fixed in spring training or the offseason? Another gaffe by Joe Maddon and Jim Hickey? The Edwin Jackson situation continues to enhance the point that Maddon and Hickey are ruining pitchers by using this limited pitch count, while other managers prefer to let pitchers go deep into games. Hopefully Jackson just finally came into his own, but watching him succeed after leaving, and watching Kazmir and Sonnanstie go backwards, tends to lend credibility to the possibility that Maddon and Hickey are ruining their pitching staff. Hopefully they get this fixed, and it would be nice if Sonnanstine can just get it together, but with a career ERA of over 5.20 it just doesn't seem reasonable to expect any miracles from him anytime soon.
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1 comments:
Couple of points.
Ejax: Leyland's gonna pitch him until his arm's dead. He's still pitching over his head and has been notorious for dropping off in the 2nd half. Leyland's not going to mess around. He's going to get what he can out of Ejax and move on. I'm not going to cry over that trade for at least 2 or 3 years when Ejax is probably out of the league and Matt Joyce is the everyday RF'er here in St. Pete. Also, remember who was the only starter who didn't start in the postseason. That was Ejax. The Rays have said all along that they expected hangover from the amount of innings pitched in the postseason. It's only logical that Ejax would be immune.
Bossman: Since Aki and Bartlett are both hurt, Maddon doesn't have much of a choice but to leave Bossman alone. I don't want to see Zobrist leading off every day and we know CC can't/won't do it. That leaves Bossman for better or for worse. The good news, he's finally over .200.
Sonnanstine: I think tonight is it for him if he can't get it done. He won't start in New York unless we see last year's Sonny tonight.
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