TEX 9, MIN 6: Odorizzi Lays an Egg

Yikes... Texas is clearly hot right now (7 straight wins), but something's wrong with Odorizzi.

First 11 starts: 3.34 ERA

Last 5 starts: 9.90 ERA

Maybe a trip to the DL would help? 

As a professional armchair GM, here's the moves I would make:

DFA Belisle, Wilson, Grossman. DL Odorizzi if something is wrong with him.

Call up Busenitz, Rupp (added to 40 man), Cave, and Duffey (if Odor on DL). When Odorizzi's spot in the rotation comes around again, option Duffey back for Mejia/Slegers (whoever's rested at that point).

Other: Morrison is nearing the point where I would give up on him. He's getting DFA'd / traded for cash in a couple weeks if he isn't hitting better. Motter will be DFA'd when Polanco arrives. 

It makes sense to send down a starter, however, when a RP is as bad as Belisle it makes more sense to more him out and get someone else in the BP.  This is just one more of a series of very questionable moves by this FO

Does Magill have an option? It makes zero sense to keep him active when he may not be available until Wednesday.

  On 6/24/2018 at 12:56 AM, wsnydes said:

They were basically forced into the move because they built a bullpen without a spot or two that they could rotate a few guys between the minors and the big league club. It makes for odd moves like this, especially since they apparently have no desire to part with Belisle. So they have a 40 man roster full of pitchers, but no flexibility to move them in and out of the active roster to take advantage of it. Genius.

Rogers and Hildenberger should both have options. But, of course Hildenberger might be Molitor’s # 1 option right now. Probably don’t want to lose him for 10 days. Probably don’t want Duke as the only loogy for 10 days either.

Escobar hasn't been the same since he was hit by Porcello.

Except for Seattle and N.Y., could we just play .500 teams and above for the rest of the season?

Why on earth, with all the injuries and disappointing performances this season, does this team seem to play better, and even win, against quality teams and just stink against losing teams?

1] Just not our year.

2] This is funny game.

It’s a funny game with unbelievable roster blunders........

Back in the old days of strat-o-matic baseball, we used to have a “waste” pitcher- a guy you could bring in to just get you to the end of the game. Instead of using up most of your good pitchers like the Twins did today. So your bullpen wasn’t a mess tomorrow.

Duffy or Slegers would really help this team in that situation.

Instead we get Belisle.

I have wondered if the FO reads these posts.  They are so information oriented it would seem that they might have someone monitoring them.  If so I think they might notice that their honeymoon is over and the criticisms of their roster decisions certainly seem to be much harsher (and deserved).

Odiorizzi is really killing any possible trade value.

I don't disagree with with the Romero move. The season is over. What's the point in pushing the envelope with him? Just let him further refine things, keep his workload relatively light, and bring him back up after you deal Odiorizzi/Lynn at the deadline.

At this point, it would be reasonable to just leave him down until the start of next year.

Romero down is simply ridiculous. 

  On 6/23/2018 at 10:28 PM, Danchat said:

Motter will be DFA'd when Polanco arrives. 

At first glance I read that as Molitor will be DFA'd, and my thought was I like the idea, I don't think that's how it works, and what does Polanco have to do with it? The second glance made more sense but was a lot less interesting.

  On 6/25/2018 at 5:11 PM, spycake said:

I don't know -- Molitor might be our best option at DH right now...

Yeah, but I'm not sure he's a good clubhouse influence. Is Hanley Ramirez still available?

I am okay with sending Romero down.  He wasn't winning us a pennant and his secondary pitches need work. He was holding his own which is great but I do not believe what we were seeing was his ceiling. Extending his service time is a bonus but not the real benefit here. I think he should be focusing on his weaknesses now not his strengths. You can't do that in the big leagues because you have to focus on getting guys out. I think a little more work in the minors is more likely to improve his performance next year and beyond than struggling to hold his own for the rest of this year instead of polishing his secondary pitches.