Bucs Loaded With LHP Starters

[3-2 Changeup]

On the Red Sox broadcast last night Gary Trupiano was mentioning how few LH starters there are today and how a number of teams rotations are all RH. He did mention that the Pirates had begun the year with three LH starters. There are only a couple of teams he mentioned that had 2 LH starters. While Villone is the most expendable, his recent performance as a long reliever leads me to believe that Jimmy Anderson is the most likely candidate to go if and when Ryan Vogelsong comes back late this year, if not before.

[imgreat95]

I would easily rather have Jimmy here than Ron Villone. Villone has no place or future with this team. Heck, he should have been released last week.

[00_Agent]

I definitely agree. Villone is playing for almost no money. I think they should release him and bring up Mike Lincoln. Lincoln has a future with us, not to mention that he is just a flat out better pitcher who is on the rise. And he has experience as a starter so he could work long relief.

Anderson is still young. I think that one of the problems with him is our own expectations. I'm not trying to excuse some of his lousy pitching, but at least in my opinion, he is only a 3rd or 4th starter, and some of us, myself included, have been looking for him to be a #1 or 2 like Mike Hampton. The problem is, that when Mike doesn't have his great sinker, he has a 95 mph fastball he can fall back on. Jimmy's fastball is like his sinker without the movement. Imagine the Yankees with Anderson filling out their rotation in the 5 spot. Or if he were on the Diamondbacks. He would be great, and it might even take some of the pressure off of him and make him a better pitcher.

00

[GiveHyzduashot]

Good analysis on Anderson.

Sometimes we get caught up in the heat of the moment and don't realize that Jimmy is a fourth starter for us right now. For a #4 starter, he is one of the better ones in the league. With Benson, Wells, and Fogg on the staff, if Anderson posts an ERA around 4 or 4.50, that is very acceptable. You can't give up on the guy yet. He is just too dominant when he's on his game.

[00_Agent]

Definitely, I think that he is very capable of posting that kind of ERA.

Man, the other night against the Diamondbacks, he looked unhittable for 5 innings or so, and then all of a sudden they dropped the hammer on him. I still don't know what happened.

I don't know why I brought that up. I think it was to illustrate how good he is when he is on, but he did end up getting hit. Oh well, if you saw him pitch that night, you know what I mean.

00

[GiveHyzduashot]

I think Anderson just became fatigued. He had thrown close to 100 pitches by then, I think.

But Anderson should have been pulled when the batter after Gonzo hit a hard line drive to RF. He never should have stayed in that long.

[3-2 Changeup]

I know that the conventional wisdom is that LHP develop later but my frustration with Anderson is that for a guy that he appears to have one year of experience three times rather than three years of experience under his belt. Yes, we could do a lot worse for a #4 starter. It will be interesting to see what happens when Vogelsong returns, if he returns.