On Wednesday night
TaiJuan Walker had another rough first inning to start the game for the Seattle
Mariners. He gave up a total of five runs, and lasted four innings.
The big question is how
many more times will the Mariners give Walker to start before taking him out of
the starting lineup. Right now his next scheduled start would be next Tuesday
since the Mariners have today (Thursday) off. Next Thursday the Mariners have
off as well so depending on that start they could skip him in the following
one.
Everyone who has
watched Walker pitch know how talented he is. He had wonderful spring training;
however, the first two starts of the regular season have not been so good. If
he has a bad start next Tuesday do the Mariners skip the following one, put him
in the bullpen, or send him down to Triple A.
Any of the options do not sound any good. For one thing the Mariners do
not want to hurt his confidence; however, if he is not ready to pitch in the
starting rotation what choices do they have.
The Mariners do not
have much depth in starting pitching. The most likely replacement for Walker in
the starting rotation would be Roenis Elias; however, last night he struggled
in his outing for the Tacoma Rainiers. Another problem is that Iwakuma has
started out struggling in his first two games as well. The thing about Iwakuma
being a veteran the Mariners can hope he will work his way of trouble.
Last year the Mariners
went through similar problems at the end of the rotation as well. It is a
wonder what they will do this time if problems with Walker and Iwakuma
continue. Of course, we are not sure about the rest of the rotation as well.
Tomorrow night (Friday) we will see if Jay Happ can have another good game.
Then there is James Paxton who will need to go further into the game as well. The
only sure pitcher the Mariners can count on is Felix as long as he can be healthy.
His last start he left after five innings because of health issues. He says now
he is doing just fine.
It looks like the
Mariners may have to go out and get another starting pitcher which is not easy
to do. Not many teams are looking to trade any of their pitchers. Most teams
are like the Mariners where there is little depth in the starting pitching. It
is the reason I do not like a five man rotation. I prefer a four man rotation
teams went through until the late 1970s. It is especially true through the
early part of the season. With several off days in April teams could go with
four man rotation to see how things go. The fifth man could be used out of the
bullpen as long relief. Later in the season a team could go to a five man
rotation if it is really necessary. The whole thing is that on most teams if
not all the fifth starter ends up with a losing record. So what is the point of
it all except to keep the other four starters rested?
Anyway we can only hope
that Walker can correct things in his pitching starting off games. We do not
want to lose out on a talented pitcher one that could someday be number two
behind Felix or three behind James Paxton. The Mariners will have to think not
only best for Walker but what the best for the team is as well. I guess we will
see what happens. In the meantime let’s Go Mariners!
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