Watson out as closer

johnfluharty · Post by **johnfluharty** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 2:02 pm

Just for comparison to another very tall pitcher, at age 23 Randy Johnson was in AA. He had a good ERA and a ton of strikeouts but he also walked 128 batters in 140 innings. Big bodies with long limbs are a lot harder to control. My concern is that by the time Glasnow figures himself out (if he ever does) he'll be near free agency.

Bobster21 · Post by **Bobster21** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 2:38 pm

2C292E28202A332E2734323F460 wrote: Just for comparison to another very tall pitcher, at age 23 Randy Johnson was in AA. He had a good ERA and a ton of strikeouts but he also walked 128 batters in 140 innings. Big bodies with long limbs are a lot harder to control. My concern is that by the time Glasnow figures himself out (if he ever does) he'll be near free agency.

Johnson led MLB in BBs for 3 straight years (ages 26, 27, 28) but during that time he gave up so few hits that the walks weren't leading to a lot of runs as he maintained an ERA in the 3's at that time. Then he gained better control and the ERA got a lot better because they still weren't getting many hits against him. Glasnow average 12.4 H/9 IP along with 4.8 BBs/9 and 2HR/9. So limiting the walks is only a small part of his problem. He hasn't shown the ability to get batters out when he throws strikes.

SammyKhalifa · Post by **SammyKhalifa** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 3:00 pm

68636B676263783D3B4C756D646363226F630C0 wrote: I agree he shouldn't have come north. I disagree there weren't many options. Williams is pitching fine in the majors. Brault pitching fine in the minors. Hutchison probably wouldn't have been that bad. Glasnow was left in the rotation too long.

My choice at the time was Williams to the rotation and that rule five guy (can't recall his name atm) to the pen, but that was just making the best with what we had. Mixing and matching to fill a spot is something a lot of teams have to do during the course of a season but shouldn't be their Plan A.

dogknot17@yahoo.co · Post by **dogknot17@yahoo.co** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 3:06 pm

Many teams have a competition for the final rotation spot in spring training. I don't know if the Pirates had a true competition, but we at least thought so the whole time.

I just think the Pirates wanted Glasnow to work with Searage. That's the only reasoning I can come up with in why he went north with the team.

Glasnow struggled, he was sent down. This move is good for him and the team.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 3:09 pm

You know who else was tall? Wilt Chamberlain.

He was right around Glasnow's age when he started his very impressive run of success with, "dating," lovely ladies.

Perhaps Glasnow will start a similar run of success soon. We should continue to monitor this situation.

SammyKhalifa · Post by **SammyKhalifa** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 3:20 pm

69626A666362793C3A4D746C656262236E620D0 wrote: Many teams have a competition for the final rotation spot in spring training. I don't know if the Pirates had a true competition, but we at least thought so the whole time.

I just think the Pirates wanted Glasnow to work with Searage. That's the only reasoning I can come up with in why he went north with the team.

Glasnow struggled, he was sent down. This move is good for him and the team.

If there was a competition then Chad Kuhl should have been part of it too (perhaps with the inside track). He wasn't because we didn't have enough legitimate rotation pitchers.

notes34 · Post by **notes34** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:44 pm

5E6C60607446656C61646B6C0D0 wrote: Many teams have a competition for the final rotation spot in spring training. I don't know if the Pirates had a true competition, but we at least thought so the whole time.

I just think the Pirates wanted Glasnow to work with Searage. That's the only reasoning I can come up with in why he went north with the team.

Glasnow struggled, he was sent down. This move is good for him and the team.

If there was a competition then Chad Kuhl should have been part of it too (perhaps with the inside track). He wasn't because we didn't have enough legitimate rotation pitchers.
That is exactly right. Kuhl should've also had competition and he didn't. We could've used 2 more pitchers competing for the final spots in the rotation but we all knew what was going to happen.

dogknot17@yahoo.co · Post by **dogknot17@yahoo.co** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:52 pm

I thought Hutchison was going to get it based on his salary. I was actually surprised they went with Glasnow.

Kuhl pitched well in 2016. I thought he was going to be a lot better than he has been this year. I like Kuhl, but he has been disappointing. Hopefully, he is turning it around.

dogknot17@yahoo.co · Post by **dogknot17@yahoo.co** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 4:56 pm

7E5E4D50513F0 wrote: You know who else was tall? Wilt Chamberlain.

He was right around Glasnow's age when he started his very impressive run of success with, "dating," lovely ladies.

Perhaps Glasnow will start a similar run of success soon. We should continue to monitor this situation.

Glasnow is dating a model. She has made those WAG lists.

SammyKhalifa · Post by **SammyKhalifa** » Mon Jun 12, 2017 5:00 pm

38333B373233286D6B1C253D343333723F335C0 wrote: I thought Hutchison was going to get it based on his salary. I was actually surprised they went with Glasnow.

Kuhl pitched well in 2016. I thought he was going to be a lot better than he has been this year. I like Kuhl, but he has been disappointing. Hopefully, he is turning it around.

Point is that you want to have more pitchers than you have spots; 'cos at least a few of them will underperform, get injured, etc. You want to go in thinking you have "too many" pitchers," not stretching to make something happen to fill out a rotation. If we had gotten an established #3 or four then I'm more comfortable that one of the guys in the bottom of the rotation would be adquate.