Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Rethinking Randy Rosario

Randy Rosario's promotion to the majors was warmly greeted in this corner of the internet. It was also warmly greeted, it appears, by American League hitters.

Rosario's ERA after his outing Tuesday (0.1 inning, 4 hits, 5 runs) is 30.86. The decimal is not misplaced.

Despite Bert Blyleven's commentary, Rosario's fastball-slider combo is adequate for relief work. That's what Glen Perkins threw in his glory days; changeup not required.

The problem is less what Rosario throws than where he throws it. On Tuesday night in Seattle, he had no command. Perkins the All-Star threw quality strikes; Rosario is not there yet.

It won't be a surprise if Rosario gets shipped back to the minors soon. Doing so may be a reflexive reaction, but so is pulling your hand from a hot stove. On the other hand, what's the alternative? A fourth call-up for Drew Rucinski? I'll pass on that.

I'd still rather see somebody with Rosario's talent struggle in the majors than somebody with lesser talent struggle in the majors. One question is what best helps the major league team; I'm not sure replacing Rosario with a body from Triple A does that. The other is what best develops Rosario. He's certainly getting more of a challenge in the majors than he has in Double A.

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