Saturday, June 1, 2013

Roster Shuffling

Some housekeeping.

Ricky Romero has been outrighted off the 40-man roster. That means he passed through waivers and every other team in the Major Leagues decided that Romero wasn't worth a roster spot either. This is a sad day. Romero has a salary of $7.5M in 2013, 2014, and 2015. He has a $13.1M option for 2016 with a $600K buyout. So, $23.1M left to pay Romero. There is still hope that he can turn it around, but this might be a completely lost season. Gregg Zaun had an idea on Tim & Sid that I liked. Just give Romero the rest of the season off. If he's not going to pitch in the Major Leagues and pitch successfully, it might be better to just take time off and see a psychologist to work out his shit.



The others moves made after the 17 inning battle in San Diego that were made were:

Gone from the Bisons to the Jays are Mickey Storey and Ramon Ortiz. Optioned to Buffalo are Chad Jenkins and put Brandon Morrow on the DL. Ramon Ortiz is scheduled to start in San Diego on Sunday, while Josh Johnson, fresh off a stinker in  his rehab start, should take the hill Tuesday in San Francisco.

I also think it might be time to scrap some of these veteran depth pieces that were brought in that aren't helping anything.



Justin Germano has been awful this season. He has pitched to a 7.24 ERA in 9 starts, which he has averaged less than 6 IP. He has given up 81 hits in 51 innings. That is a lot. Marcus Walden has been very good in AA and could come up and inject a little more youth and talent into the rotation. Another possible replacement could be Sean Nolin, who has pitched very well in AA, but got hammered in a spot start for the Jays last week.



Claudio Vargas is another to watch for. He's on the borderline of being terrible for the Herd. He owns a 5.87 ERA in 10 starts, throwing just over 5 IP per start. Bobby Korecky is also on the brink, with a 5.68 ERA in 14 mostly mop-up relief games (25.1 IP).

In the bullpen, there has been enough moves made by the Jays (calling up Wagner and Perez, which could be a long-term thing) that the bullpen in Buffalo has been given a nice shake-up. Younger guys like Joel Carreno, Jeremy Jeffress, Chad Beck, and John Stilson have been brought up while guys like Clint Everts, Alex Hinshaw, and Miguel Batista have been given their walking papers.



The Bisons offense has been very good, but a need arises based on injuries to either a Bison or a Blue Jay, I would love to see a few guys from New Hampshire get some triple-A time.

It's no secret I'm a huge Ryan Goins fan. I've been following him since he was drafted for 1 reason: I thought it was awesome that the Jays drafted 2 guys in back-to-back rounds that were the same age (basically) and could play the middle IF coming up together in the minor leagues. The other guy? Ryan Schimpf. Yeah. Back-to-back middle IF named Ryan. That was really interesting to me. I know it doesn't make them any more talented or anything stupid horseshit like that. I just thought it was neat, and I've been following both guys ever since.



While Goins has seemingly been a step ahead of Schimpf, earning promotions while Schimpf (now a 3B in AA) has stayed behind. This season, Schimpf has taken a step. He has a .230/.363/.497 slash line with 12 HR. He may not be much of a contact hitter, but Schimpf could get a taste if Andy LaRoche is called up to replace the injured Brett Lawrie in Toronto.

The other 2 guys I would like to see and Kevin Nolan and Kevin Pillar.



Nolan is an IF, playing solely SS this season, but has seen time at 3B, 2B, and even 1B in his career. He also had covered LF and RF at times. Nolan hit .316/.385/.471 in Dunedin last season and has followed it up with a .282/.364/.437 line in his start to AA. His call-up (if it happens) could also make way for Andy Burns to jump to New Hampshire from Dunedin.



Pillar is an OF, playing both LF and CF this season. He has been a consistently excellent hitter throughout his minor league career. Last season he hit .323/.374/.439 split between Dunedin and New Hampshire with 51 stolen bases. He has started 2013 hitting .323/.379/.468 with 14 stolen bases. He might be ready for a challenge and with no real CF in Buffalo he could be quite the asset.

With the Bisons getting back in the win column last night over the Norfolk Tides with David Bush throwing a good start, they look to win back-to-back games with Ricky Romero taking the mound tonight.

Fingers crossed.

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