It is what it is.
Setting aside the obvious for a second, let me be a contrarian list maker for a sec.
selected pitchers on the 40 man roster, by age
23 Renyel Pinto
24 David Aardsma **
24 Angel Guzman
24 Sergio Mitre
24 Jerome Williams
25 John Koronka
25 Roberto Novoa
26 Cliff Bartosh
26 Todd Wellemeyer
26 Michael Wuertz
26 John Leicester
26 Dave Crouthers ***
27 Will Ohman *
* – two non-playing seasons in there.
** – I haven’t seen mentioned of it yet, but his presence on the 40 man means we moved Nomar to the 60 Day DL.
*** – lost in the madness, he mysteriously retired this week; O’s are due to give us a replacement
(The youngest guy on the active staff is still Carlos Zambrano, which I think we forget from time to time.)
14 pitchers, including today’s newest arrivals, about a one-third of our 40 man roster. All of them at or about to reach their athletic prime – and I don’t think we’ve got the slightest clue about how most of these guys will turn out. None truly have a defined role with the team (though Wuertz might have finally gotten the setup role he deserved six weeks ago and Sergio doesn’t have to worry about getting yanked out of the rotation any time soon now), and their future are complete mysteries. I realize the reality of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior’s short careers showcase the need for depth and pitching, but we already have a lot of people to sort thru and no particular effort to get the job done. The last thing we really need is another young pitcher – and that was back when we did the Farnsworth trade. It seems very likely someone here will slip thru the cracks to do well elsewhere, while we have needs at position spots go unfilled.
It really is nice that we got something for LaTroy. It’s a bit of a stretch to compare it to the Graves situation (LaTroy’s been slightly better and he’s a few mil cheaper), but the Cubs did make out a bit better than the Reds did. I just wish they’d gone for a something else as a change.
And I think everyone is happy for LaTroy. He never asked to be the closer (if you forget the incentives), it was thrust upon him and he did all he could with it. He didn’t make a bad situation better, but he didn’t make it bad in the first place.
single paragraph digression: Prior’s injury has nothing to do with a curse, but does cause me to watch PTI only a tape delay for the next couple months. My 30 second skip thingy will be renamed “the Willbutton” in his honor.