There's oodles and bunches of talk going around about whether or not the option for staff ace Jason Schmidt should be picked up next season.
Firstly, play like Roy Rodgers and sloooooooow down, pardner.
We don't know half of enough about Schmidt's condition. He's had a DL stint and some fairly poor pitching for two months.
I'm wondering why, when talking of other veteran players, two months is usually a small sample size, yet with Schmidt, the writing is as clear on the wall as if a 5 year-old with fire-engine red Crayolas spelled it out.
Sure, things don't look good -- heck, they look positively shitty. However, I'll add this small, but relevant, caveat: it sure looked like Livan Hernandez was never going to amount to much, didn't it? The Red Sox seem to think letting Pedro Martinez was the right move for them. Didn't look like Kenny Rogers was ever going to do much again, did it? And these guys had whole seasons for their teams to see the writing on the wall, and they still misinterpreted it.
I think it's a bit dumb to think Schmidt is done after two months. Question, wonder, worry...yes, do all of those things, because I'm doing the same. But let's not overreact, alright?
Onto other things, I've added two links: Royals Corner, written by David Sanford, is a new Royals blog, and seems to off to a good start. The other is Oleanders & Morning Glories, which is a Washington Nationals blog (my first Nats link). It's written by Jean-Pierre Allard, et je pense que il est un bon ecriveur (gosh, hope my dusty French is still functional), and also Harper Gordek. The Nats are in 1st place, so perhaps we should start payin' some 'tention.
4 comments:
I'd rather not exercise options on Matheny (who admittedly is hitting much better than I expected) and Alou.
What do you mean they're not options?
Bah.
BB
PS. What if Schmidt recovers enough to be a closer? If Eckersley could, maybe he can too. I also don't mind a bit of loyalty for loyalty's sake, and Schmidt has pitched well enough to earn a 1-year benefit of the doubt.
You think Schmidt can do a Smoltz? Hm, not too bad of a thought, if Benitez and his immovable-object-disguised-as-a-contract weren't there.
The loyalty angle is a tough one...(sigh) if it were me in Sabean's place, I'd do the faith deal. Why? Well, it's easy to see that if there is a problem with Schmidt, it's likely due to his heavy, heavy workload during his time here. So the Giants owe him at this point.
The only thing that makes it sticky is Bonds, and the obvious fact that IF Bonds comes back and can still produce, 2006 will be the last shot at the Series...and if Schmidt isn't the Schmidt we know, the Giants cannot afford to spend 10 million on him.
It's not just two months; it's ever since Schmidt's groin injury last August. He was awful the last month and change last season, too.
So either something is still physically wrong with him, or he's pitching like he's afraid of tearing himself a new one. I wish we knew which it was.
Livan's problem was obviously mental. He wouldn't or couldn't listen to Righetti; a change of scenery was the obvious solution to his problems. Not a surprise that he turned things around. If Jason's having head spasms up there, then there's a good chance he'll return to form eventually.
By the way, BB, the bloom is officially off of Matheny's rose. His batting average is in the 230's, and his SLG will soon dip below .400.
Yeah, this is about the Matheney I'd thought we'd get.
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