Should it have been different?
The news this week that Ranger Suarez will miss at least a bit of time to start the season has meant a shift in plans to populate the five man rotation. Taijuan Walker is still around and will move into that spot vacated (temporarily) by Suarez and his hurting back, a notion that sits ill with a significant portion of the fanbase. If only there were someone better, more equipped to handle that spot that the team could turn into in case something were to happen.
Andrew Painter hadn’t pitched professionally in nearly two years when he took the mound in Arizona. The results, such as they were, for his outings in the AFL were fine, but portended something better in the near future. There was still some runway needed in Painter’s recovery, but it felt that that debut in the big leagues that Painter was so close to prior to his surgery was on the near horizon. Now that spring has rolled around, Painter is just now facing live hitters as the team slowly (glacially?) ramps him back up for the season.
The question of the day today is: do you think the team has handled Painter’s return to pitching plan properly? They were pretty clear that they would rather save whatever innings Painter would give them this season as a member of the major league roster for when the team was in second half of the season. The only issue is, with the division getting better all around this offseason, don’t wins in April and May count just as much as those at the end? Wouldn’t the team be better served trying to get as many innings this year out of Painter as soon as they can?
It’s an interesting question.