Below was a response to a comment made by a reader of the blog. After posting it, I thought that it could stand on its own, if only to generate some dialog with you, the dear readership of Raysbaseball.co. Thoughts? Leave ’em below!
With the imminent return of Jeff Niemann, I think an argument could be made for a six man rotation when the rosters expand in September. A six man rotation could be a wise choice if only to give Moore, Helly, Shields, or Price a day off going into the playoffs. Who then would be the primary starter, Alex Cobb who’s done his part to earn a spot in the rotation, or Jeff Niemann that’s been out for the majority of the season. Another question begs: could you also move either Cobb or Niemann to the pen for the duration of the season?
As for the middle infield conundrum, I really like what I’ve seen of Zo at short, in his limited number of starts on the left side these last few weeks. He’s solid defensively, and we know what he can do at the plate. I really tried to like Elliot Johnson. When his offensive numbers were at their peak, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. But if today’s small sample size exemplifies anything, it’s that sometimes circumstances surrounding this game are, well…shitty. Sean Rodriguez is, arguably, better defensively. Yet if things pan out the way they’re rumored to, he’s probably going to get sent down to Triple-A (albeit for only 20 days) to make room for Luke Scott on the roster, and Elliot Johnson, who made three really offline and questionable throws to first tonight (not including his error) gets to stay on the roster because he’s out of options. I don’t care how high his WARp climbs because of offensive production, Johnson is a defensive liability. Just look at what he’s done on the field tonight for validation of that argument.