Saturday, February 20, 2010

Pitching - Future Closer?

Everyone seems to think that Neftali Feliz is the Rangers' closer-in-waiting. Not me. I would prefer to see Feliz in the starting rotation. I think an Ace is more important than a closer. Especially when you have other excellent options at closer. Tanner Scheppers comes immediately to mind. Common wisdom says that Scheppers shoulder will give out eventually, so get as many big league innings out of him as you can. I'm not sure that the shoulder will break down, but I do agree with the big league innings. He has pitched in a big time college program (and an independent league), so he's closer to the big leagues than most rookies (see Tommy Hunter). With his shoulder issues, he is probably better suited to a relief role. A relief role also requires less dependence on secondary pitches. We'll see how it goes in Spring Training, but he could be major league-ready at some point this year. Feliz in the starting rotation and Scheppers in the bullpen seems like the most efficient use of their pitching assets (at least, that is what Bernard and I think).

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