Its unfortunate that Nieve let his anger of not making the club get in the way of his performance, but its understandable. The guy had a more accomplished minor league career than Sampson, Albers, or Wandy. He also fared pretty well out of all the young pitchers who actually got a chance to start last year... and would have still been starting had he not started to get a sore elbow. He wil get a chance at some point this year, and he has to be ready. We still got a long ways to go, and we don't know what the final verdict wil be on Albers, Sampson, Wandy, or even Woody.
Sure - but if you ditch Woody, you're throwing away an asset. You can send Nieve to AAA. You can't do that with Woody. If Woody gets hurt, you can bring up Nieve. If Nieve gets hurt, you'd be SOL.
I would start the player that would give the Astros the best chance of winning, and IMHO that would be Nieve. Off topic - you going to 3rd base to watch the Rocks tonight? DD
I would agree in a later part of the season, but injuries are eventually going to hit the pitching staff, and I'd rather hold on to as many potential SPs right now as possible. If Woody is still sucking in June or July or if we start falling out of the race, then certainly I'd look at making the move. I'm not sure what I'm doing tonight. I have a severely sprained ankle, so I may just be watching the game at home.
But if Nieve is starting at RR (which he is) how is that saving him from injury? Sorry bout the ankle I am thinking about going to 3rd base or just watching it at home too. DD
Oh it's definitely not. But to put Nieve in the major league rotation, you'd have to let Woody Williams go. So if he then got hurt, you're screwed. If you keep Woody, you have more options. If Woody gets hurt, you have Nieve. If both get hurt, though, you're certainly still screwed. It's just a matter of collecting and holding on to as much talent as you can. Similar to the reason we held onto Lidge. It's doubtful we could have gotten too much from him. If he sucks, you're out what little you could have gotten. If he gets back to his old self, you're far better off. The risk-reward was a lot better keeping him, though it looks like it may not ever turn around.
Yeah, I understand, I just think that Woody has had it....and there are younger guys that can do at least as well as he can... I have watched Nieve a lot at RR, and he is done here, he is too good for AAA.... With Lidge, I think they missed the opportunity to move him and now he is untradeable. DD
FYI, this is why people speak so much of limited sample size as it pertains to baseball. Wandy's not close to anywhere as good as he's looked so far, much like Woody's not close to anywhere as bad as he's looked so far. Given time, players will generally move to their norm, and that's what Wandy is doing here.
Why the $%#@#@ Garner let Wandy until this disaster??? He's been strugling since the 3rd or 4th inning so why? Those are the things I cant understand about this Manager....
