Go ahead, dwell on the bullpen blowup. Talk about the bad defense. I’m over it. It’s happened too many times for it to be news, or even the slightest surprise. This isn’t a playoff team, and while those kinds of things are upsetting, they are easier to fix then… say… building a solid starting rotation. That’s why I’m much more interested in something else that happened last night. Something that might answer the question, “why is this man smiling?”

Manny Smile

It’s simple really…

He’s smiling because he is thinking about Ross Detwiler’s performance in last night’s game. This roughly translates to thoughts of  “maybe I don’t have to start Daniel Cabrera for the whole season” running through his head

Finding good starting pitching without spending a ton of money on the free agent market is very difficult. And the fewer starting pitchers that you have to get, the better. So Detwiler’s success last night showed that they might have one more starter than they thought.

His numbers last night were very good. He pitched only 5 innings, but he pounded the strike zone. He was throwing 94 mph fastballs early, with movement. He struck out 6 batters in those 5 IPs, and walked none. And he only gave up 2 ER and 4 H. It’s a pretty good debut for a guy who’s only pitched 1 inning above the AA level.

Sure, he may not be ready for a full major league season, and he probably isn’t up for more than a spot start or two. But he has shown the ability to get major league hitters out. To STRIKE major league hitters out. It’s a promising start to a career. I’m not trying to get carried away here, but I’m excited. I could see a rotation that works out something like this:

1. Strasburg
2. Zimmermann
3. Detwiler
4. Martis
5. Lannan

That looks pretty decent to me. Then you could spend $10 M in the offseason on a brand new bullpen, maybe some up-the-middle defense, and suddenly you’ve got a good team. Or maybe go after

By Charlie