True, but if we only need him for a start or two shouldn't risk losing our depth that early in the season.
Actually I agree with most of what you have said. The but is that it still sucks for a kid who is good enough to start right now and quite possibly for us. I understand all about paying your dues as well. I would still keep this kid on the major league roster even if it meant playing 3 or 4 days a week which I think would be quite doable. I also don't expect it to happen.
My take away from today's - Monday's - game:
Pablo Sandoval should never ever be allowed anywhere near the RH hitter's batters box. When the Sox are using the 3rd base dugout he should be instructed to take a wide berth around the RH box if only to prevent him from being tempted to do something stupid. He has a big (and I mean BIG) hole in his swing on outside pitches and he ties himself up with his elbows on inside pitches.
OTOH, IIRC he hit two doubles today from the left side.
Also, Kendrick had a decent outing giving up 2 runs in 5 innings.
You can say what you want about ST numbers not meaning anything but at this point I'll take Kendrick and his ERA <2.00 as our 7th starter over any of the other contenders for that spot. After all, who's he battling? Noe Ramirez and someone else??
That is all...
It's a mere moment in a man's life between the All-Star game and the Old Timer's game.
-Vin Scully
From the moment we signed Pablo, I viewed him as a platoon player.
From the moment the Sox signed Pablow I viewed him as a mistake.
"Hating the Yankees like it's a religion since 94'" RIP Mike.
"It's also a simple and indisputable fact that WAR isn't the be-all end-all in valuations, especially in real life. Wanna know why? Because an ace in run-prevention for 120 innings means more often than not, a sub-standard pitcher covering for the rest of the IP that pitcher fails to provide. You can't see value in a vacuum when a player does not provide full-time production."
My reaction the day we signed both HanRam and Pablo was something like this: 'It's nice to pick up a couple of big bats...it's nice to see JH so willing to shell out to make the team better...but something about this doesn't feel quite right.'
I saw the logic in going for offense that year and thinking the pitchers available in the following year's FA market were much better, but I still think our biggest need was SP'ing. I know Scherzer cost a ton, but he was a better option that HanRam & Pablo combined.... maybe Scherzer & Valbuena would have worked better.
Signing both was a clear mistake at the outset. HanRam seemed like a good contract based on projections. Pablo was just plain gross overpay for a declining talent. I'm not sure we could have afforded Scherzer and HanRam.
This is why you make signings like Kendrick. Catch lightning in a bottle, hope you can get a nice run for a short time then discard.