Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 23, 2004
Who's Number 1?

As you may know by now, the Houston Astros have named Roy Oswalt their opening day starter.


A 19-game winner in 2002, Oswalt chose to rehab his injury last summer rather than get surgery. The decision allowed him to return to the mound in September and win four games down the stretch as Houston's bid to catch the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central fell just short.


"He could have said, 'I'm injured, I need an operation, I might hurt myself if I try to continue pitching,'" Williams said. He didn't, and the manager rewarded his dedication with Sunday's move.


I have a minor quibble with this. Spring training should be used to decide some things, like who should be the opening day starter. Why not have a friendly competition between Oswalt, Clemens and Pettitte? Make them work for it, in other words.


Posted by David Pinto at 02:11 PM | Pitchers | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I've never really been clear about why the "Opening Day Starter" job is such a big deal. I suppose if a team believes that winning on Opening Day is SO much more important than games 2-162, then I would understand it, but if a pitcher is really the best on the team, he's still going to get his 33-35 starts. If it's just stupid ballplayer psychology, then they need to grow up and worry about winning from April to September, and not get in a snit over one game.

Posted by: Ali Nagib at February 23, 2004 02:29 PM

For a staff like this I think making your starters work for it is pretty useless. Take Clemens, I doubt his goal in spring is to have a low era and whip, its more likely to get his arm ready (can't say in shape since he and most players work out year round), work on getting the feel of his pitches back, etc. This could mean throwing all fastballs in one spring outing or only two pitches in another. I think for some teams, making guys compete in spring for this would probably tick them off.

Posted by: Brian at February 23, 2004 02:49 PM

Williams is rewarding Oswalt for his guts and perseverance last year. That's cool.

I agree with Ali & Brian. Being named opening day starter is not worth fighting over during spring training.

Posted by: cuskipper at February 23, 2004 06:46 PM

anyway, oswalt is the best pitcher on the staff. of course, opening day is sold out. smarter to save clemens for day 3 (moneywise). some of us are really glad our wonderful spouse bought us season tickets for christmas. so i get to see all 3 games.

Posted by: LISA GRAY at February 23, 2004 09:23 PM

The opening day start is an honor, you don't necessarily give it to your *best* pitcher as to a guy who's earned it through his past contributions to the club. That said, the guy who starts opening day has the best chance of getting in the most starts over the entire year. Just like your leadoff hitter will get the most at-bats.

Posted by: Cliff at February 24, 2004 10:24 AM