March 24, 2006
Serious Consideration?
Why haven't the Royals given this man a job?
Stemle, 28, has yet to allow a run in eight innings, including three appearances in “B” games. He also has 11 strikeouts, no walks and now finds himself getting serious consideration for a bullpen job.
Are the Royals so stocked with great pitching that they have to "consider" keeping Stemle in the majors? No wonder this team is so bad.
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Posted by David Pinto at
08:08 AM
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Why haven't the Royals given this man a job? Well to start with, the Royals are many years away from competing for anything. A 28 year-old pitcher who has never been good in his life, having an 11-inning hot streak at the right time, against sometimes questionable talent, hardly qualifies as someone who's going to help your team.
His minor league strikeout and home run numbers look pretty good to me.
good points... but they need pitching especially when their ace is on walkabout...
Which "ace"? Greinke (5-17, 5.33) or Redman (5-15, 4.90)? The Royals have massive organizational problems that will not be solved by a journeyman minor league reliever. I guess you could throw him in there and if he pitches well trade him to a contender, but no contender is gonna give up anything useful for a middle reliever.
I think the Royals should let the youngsters play. See what they can do. Trade anything useful and older for something with potential and younger. The only way to fix the mess this team is in is through radical reorganization and a different mindset. (A different owner and GM wouldn't hurt, either.)
A 28 year-old pitcher who has never been good in his life
Don't know about you, but 3 years at AAA with ERA steadily declining from 3.65 to 3.30 qualifies as "good" to me. At least good enough to qualify for the #5 SP spot on the worst team in major league baseball (according to 2005 record)...
I don't know how much you study baseball prospects, but a 28 year old in his 3rd year at AAA hardly would qualify as a prospect in anyone's book. Hell, I bet you could count on one hand the number of 28 year olds who have never played in the majors who then went on to have good, productive M.L. careers. And really, what is a 3.3 AAA ERA the equivalent to in the majors - about a 4.0 ERA, maybe. (Let's just set aside the fact that ERA is a really poor measure of a pitcher's effectiveness.)
IN 872 minor league innings Stemle has allowed 940 hits and struck out just 545 batters. And he'll be 29 in two months and has spent 8 years in the minors. None of these are indicators that he would even be a replacement level pitcher in the majors. Granted, the Royals have nothing to lose by putting him out there, but it's not particularly fair to him to just let him walk out and get his ass handed to him every fifth day either.