A Temporary Reprieve

Mercifully, it looks like the Royals will be going with an eleven-man staff to start the season. For now, that appears to be a temporary move, and as soon as they need a fifth starter they will bring up Denny Bautista or activate Mark Redman, and one of the bench players will be given his walking papers.

As I have written before, I think that's foolish. With three guys slated for bullpen duty who can each work 3+ innings if needed (Jimmy Gobble, Mike Wood and Elmer Dessens), and a set group of back-end guys in Mike MacDougal (when he returns), Andy Sisco, Ambiorix Burgos and Joel Peralta, the extra arm is simply not going to have enough work to keep sharp. I'd love to see Luke Hudson, the most likely candidate to be pitcher #12, in a pretty deep Omaha rotation with Bautista, J.P. Howell, and possibly Zack Greinke if he ever screws his head on again. Having him sit in the bullpen getting an inning per week would be a waste.

For now, it looks like we'll be spared that scenario. What I'm hoping is that whoever they keep as the extra bench player will get off to a hot start, and Bell will start hounding Baird to let him keep the longer bench. If not, once Redman gets healthy and the fifth rotation spot is needed, we're going to see some poor guy about three times each month, and every time he trots in from the pen we're going to say, "Oh yeah, him. I forgot he was on the team."