saddles
No More "Bullpen Failure"
The Rangers using an opener for him is not that big of a deal to me. I think the whole opener concept is flawed myself, not just for Howard, but any time.Personally, I think there's a lot of logic leaps being made here. I don't deny that Howard is getting favorable treatment. But the Rangers aren't the only team using the "starter" set up. And I don't subscribe to the theory that the FO is trying to save face from the Gibson trade by handling Howard with kid gloves.
I have no idea what they saw in Howard, and I've been pretty clear that I consider the trade to be the worst in Rangers history. But the trade happened, and the Rangers are going to try to get something out of Spencer. That is what they are supposed to do. Do I think he's got anything? No. But he's only pitched in 10 games for the Rangers. He's only pitched in 2 games this season. I can't really fault them for considering that to be a small sample size and wanting to see more from him. He's not holding up someone in AAA knocking down the door. And right now this team has way bigger issues than Howard.
I have no problem with running him out there for several more games, through the end of May. If he's still sparing us all to death at that point, then sure, send him to AAA. But like I said, to me there are more pressing concerns than Howard at the moment.
They are not supposed to very, very, very slooooowwwly build up a pitchers innings as a starter in the big leagues. No one does that and especially this particular season. So, I disagree with you that this is what they are supposed to do.
I never understood the more pressing concerns approach to things like this. It isn't like they can only do one thing, personnel-wise, at a time.
Oh well.