Reds Insider: Saarloos back

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Saarloos back

The Reds called RHP Kirk Saarloos up from Triple-A Louisville and optioned LHP Phil Dumatrait back to Louisville.

Saarloos will not start Saturday. He's up as bullpen insurance. Saarloos was 1-4 with a 5.14 overall. the last 10 hitters he faced before being sent down reached base.

"Apparently, he's got his sinker back," Pete Mackanin said.

As for Saturday's starter, he'll probably come from the minors. Candidates would be Matt Belisle is the only candidate I see at Triple-A.

You've got Johnny Cueto and Matt Maloney at Double-A.

Also, RHP Victor Santos cleared waivers and was outrighted to Louisville.

10 Comments:

at 4:53 PM

marknjaye said...

John....what is the purpose of bringing Saarloos back? I've heard the arguments for NOT bringing up a guy like Cueto. I don't buy any of them. Do they really think he's so fragile mentally that a few meaningless starts for the Reds throughout September is goig to ruin him?

Saarloos is not a big league pithcer, neither is Dumatrait. Livingston may not be either. We need to find out if we have someone in our system (Cueto) is going to be useful or if we need to go out on the open market and get someone else (which may not be much this coming offseason). I just don't understand....am I missing something?

at 5:08 PM

Anonymous said...

What you're missing is minor league stats dont translate to major league readiness. It makes no sense to rush Cueto. Dumatrait had great minor league stats and so did Homer. Numerous bloggers were calling for Dumatrait all season, going by his stats and not trusting what management and coaches think. Neither he nor Homer were ready. Homer has not been the same since the experiment though I think he will be fine when he gets healthy again. Dumatrait seems to have himself so rattled mentally he cant get it done up here though everything physically and stuff wise suggests he should succeed.

I think the lesson is that guys need seasoning and experience in dominating lower levels of competition to build there confidence so high that they can survive in the bigs. That takes time, a lot more time than most of us fans are willing to give them, stats aside.

at 5:19 PM

John Fay said...

Allan: You make a valid point. But Dumatrait did not dominate at Triple-A the way Cueto and Bailey did. Bailey had three good starts up here and three bad ones. Two of the bad one came after the groin injury originally occurred.

I don't know if Cueto's ready on not. But I don't see any harm in finding out.

at 5:28 PM

John Fay said...

Here's Pete Mackanin on the Triple-A stats: “You look at Triple-A, a pitcher goes down there and you at a report (and it says) he’s improving, he looks better. It’s because he’s not facing Chipper Jones and (Mark) Teixeira and guys like that. You’re going to get away with some mistakes (in Triple-A).”

at 5:39 PM

Grizzlyfox said...

John- Any chance that they ruled out Gosling for the start? I would really doubt its Belisle, I don't know about his second minor league start(or if he's had one) but I know in his first one he allowed seven of 13 batters to reach base when he had runners on. No point in running him back up here to do the same thing.

at 5:43 PM

Anonymous said...

Yeah but if you're not throwing strikes it doesn't matter which major league hitters you're facing, you're going to LOSE. Or SaarLOSE, as it were...

Welcome back to yet another pitcher who shouldn't be in the major leagues!

at 6:26 PM

Anonymous said...

I would also want to state that a pitcher can pitch at AAA all he wants but if he never sees major league hitters, how is he going to improve? At some point guys you think could succeed at the major leageu level have to have a chance to pitch to MLB hitters in a non spring training situation. Until PD pitched, his stats said he looked pretty good and should be given a chance. Now he can go down and try to work with Louisville pitching coaches and make corrections. It isn't like to Reds are sitting top quality guys while experimenting. Once Homer is fine, he will be back up to stay for 2007 and this round robin should finally stop.

Adrian

at 1:08 AM

Nathan said...

Great point Adrian. If you carry-out Pete's mantra, it becomes very difficult for a pitcher every to put himself in the position to learn how to pitch in the big leagues. If he isn't allowed to be in a position in which his mistakes are actually acted upon, he will have little opportunity to learn from them.

Sure, minor league development can impress on the pitcher the need to get ahead and stay ahead in the count, vary pitches, etc. That only goes so far...at some point you need it to be reinforced.

at 11:05 AM

Cheviot Sports Authority said...

I am sooo looking forward to seeing Saarloos pitch here again. Why not give Stanton the start on Saturday, makes about as much sense as bringing Saarloos back or giving it to Belisle. Also, I think Mr K should give Majewski a long contract extension and a big raise for getting one batter out last nite.
Keep Votto and Bruce in the minors until they are at least 3o years old. Then they won't be free agents until they are so old no one wants them. I know that K Man is a sly fox.

at 3:55 PM

Anonymous said...

All of the pitchers mentioned in the previous comments seem, at least to me, to have the same problem. They are agressive until they get two strikes or two outs. Then they become defensive pitchers. They start trying NOT to make a mistake. And that seems to be when the roof caves in. It also seems to happen when they get ahead of the hitter. "Be careful, DON'T throw a bad pitch" instead of "I've got him down, let's put him away." Trying to keep something bad from happening instead of trying to make something good happen.

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Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Saarloos back

10 Comments: