Theriot on Castro

[CUBZ99]

http://www.chicagobreakingsports.com/2010/03/theriot-to-lead-off-cubs-cactus-league-opener.html

 

Apparently, Lou has changed his mind and didn't want to hurt Theriot's feelings.

[Guest]

There's plenty of time to turn Cashner into a reliever, if that's his fate. The Cubs have plenty of viable options for that last BP spot. It won't hurt Cashner or the Cubs for him to continue starting the first half of the season.

 

It might not hurt him, but it could help them to just accept what they have.

Personally, I think he'll be fine as a starter. I have no idea why you could be so confident that he has no chance at being a legit starter.

 

Putting him in the bullpen this year doesn't prevent him from starting later on.

Never said that it would. Nor did I say I was against putting him in the pen to break him into the majors.

 

I was contesting the claim that it was a given that he'd never make it as a starter.

[Guest]

Basically because he's never been a quality starter. I've never heard of college relievers turning into starters. He's not young, and if his arm isn't developed enough now to be a starter, I don't see it happening later. I think it's just pie in the sky wishing that he could one day be a quality starter, not-unlike the hopes that Marmol could have been a starter. I'm not 100% convinced he won't, but I think it's a big longshot.

 

He's been a professional for 120 innings.

 

He was great last year at Daytona. Then he got promoted and was great in July at AA, then wore down at the end of the season. This isn't some Samardzija-like situation of hoping his stuff matures so he stops getting hammered, he was quite good at an appropriate level, and then wore down when he reached a new IP threshold. Cashner has great stuff, gets ground balls, never gives up HR, and gets strikeouts without walking the world. It's not about development, it's about stretching him out.

[David]

Basically because he's never been a quality starter. I've never heard of college relievers turning into starters. He's not young, and if his arm isn't developed enough now to be a starter, I don't see it happening later. I think it's just pie in the sky wishing that he could one day be a quality starter, not-unlike the hopes that Marmol could have been a starter. I'm not 100% convinced he won't, but I think it's a big longshot.

 

He's been a professional for 120 innings.

 

He was great last year at Daytona. Then he got promoted and was great in July at AA, then wore down at the end of the season. This isn't some Samardzija-like situation of hoping his stuff matures so he stops getting hammered, he was quite good at an appropriate level, and then wore down when he reached a new IP threshold. Cashner has great stuff, gets ground balls, never gives up HR, and gets strikeouts without walking the world. It's not about development, it's about stretching him out.

 

 

I don't know nearly enough about him... does he also have (or does he project to) good enough secondary/tertiary pitches to get through the lineup multiple times at the ML level?

 

If he's had success doing so in the minors at age appropriate levels, I would think so. If it really is just a matter of stretching him out, I don't think he should be anywhere but starting at AA to start this season.

[KingCubsFan]

Basically because he's never been a quality starter. I've never heard of college relievers turning into starters. He's not young, and if his arm isn't developed enough now to be a starter, I don't see it happening later. I think it's just pie in the sky wishing that he could one day be a quality starter, not-unlike the hopes that Marmol could have been a starter. I'm not 100% convinced he won't, but I think it's a big longshot.

 

He's been a professional for 120 innings.

 

He was great last year at Daytona. Then he got promoted and was great in July at AA, then wore down at the end of the season. This isn't some Samardzija-like situation of hoping his stuff matures so he stops getting hammered, he was quite good at an appropriate level, and then wore down when he reached a new IP threshold. Cashner has great stuff, gets ground balls, never gives up HR, and gets strikeouts without walking the world. It's not about development, it's about stretching him out.

 

 

I don't know nearly enough about him... does he also have (or does he project to) good enough secondary/tertiary pitches to get through the lineup multiple times at the ML level?

 

If he's had success doing so in the minors at age appropriate levels, I would think so. If it really is just a matter of stretching him out, I don't think he should be anywhere but starting at AA to start this season.

He's got a good slider, and Baseball America compares his stuff to Kerry Wood's

[Outshined_One]

He's got a good slider, and Baseball America compares his stuff to Kerry Wood's

 

Which is a bit ridiculous. He's got two very good pitches in his pitcher and slider, along with a changeup that's developing but supposed to be halfway decent. Comparing him to Kerry Wood is not something I'd wholly recommend, though.

 

Also, it's worth pointing out that Cashner wasn't a full-time reliever during his time as an amateur. As memory serves me, he spent two seasons in junior college as a starting pitcher, but ended up moving to closer when he transferred to TCU for his junior season.

[Rob]

Everybody does realize that Cashner starting in the minors actually helps his development as a reliever too, right? More reps for a pitcher who's only got 2 plus pitches, a below-average change, and sometimes spotty control can't really hurt.

 

If our pen really needed the help that badly, fine. But Cashner isn't a great bet to be much better than a long line of fungible arms we've already got lined up to be the last man in the pen right now. Why start the arb clock and hinder his development? It's not like Lou actually uses all of his pen arms anyways.