This is maybe oversimplified, but this is how I see it. Smyly does not look *incapable* of still getting out major league hitters, he hasn't lost a fistful of velocity or gotten rocked all year, so his individual performance comes down to him dialing in command and otherwise having his mechanics ironed out. I'm not overly optimistic about him going lights out for 6 weeks, but I'm not treating his current state as static. Wicks is a good prospect, but he's also one who does not have overwhelming velocity, and his AAA performance doesn't illustrate a mastery of that level to give me confidence he's a day 1 MLB success. Even his recent form which some have trumpeted is showing middling swing and miss and a lack of elite control to pair with that average K rate. If the question was 'are these 2 similar enough options that it's worth bedding in Wicks so he can play a more meaningful 2024 role', then I get that argument and would probably lean towards it. But to answer the question 'we need the best possible option to win this game or the next couple games' I can't possibly see it as black and white that the changeup artist with the 4.23 FIP in AAA is unquestionably a better bet than Smyly figuring his struggles out out like he has a number of times at the MLB level.