Some would still settle on veteran lefty Jose Chavez to be the ace, but Chavez just turned 35, and even the most optimistic of observers knows he’s slowing down. The plan originally was to have him fill the #3 slot this year, and then see how long he’d hold on. Now it appears Chavez will need to fill the #2 slot. Regardless, only Chavez’z mother would see him as a dependable #1, and the other pitchers on the staff, Hiroyasu Osaragi and Tristan Alfama, are good enough to chuck the horsehair for the team, but nowhere near a #1 kind of guy.
So the short straw goes to Valle.
“I think I’m up to it,” Valle said a week ago. “I’m feeling good about it. I like the team, and I like Yellow Springs. It’s going to hurt not to have Crash around, but we’re a team that’s always found ways to win. We’ll be okay.”
And, truthfully, there’s reason to believe he can handle it. Valle will be 24 this year, and he’s 22-10 overall in his year and a third of experience. His career ERA is 3.35, his career FIP stands at a respectable 4.17 (92 FIP-). He struck out 200 hitters last year in 219 innings. All somewhat LaLooshian, without the flair of that wonderful nickname. Better yet, some in the organization say that Valle’s ability hit the corners is still growing, and that they wouldn’t be surprised to see him take another step forward next year. If that happens, the kid from Puerto Rico could well be putting up numbers LaLoosh would be proud of.
OLIVER TO START?
The question, of course, is who will be the team’s #5 starter. Alfama filled that role last year, which was really a swing kind of a position, starting some and throwing from the pen some. One assumes he’d be put into the #4 position now.
Several have suggested that the team would go out and grab someone like free agent Mike Bailey, though the veteran is often injured. Others suggest that Tim Oliver would be brought back to the rotation from the bullpen. Oliver was an effective starter a few seasons back, and may well be able to handle it again, though it seems the team liked him considerably better as a lefty in the pen.
Or might the team go back to a predominately 4-man rotation with Valle, Chavez, Osaragi, and Alfama spelled only occasionally by Oliver? It was a configuration manager Brett Richards leaned on heavily in 2035.
“A lot probably depends on how the rest of the off-season plays out,” said Melissa Lester of the fake podcast Nine-Talk.
