POLL: Who is most capable to be the 5th starter in Omaha for the remainder of the 2040 season?(20.14)

[niles08]

With Omaha announcing the plans to drop again to a 4 man rotation, some critics question how long that could go on and whether or not the starters will be too fatigued if Omaha were to make the postseason. That’s currently a pretty big IF as Omaha only has a 37% chance at making the postseason according to Statsplus.

Omaha does have a few options as far as what they can do with the 5th spot in the rotation, but none appear to be clean cut answers.

A few options include:

Carson Stoller. I cringe when I think about Carson Stoller throwing a pitch because his arm may very well fall off. He has started 117 games in his career, but his injury page is not something to look at unless you want to sit down a nice book in front of the fire. Stoller does have a 1.13 ERA this year, over 8 small innings. His ERA has inflated each injury he has returned from so it is likely that if Stoller starts he may be ineffective, or injured after the first start.

Mutsuhito Imai. Imai started 4 games this season with mass ineffectiveness and has been better as a reliever. He probably could go out there and toss 5 innings, but the result is unknown.

Ricardo Otiz was signed in free agency this year and is probably an option to start but he is hurt and the latest news says he will miss another 2 weeks putting us out to mid September, so it’s unlikely he is much of an option. Augusto Cardenas is in the same boat. He started 11 games for Omaha but is out for this year and atleast the beginning of next.

Tim Saslove is another option currently in the minor leagues but is likely to be called up to fill the 40 man roster. Well, not fill it as Omaha only has 33 on the 40 man, but to help bolster the 27. Salslove made 1 start in 2038 just weeks after he was drafted and pitched a complete game allowing 5 earned runs. He has only thrown 34 innings in AAA this year after recovering from a Torn UCL in May 2039. He does have a 2.36 ERA over those 34 innings along with a 2.68 FIP.

Now, onto maybe a controversial idea. Timo Dooley. The 20 year old top prospect for the Hawks just finished his second year in AAA Lincoln, starting 35 games and pitching 212 innings. His stats for the most part indicate he is ready. The one that doesn’t however is his inability to miss bats right now. He only has 96 strikeouts in those 212 innings. Also, it’s probably not great he has thrown 212 innings.

One more option is for Omaha to simply run out there with these 4 guys and hope for the best. I think if that is the way this goes, Omaha will need to set pitch count limits for it’s starters and rely more on it’s bullpen to finish out games. Omaha does have the 4th best bullpen ERA this season in the Frick and a great 7-8-9 trio of Medine, Rivas, and Canales.

Let us ask you who should Omaha start in the 5th spot?

[jleddy]

If Dooley's workload wasn't already over 200 IP, he'd be my pick. If Stoller's arm is eventually going to fall off, might as well be in the quest to make the postseason, ya?

[HoosierVic]

Aw, c'mon, Joe. Give the kid a shot!

[jleddy]

Aw, c'mon, Joe. Give the kid a shot!

If he's going to keep pitching this year, the shot he'll need is cortisone.

[HoosierVic]

What’s 250 innings among friends?