Poblanotes 50.2- Trade Reaction

[chicoruiz]

Demetrius "Deadline" Brown is the baseball reporter for the El Paso Morning Sun. This combination of names unfortunately leads him to introduce himself by saying, "Hi- I'm Brown from the Morning Sun", and when the person he's addressing says, "Yes I see that", it confuses him. At any rate, in an effort to post an unbiased analysis of the Chilis recent trade and their starting staff in general, we are reproducing his column here...

CHILIS SHIP AWAY FAN FAVE ROJAS
- by Demetrius Brown

What in the holy Sam Hill is going on here???

How can a team with a bad starting staff trade their best and most popular pitcher to Boise for a few teenage arms who may never sniff the high minors?

All right, let's try to see this from the perspective of El Paso GM Chico Ruiz. Luis Rojas is 34 and making 6.5 million this year and next. The Frontier Division for both of those years figures to be the usual "Las Vegas And The Seven Dwarfs" situation, so why not save that money?

But with Rojas gone, what is left in the cupboard for the Chilis rotation? Let's take a look:

SURE THINGS: Stan Cyr (7-13, 5.20) did not pitch particularly well in 2049, but he just turned 26 and the hope is he will revert to earlier form. The same holds true for Eustace Tilly (9-12, 5.19). Jeff Skinner (8-5, 3.69) came out of the pen to start nine games and ended up being the Chilis most effective starter.

IFFY: Pat Wingert (10-13, 5.64) also regressed last year to the point that he may be relegated to bullpen duty. Gary Goodchlid (12-14, 4.76 for two teams) was a golden boy during Ruiz's tenure in Jerusalem; his career has lost a lot of helium since then, but he's only 23 and Ruiz is expected to give him a lengthy shot.

PEN-TO-ROTATION OPTIONS: Jose Torres has 93 career BBA starts, but the Chilis seem to prefer him in the pen. Chris Sackett and Jorge Garcia also have some starting experience, albeit a few years ago.

MINOR LEAGUERS: Anthony Jones was stellar in AAA last season; this will no doubt be the year we see the former #1 overall pick in the bigs. A hot first half could put Glenn Simons in the mix. Kelyn Lomond and Mike Adams are just reaching AAA and are probably out of the mix this season.

So...even without Rojas, there is still quantity. Is there quality? It's always hard to evaluate Chilis pitchers; the prevailing idea seems to be that in the hitters haven of El Paso, any ERA below 5.00 is good. If they can find five guys from the above list who can achieve that, and if management uses the money saved in the deal to improve the team rather than just pocketing it, the fans may come around on this deal. Time, as it always does, will tell...