1 April 2062
Boise, Idaho
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by Stubby Bardenwerper
Continuing our look at the starters emerging from Spring Training, we'll look at the rotation...oh, God!! My eyes! My eyes!! I mean, things went downhill fast in the offseason. Then further downhill for good measure before opening day.Starting Rotation
SP LHP Robert Hanson - 2061: 7 G, 7 GS, 4-1, 42.0 IP, 2.79 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 2.1 K/BB, +0.8 WAR
SP RHP Mahad Einan - 2061: 33 G, 33 GS, 12-8, 195.0 IP, 4.06 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 2.3 K/BB, +2.2 WAR
SP RHP Marvin Winston - 2061: 9 G, 9 GS, 3-3, 42.1 IP, 4.89 ERA, 1.54 WHIP, 1.6 K/BB, +0.2 WAR
SP LHP Muneer bin Khairy - 2061: 33 G, 17 GS, 6-7, 1 SV, 144.0 IP, 4.38 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 1.8 K/BB, +0.6 WAR
SP RHP Doug Eckhoff - 2061: 32 G, 29 GS, 9-12, 163.1 IP, 5.07 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 2.0 K/BB, +0.9 WAR
SP RHP Jeremy Nickerson - 2061: 28 G, 20 GS, 4-6, 126.0 IP, 5.14 ERA, 1.44 WHIP, 2.0 K/BB, +0.6 WAR
P RHP Buddhapalita Kankipati - 2061: 25 G, 10 GS, 2-2, 78.0 IP, 3.12 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 2.0 K/BB, +0.8 WAR
P LHP Juan Guzmán - 2061: 34 G, 17 GS, 7-5, 2 SV, 132.1 IP, 4.62 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 2.0 K/BB, +1.3 WAR
P RHP Robert Carlson - 2061: 39 G, 0 GS, 1-3, 63.1 IP, 5.40 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, 1.4 K/BB, -0.4 WAR
(AAA)SP LHP Jack McNeil - 2061: (AAA) 12 G, 12 GS, 5-1, 67.0 IP, 4.43 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 2.0 K/BB, +1.0 WAR
Hanson/Einan/Winston/bin Khairy/Eckhoff ...that was not a bad plan by Teague for 2062. Then 12/18/61 came and doctors advised Hanson that his setback in recovery from a shoulder injury meant he would never pitch again so he retired. Or didn't? Than came Spring Training...except for Einan who would miss at least the month of April. So it was time for Winston to step up, and there were projections that had him as one of the top 10 starters in the JL, but after he made opening day (yay!) he saddled up to the IL train for essentially the remainder of April.
Where to go from there? Well, bin Khairy (very scary) & Eckhoff (who can be infuriating) are still around. Nickerson was the 6th man already so he gets tossed in there even though he is unreliable and wrecked. Guzmán has gotten plenty of starts for the Spuds at the ML level. No one said they were good starts. Carlson CAN start but he never HAS (like, literally never). McNeil was easy to slot in there but he hasn't shined at any level in the past 3 seasons. So it was finally time for the Kankipati experiment to begin. Control had buggered Kankipati for most of his career but he went thru the development lab in the offseason and gained 1 point! But he has 3 STA. Well, I guess we'll see how Teague's efforts in the offseason to solidify the bullpen for middle innings pay off. Hallelujah!! Holy shit!! Where's the Tylenol...?