Pitching Shuffle: Kris Benson returning; Luis Mendoza leaving

Posted on May 5th, 2009 7:40pm by Evan Grant
Filed under Uncategorized

The Rangers will activate RHP Kris Benson from the disabled list tomorrow in Oakland and put him in the bullpen for the next couple of days, though no determination has been made on whether he’ll be transitioned into a full-time reliever or will potentially move back into the starting rotation. All that is certain is that the club doesn’t feel it can trust RHP Luis Mendoza, who loaded the bases and then allowed a grand slam in his one inning of work. Mendoza goes back to Triple-A Oklahoma.

Asked if the Rangers will discuss the bullpen with Benson, manager Ron Washington said: “We’ll discuss many things.”

Game coverage to come. To me, the story is the Rangers have won games in which the opponents have started  John Danks, Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard over the last three days. You know when you see three starters of that caliber in three days? You see them in October. In the playoffs.

Also, I’m officially softening stance on bringing Frank Francisco in game. He’d been up more than once and, if the team determined he wasn’t going to pitch on Wednesday, then they might as well turn to their most effective reliever rather than go two days without him. But I’ll change my mind again if they use Francisco a third straight day. To me, this move is acceptable only if you determine that you aren’t going to use him the next day because of all the work he did today.

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11 Comments to “Pitching Shuffle: Kris Benson returning; Luis Mendoza leaving”
  • scooper @ May 5th, 2009 at 8:00 pm

    fair enough. and you’re right – if they hadn’t ruled him out for tomorrow, they shouldn’t have brought him in today.

  • scooper @ May 5th, 2009 at 8:07 pm

    @Evan – you never said who you would give the save opportunity to tomorrow. who would it be?

  • Dr. Pepper presents Batface McGee @ May 5th, 2009 at 8:24 pm

    I would have loved to see Holland come in and pitch the 9th today. Perfect opp to use him in a no-pressure situation, and if be does falter, then go ahead and bring in Frankie. Am I crazy, EG?

  • Connor @ May 5th, 2009 at 8:32 pm

    Yippi-ki-yay mini sirloin burgers. Glad Mendoza is back down.

    @Evan: At this point, is it right to put Holland into the rotation?

  • JustSaying @ May 5th, 2009 at 8:53 pm

    I’ve changed my mind on Feldman…..he has shown over the last two games that he can start effectively and remembering last year…..

    But what are the Rangers famous for?

    MISJUDGING THEIR PITCHING TALENT…….so if they take the continued success as a starter and add the stats with last year versus how ineffective he’s been in the bullpen……then DUH you have no choice unless you want to be laughted at by the baseball Gods…..

  • Stephen R @ May 5th, 2009 at 10:45 pm

    I think the Rangers put Holland in the rotation next time around. Surely the Rangers want Holland to match and exceed his 150.2 IP mark from 2008. Generally, from what I understand, if a pitcher increases their inning workload by more than 25-30 IP in one season, they have an extremely high risk of injury. So, the Rangers should want to have Holland throw somewhere between 150 and 180 innings this year so that he is prepared to be a full-time starter in 2010.

    If he was put in the rotation next time around, he would probably get 25-26 starts. Assuming he goes 6 IP per start, which is a little generous, he would then throw about 156 IP (plus the 10 IP or so that he has tossed between AAA and in the Rangers pen this year) This would also leave Holland some room to pitch in the playoffs, should the Rangers get that far.

    If Holland can notch 160-170 innings this season, he should be a in good position to throw 180+ next season without a serious injury concern. This seems to be an ideal time to slip him into the rotation, especially given the weakness of the bullpen. Feldman and Benson would give the bullpen a nice boost with two pitchers that can soak up innings in the middle and long relief roles.

  • morgan @ May 5th, 2009 at 11:23 pm

    would it be a good idea to team up feldman and holland as they did against chicago but switch it up and have holland get the start and havefeldman, the more experienced of the two, clean up any mess left by holland who just needs experience at this point?

  • Whip @ May 6th, 2009 at 1:54 am

    Loving the team right now… but three things concern me…

    1) Chris Davis, I think it might be time to send the kid down… Sure, it’s not hurting the team too much right now, but I want him to get right and confident in the minors so he can help this team in the second half push…

    2) Holland, I’m getting a little worried about his workload up here.. if he’s not in the minors to control his IP, then OK I can stand behind that decision, but I would love to see him get some more work… and

    3) Speaking of Holland… Why not use him in the 10th?? I know he wasn’t really warming up and maybe since he is new to the pen he needs more time to get warmed up, but that would have been the perfect situation to give him an inning of work or so… Using Frankie made no sense in that situation. Washington always seems to make 1 or 2 decisions in a game that make me scratch my head.. and at the rate I’m losing hair this is not good.

    and on a final note I’m glad becca’s anus had a night pucker free.

  • Chris @ May 6th, 2009 at 9:17 am

    I am all for sending Davis to AAA, but, he has been good to great at 1st base this season, who replaces him?

  • 84692 @ May 6th, 2009 at 9:50 am

    DPPBM – I don’t think there was time to get Holland ready for the 10th. Frankie was definitely the plan for the bottom of the 10th when the score was 3-1. After Salty hit the slam and put the game out of reach, Kinsler grounded out and the inning was over. There wasn’t time for Holland, who you definitely don’t want to get ready quickly, or anyone else to get ready, so they left O’Day in.

  • David C @ May 6th, 2009 at 11:34 am

    I was in my car listening when they got Andrew Jones to 2nd in the 10th, and I wondered aloud to myself if Wash would pinch run Golson. He ended up pinch running Murphy, which obviously paid off on the next batter.