3/08/2004 09:54:00 AM by Rob

More Wood, Clement, Cruz, and Remlinger

Cubman was quite accurate when he pointed out to me that "Wood could not find the plate" in his first start. I still stand by the notion that Wood dominates, in his manner. Yes, he needs to learn that burning himself out in the 6th inning is wrong.

I'm here to tell you that, if you are expecting him to become an economical pitcher, please don't hold your breath. He MAY adjust his outlook a smidge due to the influences of Prior and Maddux. But I think you can come to expect that in the near to mid-future, Wood is still going to throw a lot of pitches, get a lot of strikeouts, not allow many hittable pitches, and have days where he walks a lot of guys.

These factors are in his favor, however: 1) He is far stronger after 100 pitches than most pitchers, he is mature and less succeptible to the physical breakdowns that plagued him early in his career; 2) better bullpen; and 3) he WILL learn a little, and maybe in 5-6 key situations every year, instead of going for the kill, he might instead opt to induce a ground ball or pop-up, thus saving his arm a little.

The Matt Clement fans are on me for suggesting he should be traded. Please, let me explain. First of all, this is NOT based on his first spring training start, although I found that start to be quite indicative of his typical performance. I don't have anything AGAINST him, not really. I just see Wood and Prior and Zambrano and Cruz, who all have the potential to win 20. I don't see Clement winning 20, in fact, I think you got the best you could hope for already out of him. He's 29, and a .500 pitcher. Many teams would kill to have his 14 wins. I merely suggest that I would rather keep Cruz than him, in the certain eventuality that one of them has to go by mid-summer.

Remlinger is slow getting started. If, in fact, this is a problem that will resolve itself in May or early June, this may be a PLUS. We will need him in the long run, and I really hope he is just a month or two away. It would be bad if he wasn't. But if he is, that means we can keep from sending Cruz to AAA. There is a school of thought that he needs to go to AAA to pitch. I call Bullshit. He pitched this winter, he probably actually needs the rest, but what I do know, his head will not deal with being sent down again. We send him down, we've lost him. Period. This may buy us another month to consider trading him or now. Is this professional? Does this make him a baby? Yep, it does. So's Pedro. So's Sammy Sosa, but we keep his big fat ass around, don't we?

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