It’s time to let Julian Tavarez go. The man’s not pitching.
After 23 starts last year for us, he virtually disappeared in September and wasn’t even considered for a postseason roster spot. He came out of the gates rather early this year but has vanished now. Including last night, his stats are: 10.1 IP, 5.23 ERA, 7 BB, 5 K, 13 H, last game pitched April 24.
Why are we letting him suck up a roster spot at $3.85 million when we’ve got better options like Craig Hansen in Pawtucket?
Let’s face facts, our bullpen sucks. In all of the majors, we rank at 28th at 5.25 (hello, Texas at an absolutely atrocious 6.72) and only Jonathan Papelbon and Hideki Okajima save us from being No. 29.
Why are we wasting a roster spot on someone who doesn’t pitch and is league-average when he does?
Look, I like Tavarez. He’s had some gems of games for us and he’s a pretty legitimate longman. But I think our problems are to the point where we don’t need a league-average longman.
If we designate him for assignment and promote Craig Hansen, Mike Timlin and David Aardsma can handle the long-relief roles. Timlin needs more innings anyways for us to see what he’s got and Aardsma’s been sliding down the depth chart due to his confounding need to walk people.
You want one simple way to fix the team that we can actually do something about it? We can’t change the flu bug. We can’t change injuries. We can change this.
Craig Hansen in 2008… replacing Julian Tavarez.
YES WE CAN!
What do you think? Should we cut Tavarez loose (as in trade him, I’m sure we could get a prospect for him)? Should we keep him? Why?
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