Yesterday, Mark Rogers took awhile to settle down in his first appearance of the spring. Today, he was optioned to Triple A Nashville.
Now, it should be stressed that Rogers’ demotion has little — if anything — to do with the results he got against the Giants on Monday. It mostly has to do with the fact that Rogers apparently wasn’t nearly as close to being on schedule as we thought. Looking back, we probably should have seen this move coming, considering Ron Roenicke’s comments following Rogers’ one inning:
“[Rogers] just didn’t look like he was comfortable,” Roenicke said. “He worked really slow, a little too methodical. I’m sure he’s a little cautious. He’s just kind of feeling his way through, which is OK. It’s his first outing. He’s just not sure how the arm is going to react, and I guess that’s natural.”
Rogers seemed optimistic after the game, but he still needs more time. Unfortunately, the Brewers don’t have time to wait for him to come around. They’ll need a starter on April 6, and right now, it doesn’t look like Rogers will be able to make a start by then. Instead, all eyes are now on Wily Peralta. If he can’t go, we’re apparently looking at Eulogio de la Cruz or Marco Estrada. I said it last night on Twitter — gulp. Estrada has at least shown he’s passable for a start or two, but De La Cruz makes Manny Parra look like Tom Glavine when it comes to control.
Hindsight is 20/20, but it’s worth wondering if the Brewers wish they had held off on sending Amaury Rivas to minor league camp before seeing Rogers pitch. If you want to go back even further, maybe they regret telling Chris Capuano to pursue opportunities elsewhere. It’s hard to criticize the team for either move (and being optioned doesn’t mean Rivas can’t eventually make a start), but it just goes to show how quickly pitching depth can evaporate.
On a sidenote, Rogers wasn’t the only player cut from the roster today — Caleb Gindl was sent back to minor league camp shortly after surviving what looked like a potentially serious injury, rolling an ankle and twisting a knee while chasing down a ball hit by Alcides Escobar. He’ll be fine (ultimately diagnosed with a strained upper calf), but he’s no longer needed at the big league camp.
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