Robbie and the Lizard for the rotation

Well, no news was good news from Surprise, AZ today (which is now really yesterday, as I write/type this here at 1 AM). The Rangers managed to make it through a game without losing another man to the accursed "injury bug".

Josh Hamilton, who I am convinced is from the planet Krypton, registered another mulit-hit game as the Rangers offense steamrolled the Royals, 10-8, and overcame yet another sub-par effort by Kason Gabbard, who got lit up for 7 runs in 3.0 innings.

Perhaps one of the most concerning things about the Rangers rash of pitching injuries has been the fact that many of those that are still healthy have had more than their share of trouble getting outs. Gabbard, unfortunately, is the perfect example of that, now having surrendured an eye-popping 15 runs on 22 hits (including 3 home runs) in 10.2 innings this spring - his ERA now stands at 12.66. The Rangers keep trying to convince themselves that nothing is wrong, but it's obvious that healthy or no, Gabbard has just not pitched well this spring.

The guys who could be in line for his (and the 5th starters) job have not performed either - Luis Mendoza has a 12.15 ERA (having surrendered 9 runs in 6.2 IP) and AJ Murray, who was just demoted to minor league camp, meaning his run at a rotation spot is all but over, has a 10.80 ERA (6 runs in 5.0 IP). Eric Hurley, who is scheduled to start later today against the Rockies, has a 4.70 ERA, but the Rangers would ideally like to get him more time in AAA before throwing him into the big leagues. That leaves the Rangers focusing on Sidney Ponson as the fast-emerging leader in the rotation race. But as I've already made you aware, Ponson has probably been one of the worst pitchers in baseball over the past 4 years, and it is probably an extraordinarily bad idea to rely on him to pitch at the Major League leavel.

For those reasons, I'd like to introduce you to a couple options for the rotation not named Sidney Ponson.

First up is Elizardo Ramirez (who has been recently christened as "The Lizard" by the posters at Lone Star Ball Edit: as pointed out by Jason Parks in the comments below, "The Lizard" actually orginated over at redreporter.com), a former Phillies and Reds project, in camp as a non-roster invitee. He has been more than impressive this spring, having not surrendured a run in 8.0 innings so far this spring while walking just one and punching out 6, including 4 in today's game. A command and control pitcher, he sports a fastball that hovers around 90 MPH, along with a fairly good breaking ball and changeup. He doesn't have such a great Major League track record, but he's put up some decent numbers in the minors, and Mike Hindman says he's got pretty good stuff this spring, comparing him to "a Dominican Brian Corey" today on LSB. Of course, it's hard to judge just based on six spring outings, but it appears Texas may have caught some lighting in a bottle with Elizardo. Hey, he's outpitched just about everyone else in camp this spring - a starter in the past, he at least deserves some consideration as an option to fill the 5th starter role this April. Because anyone's better than Sidney Ponson.

The next pitcher here probobly doesn't need much introduction - remember Robinson Tejeda? The guy who did this in the home opener last year? The guy whom TR Sullivan says has the best fastball on the Major League club? Yeah, him. He fell out of favor with the organization with a May/June meltdown after his hot April last year, got sent to AAA in July and never returned. He is out of options however, and the Rangers plan was to convert him to relief this spring in an effort to keep him on the roster. Which would probably make a good home for Robbie, considering his blazing fastball and his past control issues - in fact, I wasn't even in favor of putting him back in the rotation at all earlier this spring - but that was before Rangers starting pitching went on the endangered species list.

Tejeda sports a 6.43 ERA this spring, but has not allowed a run in his last three appearances since giving up three on March 7th against the Brewers. Considering the sub-par performances (and youth) of the pitchers "in contention" for the rotation, it only makes sense to give Tejeda another shot as a starter. He's proven he has the stuff to start in the bigs if he can control it, so choosing him to fill in for McCarthy is actually probably the Rangers best option right now. And, again, anyone is better than Sidney Ponson.

Neither of those two are officially being considered by the Rangers as options for the rotation (they're too busy fawning over Ponson) but they sure as heck should be. Even though I doubt my dream will come true, I'm making it official: the "Robbie and the Lizard for the rotation" bandwagon starts here. Because, as I may have mentioned, anyone is better than Sidney Ponson.