Feierabend impresses
I agree with other bloggers and fans who argue Ryan Feierabend showed enough last night to already be given a roster spot over Weaver or Ramirez. This will be yet another dilemma for the front office- to let money and pride compete with trying to win games. If this was strictly a baseball decision, Feierabend would get the nod for sure over those two yahoos.
He showed me plenty to be excited about. I am most impressed with the velocity differential between his change and fastball, his two best pitches. If you can throw strikes and get 10+ mph differences in your pitches, as long as your deliveries sound your going to succeed more often than not. That 76-78mph change will keep hitters off balance consistently if he can throw it for strikes. He's already good enough to be at least an average reliever, if the club felt that was a priority. If not for a break here of there, it could have very easily have been a 2-1 Mariner loss last night, and everyone would be raving about his performance. I hope Hargrove was really watching last night- he had to notice the upgrade in Feierabend over Ramirez. There's no way a person with as much experience as Hargrove can't see how Feierabend is a better pitcher than Ramirez. If he really is trying to save his job this year, he should be in Bavasi's office right now lobbying to get him at least 2 more starts.
Last night was a great example of small sample size. Sure, the team lost the game, but anyone watching could see reason for optimism. He surely deserves the opportunity (like Baek) to help the club now. In fact, I have considerably more optimism in Feierabend than I do Baek, as I think his ceiling is higher. But that's another story.
The club lost last night, but I was impressed. I hope Bavasi and Hargrove had reason for optimism as well.
I agree with other bloggers and fans who argue Ryan Feierabend showed enough last night to already be given a roster spot over Weaver or Ramirez. This will be yet another dilemma for the front office- to let money and pride compete with trying to win games. If this was strictly a baseball decision, Feierabend would get the nod for sure over those two yahoos.
He showed me plenty to be excited about. I am most impressed with the velocity differential between his change and fastball, his two best pitches. If you can throw strikes and get 10+ mph differences in your pitches, as long as your deliveries sound your going to succeed more often than not. That 76-78mph change will keep hitters off balance consistently if he can throw it for strikes. He's already good enough to be at least an average reliever, if the club felt that was a priority. If not for a break here of there, it could have very easily have been a 2-1 Mariner loss last night, and everyone would be raving about his performance. I hope Hargrove was really watching last night- he had to notice the upgrade in Feierabend over Ramirez. There's no way a person with as much experience as Hargrove can't see how Feierabend is a better pitcher than Ramirez. If he really is trying to save his job this year, he should be in Bavasi's office right now lobbying to get him at least 2 more starts.
Last night was a great example of small sample size. Sure, the team lost the game, but anyone watching could see reason for optimism. He surely deserves the opportunity (like Baek) to help the club now. In fact, I have considerably more optimism in Feierabend than I do Baek, as I think his ceiling is higher. But that's another story.
The club lost last night, but I was impressed. I hope Bavasi and Hargrove had reason for optimism as well.
posted by Tom at
12:35 PM
