For Elbow Inflammation.

I sense a TJ surgery soon

Never should have stretched him out.

So 3 stretch-outs the past couple of years and possibly looking at 2 TJ's within 4-5 months of doing it. Hmmm.

I don't think you can correlate being stretched out.

Scheppers was ALWAYS a health risk.

Martin Perez had TJ surgery and he has never AFAIK, had any elbow issues.

Ross seems fine.

Players get stretched out all the time. Did they rush things?! I don't know. Historically, I've seen the plan usually being 4-5 GS, increasing 1 IP per round. 3 IP for 4-5 GS, then 4 IP for the next 4-5 GS... etc.

I'm not sure how the Rangers have stretched out Ross, Scheppers and Feliz.

I thought it was a dumb move to even try it on Scheppers given his history.

Is it to blame for Feliz? Don't know. They had some challenges in getting him to commit to it, so it makes you wonder if his commitment (or lack thereof) to the preparation required had something to do with it.

Hard to ignore going 0 for 3 on stretch-outs, which have also played a role in gutting the bullpen.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 6/12/2014 8:53p).]

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I thought it was a dumb move to even try it on Scheppers given his history.

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Scheppers wanted to either be a SP or a Closer. He was not happy with his role as a middle-reliver, even a setup guy. That is very well known. This wasn't the Rangers forcing him. It was a better chance he'd be a SP, than the closer.

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Is it to blame for Feliz? Don't know. They had some challenges in getting him to commit to it, so it makes you wonder if his commitment (or lack thereof) to the preparation required had something to do with it.

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His lack of preparation and his work ethic that was a rub with Nolan. Nolan didn't like his lack of commitment and after him blowing the WS game... he had lost favor.

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Hard to ignore going 0 for 3 on stretch-outs, which have also played a role in gutting the bullpen.

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I seem to recall a guy named CJ Wilson.

Ross is 24. There are not too many SPs that just slide into a MLB rotation at that age. Scheppers was 25 before he made it as a RP. CJ Wilson was 29 when he transitioned. CLee was 25 before he was a regular and 26 before he had success. He wasn't a RP, which demonstrates that even as a guy who was always a SP... that 24 is optimistic to become a great SP.

You made the Scheppers argument a few months ago and it's ridiculous. He's young and was on a path to being the closer in the next year. In the meantime, spending a year as the 8th inning guy (one it turns out they badly need) just like some of the best closers this game has ever seen have done was a perfectly fine approach. If we're going to blow up our pitching staff to cater to everyone's whim, this organization is foooked. You think he wouldn't agree to be the 8th inning guy this year? Really?

I don't know if stretching them out is to blame for the injuries. There's probably research out there on that somewhere. I made that comment as just a general comment on Scheppers.

To me, he (and Feliz) just fit the mold of being late inning relief guys. Right handed fireballers with subpar secondary stuff. CJ's game fits a starters profile a lot better than it does a late reliever, so that one makes sense.

I think they got greedy and thought they could just replace their bullpen production from the market. This year, things weren't helped by the starting pitcher situation.

I don't know if the stretch out is to blame either. Just pointing out the facts that all 3 were busto so far, so it's worth a close look.

And regardless of what Scheppers wants, his style, his injury history, and his professional experience at all levels scream this "THIS GUY IS A RELIEVER". Joe Nathan was closing at 29. Rivera was closing at 27. Soria's contract situation is the same as Nathan's was last year. I just don't understand jumping to put him in a starting role. And they didn't attempt to backfill that bullpen production from the market. They were already a significant net loss between Nathan and Ross.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 6/12/2014 9:52p).]

http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/texas-rangers/post/_/id/4899326/buzz-tanner-scheppers-wants-to-start

May 15, 2013:

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"I think long-term, I'd like the opportunity to start," Scheppers said. "I would like to close, as well. I would like to start or close, one of the two. I'd be happy with either one."

Scheppers, who started in college at Fresno State and started seven games in the minor leagues, said starting would be choice 1-A and closing 1-B on his list.

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So... while you may think he was always going to be a closer... he clearly believed last year that being in the rotation was an option.

Based on the state of the rotation... there is no question he had as much a chance to make the rotation this season, as any other. It wasn't a matter of blowing up the pitching staff. Could he have been convinced to be the 8th Inning guy? Sure. But you need SP... he wants to be a SP... that's a no brainer.

If you had kept Ross and Scheppers in the BP... what would your rotation have been to start the season?!

It is stupid to argue he wouldn't have injured his arm if he had not been moved to the rotation. It is even more ignorant, if you think that is what injured him, to think that he would have been any more likely to have avoided injury moving to the rotation in 2015, than in 2014.

It's not a no brainer when he's never done it and stayed healthy. How one could consider it a no brainer in light of that fact is beyond me. The guy was a career reliever largely because of his health.

I wouldn't have out him in the rotation in 2014 or 2015, in case the bolded THIS GUY IS A RELIEVER didn't spell that out well enough for you. I don't think he's built for it, and he's spent his career proving it so far. It seemed that they were admitting the same given the plan was middle relief after his DL stint.

Maybe he would have gotten hurt anyway, but this is a game of percentages and they didn't play them here.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 6/12/2014 10:18p).]

Dallas, if he wanted to be a starting pitcher he should have gotten his secondary stuff up to an acceptable level and proven it against MLB hitters. The organization should not have even considered giving him the chance until then.

I'm hoping it didn't play out this way, because the thought of a player with one and a half seasons of MLB experience dictate "starter or closer right now" is a joke.

COOL LASER FALCON
Personally, I'll take Mike Maddux, Daniels and Washington's opinion about whether Scheppers has the pitches to be a SP in MLB. Their careers require them to be able to make those kinds of decisions.

Based on your criteria... propose to me a rotation this season for the Rangers.

Ross, Martin Perez, Nick Martinez, Tepesch, Baker... none of them are any more proven or have any better stuff at MLB levels, than Scheppers.

Based on your criteria... MLB would have to shorten the season to 100Games and spread them out to accommodate the 70-80 SPs who meet your expectations. Even Saunders is "iffy."

Colby Lewis is proven, but may never have the ability to go more than 4IP.

Danny - It was a no-brainer. He joined the Rangers at 22, and was a career SP in college. He has had an occasional GS in the minors, but yes, he has been mostly in the BP.

And he was an RP in the minors due to a rotator cuff injury, a labrum injury, and eventually a back injury all incurred while starting (the first two while starting in college). Pitches relief and stays healthy for nearly 4 years. Back to starting, injured within a month. In college, he was a reliever the first half of his career and only started for a year and a half, in which time he was injured and had the team that drafted him back away. Before this year, this no brainer starter started 9 games for the Rangers organization, and only 2 being since his last significant injury in 2010 (which I'd guess those two isolated starts were just a fluke where he likely worked a relievers load).

And I haven't bothered to mention the other yo-yo, Ogando, who by chance is laid up with TJ.

I realize there is more value to using a guy's talent as a starter ... If he can handle it. But damn, almost everyone they touched in this regard for the past 5 years has ended up with a bum elbow. To an extent, **** happens. But the Scheppers move was just begging for it.

[This message has been edited by DannyDuberstein (edited 6/14/2014 12:13a).]

Don't get me wrong... I agreed with their strategy of bringing Scheppers along as a RP and yes, I'm familiar with the troubles he has had as a SP.

After 5 years in their system... for them to think the Back issue was no longer a problem would seem justified.

When it comes to a rotator cuff and labrum... again... not being on their medical staff... if they felt he was able to handle being a SP... then why not go for it. If every pitcher that has had an injury *cough Eric Bedard, Brandon McCarthy cough* was relegated to RP... we'd have an incredibly small pool of SPs *cough Kerry Wood cough*