I try my best to avoid April Fools jokes by sleeping in past noon, but this past Wednesday was simply, ridiculous.
20-year old Rick Porcello makes the Tigers rotation as their 5th starter? Lies! wait…not lies?
When the Athletics lost Duchescherer for a bit, you had to assume that one of the kids would make the rotation but both Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson making the rotation? Lies! wait…not lies?
If Anderson (21), Cahill (21) and Porcello (20) were fixin’ on having an orgy, they could give Josh Outman (24) a ring, and their combined age of 86 would still be one year less than the object of their affection, Golden Girl, Betty White (87).
Rather than thinking about what Outman would be doing in this get-together, you should be thinking about how useful Porcello, Anderson and Cahill will be throughout 2009.
There are going to be some rough patches, and they probably won’t be predictable. Anderson will dominant the Rangers in Arlington, but give up 10 ER to Seattle in SAFECO -type stuff. I’d be willing to part with more than a couple bucks to watch Anderson or Porcello pitch this year.
I’m not sure who gets optioned first, but the Porcello move is baffling. Anderson probably has the best shot at success this year, and Porcello probably has the best shot at dominating for 2 or 3 starts at a time. Cahill’s a righty, which Oakland desperately needs, but he’s not quite at that level — real damn close, though.
Porcello could post anywhere between a 3.00 K per 9, and a strike-out per IP. It’ll be interesting to see how he attacks hitters. It’ll be even more interesting to see how Detroit’s defence reacts to Porcello’s extreme ground-ball tendancies.
As I mentioned, Sexy 20-Year olds will get you in trouble but if you’re going to own them, you should be owning them before hitters get a shot at seeing them multiple times.
Porcello gets a slight bump in the keeper rankings, as I figured there would be at least a one year wait. Mind you, Andrew Miller and Jeremy Bonderman haven’t exactly benefited from being rushed.
I’ll go out on a limb and predict the youngins finishing in this order:
1. Brett Anderson
2. David Price
3. Rick Porcello
4. Trevor Cahill
If any of these kids get anywhere near 200 IP, it may get fugly.
