Quote from Jeremy Hill on April 13, 2021, 7:33 am

I'm not worried about Musgrove. He said he was exhausted in the immediate aftermath. I would imagine most starters are exhausted after their starts. The decision was reportedly made after he came out of his bullpen yesterday feeling good. The way I look at it he threw 78 pitches in his first start. Going to somewhere in the range of 90-100 from there seems like a reasonable increase. He ended up at 112. That's not enough of a jump to really concern me and you have to trust him when he says he's good.

I'm not that concerned about a Weathers start potentially taxing the bullpen either. I already get the feeling we are milking things a bit with Altavilla and Johnson while AJ tries to figure out the best move. I think we've got them ready if we end up needing fresh arms.

Edit- Should add that I think you have to have faith in Darvish and Snell making things easier on the bullpen too.

Quote from LynchMob on April 13, 2021, 9:37 am

Put me down for wanting Musgrove to get an extra day of rest ...

Quote from Jeremy Hill on April 13, 2021, 5:04 pm

Well I'm a bit more concerned about the bullpen being taxed now. Having to go 8 twice in 3 days isn't great.

Quote from Brian Connelly on April 14, 2021, 10:08 am

Quote from Jeremy Hill on April 13, 2021, 5:04 pm

Well I'm a bit more concerned about the bullpen being taxed now. Having to go 8 twice in 3 days isn't great.

Crismatt totally saved the pen.  He will get optioned today since he probably can't go for 4 days.

New guy (near certain to be Pierce Johnson) will be fresh, and only other guy unavailable is Taylor Williams.

Quote from Brian Connelly on April 15, 2021, 2:19 pm

The P use today sure makes me think there's a move coming before tomorrow:  Stammen goes 3 IP, so while rest of pen should be good to go (Hill maybe < 1 IP situationally vs LH batter), there is now no long man behind Weathers who is probably on a 65-70 pitch limit vs the best lineup in MLB.

Stammen is so valuable; not going anywhere.  Seems weird that they'd go to Hill back-to-back 2 games before LAD series when he figures to come on for a big matchup vs LH; but may have been by design to get sharp knowing he's going to go vs just 1 or 2 hitters max vs. LAD.  Can't believe they'd option him to miss 7 games vs LAD in 10.

I think they're going to option Paddack, and may have already told him.  With the re-insertion of Lamet next week, Paddack would only miss 1 outing in at least 10, but really more like 17-20 days with the way the off days fall.  May go to alt site to make the controlled starts forcing him to work on 3rd pitch options?   Bring up Gore for something like a 2-3 IP piggyback on Weathers?

The other possibility is to option Weathers AFTER tomorrow, but he's more versatile usage-wise than Paddack and it feels risky to go with no "length" behind him.

Quote from Brian Connelly on April 15, 2021, 2:25 pm

.... and I SO doubt this will happen, but I would actually be really tempted to option Kim instead of Marcano for Tatis.

Marcano just needs to play regularly, but Minors season doesn't start for almost 3 weeks.  Kim obviously backing up/some starts for Tatis; but probably none vs LAD.  Leaves bench a little RH, even tough Profar likely to be there since likely to go with Pham/Grisham/Myers OF.  COULD go with Jake SS, Profar or even Marcano 2B vs tough RHP if want to spell Tatis.

And Kim might benefit (more than Marcano would) from the Alt site setting; mega AB vs high velo pitching machines, etc.

Quote from fenn68 on April 15, 2021, 3:18 pm

Well the pen is really rested with only Stammen down for Friday and likely Saturday. Hill probably off on Friday. Maybe the opposite worry ... are Melancon and Pomeranz TOO rested ... been a good spell since pitched and not good usually for late innings guys.

Tingler was asked about a pitch count on Weathers ... hesitated then said no. I would guess with this rested pen and Darvish on Saturday ... if Weathers is showing any signs of weakening he gets pulled. Then roll out the pen options.

Frankly don’t see a minor league option that I would feel comfortable with calling up to face the LAD and require a move that may limit my options in the future near term. Plus  really want to see how Weathers does ... length and quality of start ... before making a move. If they don’t tax the pen .... just wait until (if) Lamet is ready to be activated. He is pitching today ... driving to SD ... and assessment of readiness tomorrow.

Work this one day at a time.

Quote from fenn68 on April 15, 2021, 3:42 pm

Quote from Brian Connelly on April 15, 2021, 2:25 pm

.... and I SO doubt this will happen, but I would actually be really tempted to option Kim instead of Marcano for Tatis.

Marcano just needs to play regularly, but Minors season doesn't start for almost 3 weeks.  Kim obviously backing up/some starts for Tatis; but probably none vs LAD.  Leaves bench a little RH, even tough Profar likely to be there since likely to go with Pham/Grisham/Myers OF.  COULD go with Jake SS, Profar or even Marcano 2B vs tough RHP if want to spell Tatis.

And Kim might benefit (more than Marcano would) from the Alt site setting; mega AB vs high velo pitching machines, etc.

Yeh, probably will not happen given how they have limited the use of Marcano so far.

Think both players would benefit by being at the alternate site ... playing regularly in games and getting ABs. If O’Grady could be recalled (he can’t for another 5 days) would consider that.

Kim is at least the legit SS of the two ... has the experience / playing time ... has been better over the past week or so. Stick with Kim.

The ML coaches are at least in tune with the approach to get Kim acclimated ... and Kim is just getting acclimated to MLB ... might not want to disrupt that process and pass him off to another crew ... might be counter productive and actually hurt his acclimation.

Not as though in the regular season Marcano has earned the roster slot. (Note I really like his potential .. just not now).

Quote from Brian Connelly on April 16, 2021, 10:31 am

Assuming Tatis is fully healthy, I just think Kim will go to bench vs. LAD.  He'll get 1 maybe 2 starts vs Milwaukee.  So in 10 games with 7 vs LAD, what you're getting from him is 1-2 starts.  If we didn't also have Jake & Profar, OK.  But I'm looking specifically at which player might help you the most just in the next 10 days.

Where Kim IS GOING to get used vs LAD is as a PH.  So it's 6th inning, vs a power RHP... who do you want PH; Kim... or Marcano?  Between Jake, Profar, & Marcano could easily give Tatis & others a day off in the Milwaukee series by shifting Jake to SS.

#1, 2, & 3 priority is trying to win games.  Everything else (i.e. player development) is a distant 4th.  That being said, I just think in terms of pure development, 21 y.o. Marcano who played no real games last year just needs to play games to develop.  Same is not true for 25 y.o. Kim.  He doesn't "need" to go to AAA, acclimate to an entirely new team, coaching staff, opponents, and get 3-4 AB/day facing P's similar to those he played against in Korea with 88 mph FB's.  He needs to work on 1 technical aspect:  catching up to MLB veolcity.  It just seems like he could really work on that in the controlled setting of the Alternate site that's likely only going to be around for 2 1/2 more weeks...  (same could be said for Paddack; sim games with 40-50% 3rd pitch usage!)

To be clear, I would DEFINITELY send Marcano down to start Minors season at the end of these 10-12 games, and recall Kim.  With the only other possibility being O'Grady as a bench LH PH.