Hind sight is 20-20. If Cotts could have gotten through the sixth, he would have had a quality start if I remember things correctly. That would have bolstered him up a bit also. Also, with Colon's lousy outing, JM probably needed as much from Cotts as he could get, to save the bullpen. There are always other things the manager has to take into consideration besides what appears on the surface of an issue. Just a couple of thoughts thrown your way, not critcism.
I said at the end of the 5th, knowing he was at 91 pitches, that he should have been done. I think that would have been the best scenario for him and wish they would have done that, but I don't think it is a particularly bad decision to leave him in. He had a 1-2-3 inning in the 5th, if I recall.
91 pitches in 5 innings is just further evidence that Cotts just isnt ready to pitch in the major leagues. And that was before his "bad" inning.
91 pitches in 5 innings in his second major league start is proof of absolutely nothing. Rich Harden threw 109 pitches in 5 innings versus the Sox. I suppose that means he has no business pitching for the A's also.
Cotts went 5 2/3 innings, K'ed 6, walked 2, posted a WHIP of 1.23, and struck out ARod twice. While I'm not ready to put him in Cooperstown just yet, I'm not going to point to his pitch count and say he doesn't belong. He's showed some good things and is certainly no worse than any of our other 5th starter options.
Check out results and tell me im wrong again. Go ahead. The guy couldnt stop walking guys in the minors, it was obvious what would happen with the big club.
OK, you're wrong, again. I said that his pitch count demonstrates nothing concerning his ability to pitch in the MLB. You said it did. I think you're wrong.
If you say he walks too many men, I can't argue with that. But...plenty of pitchers are successful while walking too many guys. Cotts walked 56 in 106.3 innings, for 4.74/9 innings. Al Leiter is walking 5.54 batters/9 innings. Kerry Wood 4.44, Russ Ortiz 4.23, Hideo Nomo 4.08. I'm not saying Cotts is as good as these guys YET, but he's shown in the minors that he can pitch. Would we rather that those walks were singles or doubles? At least his walk total would be low then, right?
By the way, Danny Wright, who seems to be everyone's darling now, is also walking 4.74/9.
Bottom line is that Cotts had a very servicable outing his last time out, especially for a fifth starter, and deserves another one. If he walks 7 in 4 innings, perhaps he should go back down until next season, but if he puts up another 6 innings with 3 runs and 3 walks, keep him around.
Whatever happened to the "you can only quote the last post" feature that Jason set up?
It doesn't work
