It matters when you have a pitcher going 3 or 4 innings every five days. It’s going to kill your bullpen unless planned for. Hopefully Getz & Grifol have an actual plan here, because Touki or whomever the long reliever is will be needed to cover the other guys in the rotation.
I don’t disagree with your core point, but I don’t think AAA experience is all that important for pitchers. If he dominates AA for three months, then there is a real argument that he’s ready for the majors IMO.
Yes, let’s ignore all of Sheets’ history of being a bad major league hitter and slot in his horrible glove into RF because of a few dozen meaningless spring training at-bats.
He has already proven himself in the minors and more seasoning won’t really help. At this point, it’s make or break in the majors…it’s really that simply.
Can we please stop doing this every year? Spring training stats mean almost nothing and I say this as one of the most vocal critics of the Fletcher / Mena trade. And for the record, if Fletcher doesn’t make the Opening Day roster, that would much more indicative of Getz has no clue about player evaluation.
I think we will look back on this trade in 10 years and all agree it was an A+ return when Zavala ends up being a legit star posting .400 OBPs year after year with 25+ bombs per and Thorpe has made 200 (mostly quality) starts for us.