Howell would get rocked as a starter too. Put Hammel back in the rotation and send garza to the pen.

Garza has been disappointing, and R.J. is right in comparing his performance so far to Edwin’s, but to say he is not a good pitcher is total nonsense. He was pretty good last year as a 23 year old, and since returning from injury improved in every start until this one. Admittedly his peripherals are poor, but there is no reason given past performance and his stuff to assume that is not capable of significant improvement. To be so impatient with a 24 year old is unbelievably short-sighted.

As for the trade, I won’t even comment further on the truly horrible player Delmon has been, last year and this. On the contrary, I will concede that he may become a Hall of Famer (I don’t believe that, but no matter). It has nothing to do with the deal. This deal may work out brilliantly for Minnesota (in spite of all evidence so far that they got screwed) and it would still be a steal for the Rays.

We got a starting pitcher dramatically better than whom he replaced and a shortstop who has cemented the core reason this team is winning-defense-and all that matters is what they do for us, not what Young might have done. And given that the so-called carousel has produced beyond words better than Young so far, any regrets are ludicrous.

As for bad rap sheets, that is becoming about as tiresome a stupid cliche as is possible. Just about every young player who disappoints or has any altercations gets some such idiotic rap sheet (as do most players who displease someone). In fact, Pena had a bad rap sheet early in his career as has Upton, Kazmir (in particular with Mets’ veterans) and Navarro. People really have to stop resorting to that sort of nonsense argument.

This could have been written about every starter on the Rays at one time or another. Anybody remember the “fans” cry to send Shields to the pen early last season because he couldn’t get through the order more than once without his #’s taking a dive?

Garza will be fine.

I don’t think the Rays set timetables, at least not rigid ones. As we have seen, they are very conservative about promoting prospects, although flexible enough to move one quickly if it seems advisable. I refer here to Longoria’s rapid trip from rookie ball to AA.

But otherwise, my impression is they want to have a long look at prospects before moving them up and would rather keep working on skills at their current level than trying to improve at the next one. I thought it possible, for example, that Davis might already be at Durham given his excellent season at Montgomery in 2007, but his early season in AA, while ok, has not been dominating, and he is still there.

That tendency is probably even more pronounced when considering players for the major league team. Maybe he gets a September look this year, but only if his season is so outstanding that it makes obvious sense. It would not surprise me if he remains in the minors next year as well barring some extraordinary performance. Since he is already on the 40 man roster, I think, it probably makes little difference if they bring him up or not, so that might convince them to give him some major league experience earlier than they would another prospect, but not if they do not deem him ready to succeed here.

if you use the wrong numbers or interpret them incorrectly. Using wins as a measure of a pitcher is about as wrong as a person can get.

Additionally if you use 37 innings of pitching by a 24 year old pitcher, the numbers are relatively meaningless, especially if other factors, like 307 minor league innings or 83 major league innings in a previous year tell a different story.

And further, it is not a question of being a frontline starter, although there remains a possibility he will be. An error many of us make is being disappointed because a player does not live up to hype or expectations rather than being pleased if they serve a useful purpose.

If Garza settles in as a solid mid-rotation starter, that would make him a worthwhile addition to the staff. He need not be a regular all-star. That is my point about Sonnanstine. I do not think he will be a frontline starter; I think it less likely than I do Garza as a matter of fact. But I think he may be useful and appreciate that.

As for winning, that is largely out of his control. All he can do is pitch well enough for the team to win; he cannot actually win.

i live in MN and i have hit just as many HR as he has and the rays need pitching right now more than a bat and garza has really only had 2 bad starts so i think that the rays have won that trade so far.

I bet you really do believe that too.