Minor League Ball's John Sickels is still not down with the Detroit Tigers' decision to bring Rick Porcello up to the majors so early in his development.
**I think putting Rick Porcello in the Detroit rotation is batshit insane. In my opinion, even the best prospects need a good dose of Double-A. Most of them need Triple-A. Porcello is very talented, but he is NOT Dwight Gooden or Bob Feller. The wonderful spring training he had resulted in a 2.30 ERA, which is sharp, but also a 8/5 K/BB and 17 hits in 15.2 innings, hardly a dominant ratio set. Maybe it will work, but it is not a risk I would take if I was the Tigers braintrust.
I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but Sickels and RotoWire's Jeff Erickson apparently discussed this further on Erickson's Blog Talk Radio show yesterday. Regardless, I guess we'll find out soon enough if using Porcello is the right decision, beginning on Thursday.
Sickels is a bit more on board with bringing up Ryan Perry. But only a bit.
**The decision to put Ryan Perry in the Tigers bullpen is a bit more defensible, but still risky. Perry has a terrific arm, but was considered fairly raw for a guy coming out of college. He could follow a Brandon Morrow path.
Morrow was called up to Seattle in 2007 after only pitching 22 innings in the low minors the year before. After 128 innings the past two seasons, he's struggled with a sore shoulder as he and the Mariners try to figure out the ideal workload for him. (Diabetes might play a serious role with his stamina, however.)
However, doesn't necessity outweigh any potential risk? Porcello and Perry were probably the Tigers' best two pitchers in Spring Training, and were needed (almost desperately so) in the starting rotation and bullpen. And for what it's worth, I don't think anyone watching the Tigers (reporters, bloggers, or fans) thought it was a bad idea.
We've covered this territory already, but don't these two top prospects make the Tigers a better team? If they can help right now, why not utilize them?