The more I think about it, it is the only explanation. I don’t put it beyond him to ignore an injury and not tell people because of his option, and we all know that hurt Millwood <<<<<<<<< healthy Millwood. He isn’t like some pitchers who are effective when they are less than 100%.

That and if the team still thinks it is in this race, it needs someone who gives the team a chance to win every time he goes out to the mound. Millwood is the scariest starter on this team right now, at least to me.

if they are able to figure out a way to sit him out the rest of the season. I just as soon he take all his veteran leadership somewhere else next season.

solid type B FA

it’d be one thing if he’s been performing well, but he isn’t. The Rangers would be lying if they said that next year isn’t a factor in their decision, but it’s not the only factor.

The Rangers can talk all they want about ‘mechanical tweaks’. They’re just covering their butts. And Millwood’s probably

you can’t deprive a man of $12M if his wear-down was caused by him being a work horse earlier in the season for us. That results in more players acting like Milton Bradley, which is not what you want as an organization.

That being said, I really hope that we get some kind of great excuse to not pay him

so that he couldn’t reach his incentives for winning the Cy Young ($500K) this year?

skip his turn in the rotation. But, they cannot deprieve him of the opportunity to reach his milestone.

or is it radio silence? Will they even acknowledge it once he goes 4 2/3 IP in his next start?

Sad as it is, and as much as you would like to, you can’t. Not only would it create a firestorm with MLBPA, and not only would it alienate a lot of potential free agent pitchers, but — and I hate to pull the veteran card — he’s a veteran. Michael Young, Ian Kinsler, Josh Hamilton and who knows who else would turn on the organization, and fast.

I absolutely understand the argument to bench him, and in a vacuum, of course you do it. But you’re not in a vacuum, and there are a ton of mitigating circumstances to keep you from doing such a thing.

You’ve got to let him pitch, let him trigger his option, hope he has a big first half, and trade him at the deadline or hope he finishes better than ‘09. It sucks, but it’s the most reasonable option given the circumstances.

of which Kevin Millwood is the epitome. the option year and his poor performance have provided the perfect opportunity to do so. the players association and hypothetical free agents be damned, you’ve got to do what’s right for the players that are here now and that we’re building around.

the litmus test to me is: can you imagine Millwood winning a playoff game if by some miracle the Rangers made it? I certainly can’t. he would find a way to lose. it’s a bit of a stretch, but I can see Feldman, Hunter, and if he has one of those incredible days, Holland, winning in a high pressure situation.

they’ve already gotten rid of one half of the soul-crushing free agent pitching tandem, time to finish the job.

$8M or so per year? It’s not like the Rangers would be depriving this guy of $12M.

Holland is a question mark as well. I would almost switch Holland and Feliz, and put Holland back in the pen. Let Feliz start for a couple of weeks.

I think he definitely needs to sit, I’d say for at least two, possibly three starts. I don’t want to just skip him once. If he’s gassed, I want him as rested as possible for his last start of the regular season.

At the same time, I don’t think sitting him and then finger wagging about his option if he doesn’t make it sends the right message to the other current players and to possible future acquisitions. Let’s pay him his option and then sit him for two or three starts or, if he’s injured but still pitching to get the option, the pressure’s off and he can come clean.

by benching Magglio Ordonez long enough this summer to keep him from getting to 135 starts or 540 plate appearances (just barely, too!) so that his $18M option for next year doesn’t vest?

He had a terrific ERA and was certainly our ace when we had a very young pitching staff.

Would we be this upset if it were reversed, and Millwood was pitching like this in the first half of the year and was lights out after the ASB?

The guy petered out, some blame on Ryan for the new approach, some may be on Milly for not sticking with a good workout plan and staying in tip top shape (you have to notice he is looking a little bit bigger and less in shape than at the start of the year).

But I don’t think he should be penalized for a contract that BOTH sides agreed on. Skipping a start and making sure his arm is ok is probably going to be what happens. This would be exactly what would have happened at the start of the year if he was pitching this bad (if that. Wash may have just kept putting him out there, who knows?).