Or lack thereof...
His game recap from today suggests some bafflement over some of the same things I've been confused about...
Here's the daily update on the Rangers' "look at every young arm" philosophy:
22-year-old Scott Feldman: optioned back to the minors without appearing in a game.
24-year-old C.J. Wilson: may get another start after getting ripped in just 2 2/3 innings of a 9-4 loss to Cleveland on Thursday. Then again, he may not.
Manager Buck Showalter said Wilson would pitch again this season but stopped short of saying it would be as a starter in five days.
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The Rangers find themselves weighing how much more can be gained by continuing to start Wilson against how much potentially can be lost. It is the conundrum created by trying to develop young pitching. It can be painful to watch at the start, but teams hope to see the young player burst free of those struggles before losing confidence.
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Perhaps gauging Wilson's confidence was part of why director of player personnel Dom Chiti met with the pitcher in a back hallway following the game. Chiti's three days in Cleveland were filled with meetings. On Wednesday, he met with a group of players to discuss their confusion over the team's direction.
On Thursday, the Rangers did nothing to clear up that confusion. They sent down Feldman two days after he arrived. Barring a DL injury, Feldman can't be called back before Aug. 28.
The Rangers called up first baseman Adrian Gonzalez because Kevin Mench was unavailable with back spasms. Gonzalez played first, Mark Teixeira played DH and Mark DeRosa played right field. Somehow, Marshall McDougall, who was originally called up because he can play infield and outfield, was left out of the mix.
Just another day for the Rangers as they try to work through getting a handle on the youth-is-served program.
The key points...
-- Why call up Scott Feldman, if you are just going to send him back to the minors two days later? Why didn't the Rangers just call up Adrian Gonzalez in the first place? I know the Kevin Mench injury supposedly forced the Rangers' hand here, but they only had a three man bench as it was.
-- Continuing to run C.J. Wilson out there every 5th day is an exercise in futility. He's not ready for the majors, he's not eating innings, starting him in a game is tantamount to giving up, and sending a pitcher out there to get his brains bashed in every few days is not generally considered to be "developing" a young pitcher. Wilson needs to be back in the minors.
-- Dom Chiti's still hanging around the team. What's strange about that is that Chiti supposedly is running the minor league system for the Rangers right now...dispatching him to talk to the major leaguers about the state of the team doesn't seem to be part of his role. Although I guess he's filling in as a proxy for John Hart...
-- Marshall McDougall -- the guy who, as Grant points out, was called up because he can fill in both in the infield and the outfield -- continues to sit on the bench, while Mark DeRosa, a career infielder, is playing regularly in right field. At this point, the only thing I can figure is that Buck doesn't like McDougall, doesn't particularly want him on the team, and isn't going to use him unless he has absolutely no choice.