There's been a lot of focus on Janssen's status being determined by the health of BJ Ryan. I think they're looking at the wrong player. Regardless of Ryan's status; League, Accardo, Downs, Frasor & Tallet should be able to handle the 7th through 9th innings without a significant problem, whether or not Ryan's ready to roll. And let's face it, Janssen would pretty much be doing the 7th-8th innings within a week of Ryan being healthy. What a waste of his arm that'd be.
I don't agree that a player should determine Janssen's fate - other than Casey's performance. And to date, it's been pretty damn good. But that aside, if I had to pick a player to determine Janssen's fate, it'd be AJ.
Obviously this is just a random thought on my part, but how many of you believe this nail problem of AJ's is as simple as it sounds? Maybe I'm jaded by the fact BJ's doctor said they were rushing him, as I suspected they were. Maybe it's because last year, they told us Ryan's back was a problem, and he ended up getting surgery on the elbow. But you know what they say, the elbow's connected to the - spinal cord...
While I have no real evidence to prove this, I just want to focus on a hypothetical situation. What if AJ isn't ready go opening day? There's obviously no evidence he can't, but let's
say his nail still isn't good to go. He isn't going to throw his fastball all day, and his change up has a neon "hit me" sign on it. So if he doesn't have Uncle Charlie, he might not be capable of starting as the #2.While this is an overreaction, but what it does bring up is the importance of Janssen in the rotation. If Casey is the #5, and AJ isn't ready, we can bring up Janssen to the 4 and Litsch becomes the 5 (or another player if we don't wanna screw with his service time...although I'm drawing a blank as to who...doesn't smell like victory to me). However, if Litsch or even Mr. Victory himself starts off as the #5, and Janssen is headed for the pen, this could cause a problem.
Now, my point is less effective at the start of the season. Janssen is being prepped to start now, so if AJ starts on the d/l Janssen can still be put in the rotation. But again, looking further into the season if a starter gets injured, having Janssen in the rotation means we've got solid options behind him. If Litsch or another is the 5, and Janssen is in the pen, all of our rotation depth disappears.
I'll stop now that I'm rambling, but I'm definetly more worried about AJ than I should be...
Twitchy.
