Patrick and Anthony Talk About Life and Shawn Kelley

By Anthony

Should he stay or should he go?

For those of you who don’t know Patrick or myself exceptionally well, we like to argue. A lot. It is fun, even more fun when we argue with each other. One such argument occurred this morning and since I always win sometimes, I decided it had to be a post with interspersed commentary from myself. There will also be some other info I couldn’t wait for the Amigos to talk about. 

Disclaimer, this conversation follows a Wednesday at Santa Clara. If you don’t know what that means you don’t need to.

A: “Kelley hasn’t been that bad”

P:”I just think he sucks in general”

A: “He strikes out a guy an inning and has given up 6 runs all year”

P: “How many innings”

A: “14. An ERA of 3.68”

P: “Not as bad as I thought. He is the worst reliever in the pen though”

A: “Really? Not much Shawn Kelley love happening right now. He’s better that Iwakuma and can actually throw an off-speed pitch, unlike Pryor”

P: “Pryor gets outs. Kelley doesn’t. His control sucks. Iwakuma eats innings and has a defined role and has excelled lately” (Anthony note: In retrospect I should have called him out on each and every claim he made there. Damn)

A: “Kelley doesn’t get outs? Are you sure about that or are you judging him from last night? I am 97% sure he got 4 outs last night”

P: “He also gave up 4 hits and gave up a run that wasn’t charged to him”

A: “In one appearance, he has made others”

P: “Yeah his last one? Monday, where he allowed two runs in a third of an inning and had to be yanked with two guys in scoring position” 

A: “OK so he has given up to runs in 1.2 innings. More like 3. But that means he has given up 4 in 12.1 innings before that. Relievers are inconsistent. Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmsen have showed us that”

P: “Yeah but Kelley has been here for too long to be struggling. I’m ok with Wilhelmsen since its his first full season. This is Kelley’s fourth and he’s oft injured” (Note the omission of the Brandon League point)

A: He has been injured but it’s more like 3 since he was out almost all of 2011. 3 years is not too long.”

P: “He has been poor lately. I don’t trust him. I trust every other reliever more. Every other reliever has been better in the last week and a half.” (I am so off my game, that week and a half line could have been torn apart. GAAAARRRRGGGHHHH)

A: “So we should send him down because of a bad week and a half? The season is long. Pitchers have rough stretches, they shouldn’t get the hook because of a bad week and a half.” 

P: “Well I said Noesi should go down in the first place” (Note how he changes the topic to something he can still salvage)

A: “How does this relate to the Kelley discussion?”

P: “The only reason I brought up sending Kelley down was because you said no move Noesi to the bullpen”

A: “Ahhh… I see, we could just have Furbush or Iwakuma switch with Noesi” 

P: “Iwakuma should get a shot if Erasmo Ramirez isn’t ready. Furbush is a valuable pen guy”

A: “He wasn’t too bad a starter last year”

P: But he has been reliable in the bullpen in mid-relief whereas Iwakumas essentially a sixth starter” (Totally should have argued both of those. I suck today)

A: “Fair enough. We are paying him enough to do nothing”

P: Yeah. Wow you just agreed with me… that doesn’t happen often”

FIN

The judges have it 111-108 in favor of Anthony. GAHHHHH!!!! GAHHH!!!! DAVIS!!!!! CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!!!!!! GAHHHH!!!!! GAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I would spike my laptop in celebration but I kind of need it for finals and stuff. Onto some bullet points

• Felix has a hurt back. That sucks, but also offers a reason why his last start sucked. I really want the M’s to put him on the DL. There is nothing to gain from having him pitch through any form of injury. He is the kind of guy who wants to throw every five days but its not like we are in a pennant race right now. I would rather Felix misses another start or two and gets back to perfect health than he tries to pitch through an injury. 
• A shout out to Peter Davis, my scout, resource for information and father. Importance clearly in that order. He makes a series of predictions each year during his long vacation to Peoria and Spring Training I usually get to join him on. Usually they fizzle or get traded like Tyson Gillies (Google him). However, this year he claimed Saunders would be a star. He was right. Tip of the cap sir. 
• For those who care, I now have a new favorite Mariner. Unlike Patrick who has like 5, I try to love each Mariner equally. So why do I suddenly decide to love one more than the rest. Because Lucas Luetge has an awesome twitter page. For those who want to follow him he can be found @LucasLuetge. He also is a boss at guitar hero. Check it out. Go M's.