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Silva runs out of rope; bullpen-bound?
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During Sunday's pregame media session with Mariners' skipper Don Wakamatsu, one of the veteran reporters, Jim Street of MLB.com, asked him, "if all the players have a 10-foot rope, how many feet does Carlos Silva have left?''
I had to laugh. It was Street's coy way of asking when Wakamatsu was going to deal with the struggling, overpaid, under-performing starter. Wakamatsu didn't answer the question directly but said, "he's going to have to make adjustments, if not we have to make adjustments.''
After watching Silva's miserable effort Wednesday against Kansas City, adjustments are coming. Some may think that he may have a foot or two of rope left before the club finally changes his role, but he had enough rope Wednesday to hang himself. He's out of chances, for now anyway.
Wakamatsu can't keep running him out there. He lasted just three innings - throwing 70 pitches - while allowing eight hits and six runs agains the Royals. He is 1-3 with a 8.48 ERA. He even balked in a run. He was out-pitched by a guy making just above the minimum, Sidney Ponson, who was 0-4 with a 7.16 ERA entering the game.
Now what? He needs to move into the bullpen as the long reliever, a guy who comes in when the game is lost and when the club is way ahead. The bullpen has been hit with injuries, Brandon Morrow and Shawn Kelley. It needs help, although I don't think Silva is the guy to fix it.
But where else do they put him? He is still owed about $30 million through 2011. They can't just cut him, and they shouldn't. Perhaps they can come up with a injury and hide him on the DL for a month, much like they did with Horacio Ramirez a couple years ago (Ramirez, by the way, worked a harmless 2/3 of an inning Wednesday for the Royals). The Mariners should have every pitching coach in the system look at him to see where he's failing. He has stuff but too much of it finds too much of plate.
I'd have Jason Vargas take over his spot in the rotation. Eventually, that will be taken by Ryan Rowland-Smith, who needs at least a couple minor-league rehab appearances before he's ready. The choices are pretty thin but Silva is no longer one of them.
Fortunately, the Mariners can skip the fifth starter spot because of an off-day Monday. They won't need a fifth guy until May 16. That buys some time for Rowland-Smith, perhaps. And the team will need a fifth starter just three times between now and June 13. More time to scramble. More time to reconstitute Silva, if that's possible.
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