Comments on: Rhodes’ Usage

By: certaindoom

certaindoom — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:22:57 +0000

Guys, you’re missing the important point, Rhoades provides the last link to the 2001 team, and has to be kept healthy for our late season pennant drive.

By: gwangung

gwangung — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:57:14 +0000

All the evidence – including the game that Burke pitched in – suggests that they are concerned about his injured elbow. They don’t want to overwork him and see his arm fall off.

Hrm. Why is that? Shouldn’t that sort of treatment also have been extended to pitchers like Soriano> Or am I off base there?

By: don52656

don52656 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 22:30:33 +0000

Arthur Rhodes is 38 years old

I could reply in several ways, such as:

1. The Mariners are treating him like he’s 41 years old.
2. He may be 38 years old, but his arm is 41.

However, the best reply is:

3. Careless me. I’m wrong. He is 38 years old.

My apologies.

By: JMHawkins

JMHawkins — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:43:50 +0000

Arthur Rhodes is 38 years old. I am 41. Also, he is left-handed and wears earrings. I’m right-handed and don’t. He also drives nicer cars than me. You really shouldn’t get us confused with each other.

By: Jeff Nye

Jeff Nye — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:24:57 +0000

Well, regardless of whether the team is 20 games ahead, or 20 games behind, you should still be trying to win as many games as you can.

(as previously discussed, I’m not an advocate of trying to tank games to improve draft position)

Arthur Rhodes can help with that, but he’s being under-utilized at the moment.

Meanwhile, Sean Green has 49 appearances for 54 IP (granted, Green is right-handed and Rhodes is left-handed, but I’m sure Green has thrown to some lefties).

If you’re not going to use him, you should be trying to move him.

By: pygmalion

pygmalion — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:24:20 +0000

Whatever value he may have to the M’s right now is represented by the trade value he carries, if any.

I would agree with that.

By: don52656

don52656 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 21:09:51 +0000

pygmalion, I agree with you to a degree. However, I questions what value an Arthur Rhodes has on your club if you have:

1. A team that is 20+ games out of 1st place.
2. 3 starters that can’t seem to get out of the 4th or 5th inning on a regular basis without getting “hurt”.
3. You are only going to use him to get a batter or two out per appearance.
4. He is 41 years old.

He doesn’t have any long-term value to the club, he doesn’t have a whole lot of present value to the club, and he doesn’t have unique skills that contribute to the success of the club. Whatever value he may have to the M’s right now is represented by the trade value he carries, if any.

By: pygmalion

pygmalion — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:26:35 +0000

I don’t think that Rhodes is being used as a pure LOOGY. Looking at his splits he seems to have faced an almost equal number of righties as lefties (it’s 35-43 or so). He’s mainly facing lefties, but also a decent number of righties. All the evidence – including the game that Burke pitched in – suggests that they are concerned about his injured elbow. They don’t want to overwork him and see his arm fall off.

Despite the general tenor of this thread, I don’t see any evidence that the M’s are using Rhodes poorly. Their usage makes perfect sense if they have health concerns, and there is some reason to think that they do (and that they should). The fact that the M’s make other bad decisions doesn’t mean that every decision they make is stupid.

By: don52656

don52656 — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:31:07 +0000

I wonder why Rhodes is even on the roster. He isn’t used often, he doesn’t face many batters, and he wasn’t even used during the game that we “forfeited” by using Burke as a pitcher.

He’s 41 or so. He has no business being on the roster. He has a lot of company in that respect, IMO.

By: JMHawkins

JMHawkins — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 19:19:43 +0000

Based on the relatively small sample size of ‘08 PA vs right-handed hitters, Rhodes can get righties out just fine. His ‘05 and ‘06 seasons he was fine against righties too. I don’t know what his endurance and durability are like since the TJ surgery, but his skillset certainly doesn’t limit him to the LOOGY role.