Gorzelanny Demoted

Well, I can't say that I saw this coming.

I guess the new regime was not kidding around when they said that accountability would be a theme for 2008. The demotion of Ronny Paulino was somewhat predictable, given the play of Doumit, and John Russell's love of the experience and "grinder" mentality that Raul Chavez has and Paulino probably lacks.

But Gorzelanny? How does a team desperate for halfway-decent starting pitching demote a healthy starter who won 14 games last year unless it's to send a message that getting lit up by the Brewers is not acceptable.

Here are Gorzelanny's splits this season:

Overall: 6-7, 17 GS, 87.2 IP, 61 BB, 53 K, 6.57 ERA, 1.825 WHIP, 64 ERA+ (!)

Home: 5-1 W/L, 9 GS, 50.2 IP, 34 BB, 30 K, 4.62 ERA, 1.697 WHIP
Road: 1-6 W/L, 8 GS, 37 IP, 27 BB, 23 K, 9.24 ERA, 2.0 WHIP

Both of those are not good, but those road stats are horrible. His BABIP is .300 at home and .304 on the road, so nothing about this has to do with bad luck. When you're putting two guys on base every inning on the road, there's no way you're getting out of there alive.

Put plainly and simply, the guy is just not throwing strikes that don't get hit into oblivion. That 0.868 K/BB ratio, in the words of Charles Barkley, is "just turrible." Let's hope a little vacation to central Indiana will be just what the doctor ordered for Major Tom.

The bigger concern, perhaps, is who is going to fill Gorzelanny's shoes in the rotation. Phil Dumatrait and Ian Snell are supposed to come off the DL this week, and teen hearthrob John Van Benschoten is still with the team, but we know how well things go when he starts. Another start for Jimmy Barthmaier, perhaps? I guess we'll see.