It looks as though the Tachi-Bomb is making its way back into the bigs. Former Cardinal hurler Jason Simontacchi is slated to make one or two more starts in AAA Columbus, Ohio - the AAA affiliate for the Washington Nationals - before being called up to the majors. Simo' will take hill tomorrow, Friday, then be considered as an immediate call-up.
Simontacchi is expected to join the 'Nats next week to help boost a struggling rotation, and an overall terrible baseball team. Jim Bowden, Wasington's GM, said "If he throws well, I think one more start or maybe right after this start he'll be ready to be called back up here."
If you remember, Simontacchi was a pitching hopeful for the Cardinals that never really panned out. He was part of that promising era of Rick Ankiel and Mike Lincoln, all of whom played but none of whom ever made significant impacts on the Cardinals big league squad.
Simo' finds his way to the nation's Capitol to pitch for one of the worst teams in baseball history. Off to a terrible 6-15 start and already 7.5 games behind the New York Mets in the division, Washinton holds no hope for success over the next three or four years and probably much longer than that. Seriously, if you look at their lineup and their rotation, it will blow your mind as to how they'd even win 6 games all year.
Here's to hoping Simo pitches well and keeps the Nat's in the ballgame, which would mean he'd have to throw shutout ball for about 8 innings each start, but Washington isn't necessarily the place to revive a career. Hopefully he keeps his ERA down because the win column won't attract any future bidders. He could throw twenty games and he might win two.
Either way, cheers to Simo. He's had a long road, littered with injuries and high socks, and I hope he stays above water long enough to get a shot somewhere else.
5 comments:
Dude. Simo was never a heralded prospect. He came out of nowhere and pitched very well for half a season and then fell back down to Earth. He is more comparable to a Bo Hart, not at ll like Rick Ankiel. And Mike Lincoln is comparable to neither. He was signed as an offseason free agent from Pittsburgh, I think, and played about a month before blowing his arm out. Therefore he was never a bif time prospect in Cards organization.
"Prospect" was the wrong word to use, you're right. I've made the change to "pitching hopeful." My fault, and thanks for the memo.
Simo' was drafted by the Royals in 1996, then signed with the Pirates in '99, the Twins in 2000, and the Cardinals in 2002. Therefore, anonymous would be correct, he certainly was not a Cardinal prospect.
I didn't mean to refer to Lincoln as a prospect either, but I guess it came across that way. Lincoln was drafted by the Expos in '93 but never signed a contract, therefore he re-entered the draft in '94 and was taken by the Giants but failed to sign again. Finally he was drafted by and signed with the Twins in '96. He then went to Pittsburgh in 2001 before coming to the Cardinals in 2004. You can't say, however, that he wasn't a "hopeful" for the bullpen. Many people were excited about Lincoln before he got hurt and many people, included myself, were, at one time, very excited about the possibility of him coming back and being successful as a Redbird. Unfortunately, that never happened.
You shouldn't ever get excited about middle relief guys. They will just let you down.
Lincoln was a stud that would've anchored the set-up role for many years had had he stayed healthy. So yes, you could get excited. Would you not be excited to have a 8th inning guy who could slam the door shut? That makes no sense. I'd love to have Broxton, Gonzalez, Shields, or any of those shut down eigth inning guys. Get through 7 and goodnight.
witness
you could throw linebrink in there also, although he's having a shitty start is year.
and what about Ryan Franklin... boomshacalaca!!
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