Why Keep Bobby Cramer at All?

Here's a question: what's the point of keeping Bobby Cramer around if you have no interest in pitching him? I can appreciate that we went pretty low on the depth chart last year because of injuries to the starting rotation, but by now we have a couple guys kicking around the minors who are chomping at the bit to be able to enter what is becoming an elite starting staff. Why, then, keep around Bobby Cramer at all? Even if it's for cash considerations, Bobby Cramer could be starting on some rotations in the major leagues; it's really not fair to keep him just in case something were to happen not only to one of our starters, but probably now two of our starters, as I think its inevitable that Ross will slip into the sixth spot on the depth chart for starters, and that doesn't even go into the guys in the minors, and the real possibility that someone will emerge by the All-Star break as impossible to ignore.

And the longer we keep him and don't use him, the less opportunities left for him to prove himself. Hell, he may be too old in two years to pitch in the big leagues at all; that's kind of a brutal way to treat a guy who has done everything he was asked to do above the level that could ever have been expected of him. I understand that he can't be flipped for much, but he can be flipped for a pittance at least, and that would allow Cramer to get regular time in a rotation, something that is probably not going to be possible with Oakland in the near future.

I understand that to our organization, he's a considerable asset--a guy who might be able to come in during a rough stretch and eat up innings. But to another organization he'd been a number 4 or 5 starter. That means regular work, and that means increased pay. As an asset in our organization, we would be foolish to part with him, but as a man who is trying to earn a living, it is bordering on cruel to stuff him in the bullpen and pitch him only when it gets to the thirteenth, or when the score is 15-2.

It's just a matter of respect. If you don't have an immediate use for a guy, especially an older guy who probably doesn't have a lot of years left to make some money, you should probably part amicably with him. We probably don't want to be known around the league as a place where no matter how good you pitch, you're probably not going to see much playing time unless several people ahead of you get hurt.

But maybe the A's will get their wish, and the White Sox will destroy them 19-3. giving that rare opportunity for Bobby Cramer to actually pitch an inning.