...for a) crossing up Blake Monar and Drew Leininger and b) not adding a rotation to my prediction. I left my brain somewhere outside Wheeling, W. Va., it came overnight this afternoon.
Back home again in Indiana, and it seems that I can see you, ostermanlittle5, taking a dig at my extracurricular athletic activities. That aside, ostermanlittle5 offered the following rotation for the spring:
1) Bashore
2) Monar
3) Carr (*Note that Big Ten rule change cuts off the weekend series at three games now, so teams only need three weekend starters.)
4) Leininger/Arnett
5) Leiendecker
Can't say I'd argue with that roll call, but for the sake of blogging, let's try. Follow along, will you?
1) Bashore -- The obvious choice, he was arguably the Big Ten's second-best pitcher last year behind Chris Fetter. Hasn't pitched much in the summer, but after all the innings he logged last spring, he earned the rest. He'll be the definite No. 1 coming into February, barring injury.
2) Monar -- I don't think it's a lock that Monar gets this spot, as much because there might be something to breaking up your weekend lefties with a right-hander on Saturday's; it would all depend on match-ups. On paper, Monar appears the front-runner for No. 2, but Tracy Smith will certainly make him earn it against a much-improved Matt Carr and an experience Eric Arnett.
3/4) Carr/Arnett -- I think the real battle in this rotation will be for No. 3, not No. 4. Carr come on strong at the end of last year, and he's had a great summer, but Arnett still has the experience -- and a solid end of the 2008 season as well. Carr had to prove himself into playing time last year, it will be interesting to see if a weekend spot brings the same motivation. He's had a great summer, but again, you can't discount the fact that Arnett is still the incumbent. This one should be back-and-forth all fall and winter.
5/6) Leininger/Leiendecker -- The left-handed Leis will definitely fight it out for what is basically the final starting spot, one that should get more work in 2009, now that the Hoosiers will have to play more midweek games with less weekend games on tap.
I was high on Leiendecker last year, and I thought he showed some flashes in his bouts with noticeable inexperience and injury. He should have the leg up on this one based purely on his year with the team, but Leininger comes with plenty of laurels. I can see them sharing time both starting and being go-to in the 'pen, and maybe even moving up to midweek starter depending on match-ups.
Of course the unspoken positive of this entire argument is that it's never bad to have to figure these things out. You truly cannot ever have too much pitching, and struggling to get guys innings is a far better situation than struggling to get innings out of guys.
Remember that the Hoosiers' lack of pitching/bullpen depth outside of Matt Carr might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back late in the Big Ten Tournament last year, when Smith and the Hoosiers simply came to a point where they ran out of arms to run out to the mound. Smith was even considering using Tyler Cox and David Trager -- who could pitch, this wasn't David Wright in the All-Star Game stuff, but still obviously not what you'd want to have to do -- just because there was no one left.
This team now goes at least six deep with guys who can with Chris Squires an experienced closer coming out of the 'pen. Throw in guys like Joe Vicini, Anthony Agnew and Joey O'Gara (who coaches think should eventually warrant his own shot at consistent starting, and this pitching rotation is far deeper than it's ever been in Tracy Smith's tenure in Bloomington.
