Riddle me this Batman...

Here's your scenario:

You have a struggling player who has shown promise and even sparks of brilliance at the Major League level. However, he has been horribly inconsistent and is costing your team games. What do you do? What do the Royals do?

Well the Royals actually take two separate approaches to this little dillema. If you happen to be Mark Teahen they'll send you to Omaha to work on your inconsistencies and then bring you up when you're suddenly playing like God himself. If you happen to be Ambiorix Burgos (you could even lump Andrew Sisco in here... he still needs more time in the minors) they sure will leave you up to get yourself and your team killed.

I understand that this season is lost, so we can allow players to develop at the major league level... by God I am preaching that right now, but this is ridiculous. Why the double standard? Burgos needs to head to Omaha to regain some confidence and learn how to pitch. Last year he and Andrew Sisco had so much success because no one had seen them, they were able to get up there and just throw the ball to get people out. Now, hitters have seen them and are hitting them like crazy. Now they need to learn how to pitch... that's tough against major league hitters. If we send them down then they can learn and get back by next year, maybe even later this year and be effective. Look at what it did for Mark Teahen.

The Royals are so hell bent on getting Burgos to use his fastball, but all they do is pat him on the butt and say 'you really should throw your fastball more.' The Royals should take a page out of the Twins' notebook and send Burgos down; tell him if he wants to get back he needs to learn to throw his fastball in every situation in every count. Hey, Johan Santana is doing allright... the Twins sent him down early in his career and told him to do the same with his changeup - now he's got the best one in the Major Leagues, and he's got the ERA and SO to prove it.

And I really don't want to hear the excuse that we don't have anyone else to fill the closer role. Remeber, this is a lost season... send someone out there who isn't 22 and the future of our bullpen (Joe Nelson anyone, he's had some success).

brandx