Rooting for Fogg

Littlefield is rooting for Fogg:

Josh Fogg, who hasn't pitched well in any of his three starts, goes back to the mound tomorrow night against Houston. "The results haven't been real positive," Littlefield said. "There are guys you root for, but there's no fighting the facts. His stuff isn't as impressive as the stuff of the other four [starters]."

Oliver Perez has been dominant as a fifth starter. If Vogelsong can bounce back tonight, Fogg will be the obvious and only weak link in the rotation. Sean Burnett has kept his strong spring going at Nashville. That guy is ready now; there's no good reason to delay his introduction to big-league pitching. A rookie starter should never rot at AAA, where the starter can get into bad habits that improve AAA numbers but degenerate his ability to take on major-league pitching. The sucess of Oliver Perez is also more proof that Spin Williams is the best pitching coach in the organization, so get the young guys to Spin as soon as they are ready.

Fogg needs to look real sharp tomorrow night if he hopes to keep his job in the rotation. Then comes a big question: will the Bucs convert him to middle relief, or will they send him to Nashville to continue his career as a starter?

We think he'll make a great one-to-three-inning reliever, and we want to win now, so we hope they put him in middle relief and make room somehow, maybe even bumping Boehringer or Boyd off the roster if it comes down to that. The conversion to relief pitching should be permanent from the start: Fogg should excel in relief work and you can't have his early and probable success as a reliever interpreted as "Fogg is ready to reclaim his rotation spot."

On the other hand, a team must anticipate injuries and other unforeseen events, and since it's early in the season, keeping him in Nashville's rotation would provide some insurance that would keep the Bucs from rushing Van Benschoten or some other young guy to the majors before he's ready. This may be a weak argument since the Pirates have spot-starters in Meadows and Torres and the addition of Fogg to the bullpen would improve their availability.