What to do about Stokes

When Stokes came in yesterday, I tweeted my immediate reaction:





So, the issues that come up when you talk about replacing him:

1. Who will replace him? There are a few options. Rich Thompson extended his scoreless streak in Triple A to 15 innings. Rafael Rodriguez has been throwing strikes in Salt Lake. Michael Kohn has been dominant in Double A, and while you'd like to see him get a bit more seasoning at higher levels, he turns 24 next month and might be as good now as he'll ever get. A good reason to let Stokes go.

2. What will happen to him? Well, the Angels could cut him loose entirely and still win the Gary Matthews trade running away. But he does throw 94 mph, he has had some success in the majors, and ideally you'd like to see him get another chance with the organization. He's out of options and can't be sent to the minors without clearing waivers first, and even with a walk-per-inning this year I suspect some team will take a chance on him. Or maybe they wouldn't -- he's 30 years old, his peripherals last year were terrible, he's a wild flyball pitcher who doesn't strike anybody out. How am I supposed to know what 29 other teams would do? Which is to say, it's hard to say whether he'd make it through, and so assume the worst. Maybe a good reason to find a way to stick with Stokes.

3. Can he be fixed? That's the question. It is only 16 innings. If he were a starter and had 16 bad innings in the middle of the season, we wouldn't even notice. And a lot of his performance isn't that different than last year: His fastball is down 1 mph, but still at about 94 mph. His groundball rate is unchanged, his line drive rate is unchanged, batters are swinging and missing at just as many of his pitches, he's getting them to chase out of the strike zone even more this year, he's throwing more first-pitch strikes, etc.

It's a conundrum, one that might best be solved with one of those convenient trips to the DL.

Previously: Did Citi Field disguise Stokes' problems?

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