Left hander has made three starts in Triple-A Tacoma

Due to his recent struggles as a starter, along with the teams need for an experienced late-inning arm, Miguel Batista has been moved from the starting rotation to the bullpen.  The struggling veteran has only had five of his nineteen starts reach the 6th inning this season.  Batista was scheduled to start on Saturday. 

And that is where the Ryan Rowland-Smith conversation begins.  Rowland-Smith has started three games for Tacoma allowing only two earned-runs in each outing.  Apparently besides stretching his arm out, the team has wanted Ryan to work on his fastball command, which he still struggling with a bit, but is showing solid improvement.  If the team chooses not to call up someone from the minors, Jake Woods has starting experience on the current active roster. 

A decision on Saturday’s starter is expected from the Mariners tonight.  I say bring Ryan up, he has already started for the M’s this season, and is better than what we have now anyways.  Lets see what he can do with extended rotation time and preparation in the big leagues so we can see if he can handle 2009.

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