Joel Pineiro Has Been Removed From The Rotation So Who’s Next In Line?

Joel Pineiro’s recent poor performance proved to be too much for Mike Scioscia to handle. In a uncharacteristically bold move Scioscia has banned Pineiro from the starting rotation. After posting a 14.85 ERA in his past four starts –  enough was enough and for now Pineiro has been vanished to the bull pen.

So who takes his spot?

Lets take a look at the candidates.

• Garrett Richards : The Angels top pitching prospect is currently wrecking shop in Double A sporting a 12 – 2 record to go along with  a 3.06 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and 100/40 K/BB ratio.
• Jerome Williams: The former Giant top prospect who was signed by the Angels this season has been pretty solid for Salt Lake positng a 4.21 ERA with 47 strikeouts in 57 innings pitched.
• Trevor Bell:  He’s been there done that albeit unspectacularly. Bell is currently 2-2 with a 4.34 ERA at Salt Lake.
• Matt Palmer:  You remember Palmer right? The human rally cap. After a rough patch Palmer has had four straight good performances for Salt Lake.
• Hisanori Takahashi: The Angels could choose to move Takahashi from the pen into a starting role in which he excelled in Japan.

•  The Hangout View: Richards is the guy here. He clearly has the most upside out of all the options and you could argue he is actually more prepared than Tyler Chatwood was before his call up. Richards is 23 (Chatwood is 21) and unlike Tyler –  Garrett has displayed outstanding control walking just 40 batters across 141 innings. Look for Richards to get the first shot at filling in for Pineiro. If he falters one of the other options will be summoned or the Halos could go the waiver route.