Who do you want to claim the 5th spot?

[Chuck]

Vote! 

[Chuck]

I'm going with Petit or Ramirez on who I'd like to win it. 

Norris and Chavez haven't been bad... if I'm going on pure stuff, Ramirez has looked the best. If I'm going on results, Petit should win it. He's looked fantastic! 

[Second Base]

Chavez, because I honestly believe he's going to have a solid season, sub 4.00 ERA.

[OregonLAA]

Petit has looked great whenever he's pitched but we all know it's going to Chavez. I don't mind having this depth though because I know we will need all of these guys at some point. 

[Chuck]

20 minutes ago, OregonLAA said:

Petit has looked great whenever he's pitched but we all know it's going to Chavez. I don't mind having this depth though because I know we will need all of these guys at some point. 

According to reports the 5th starter spot has not been locked down by anyone yet, that even J.C. Ramirez is still in the running. 

[Angelsjunky]

I think it is mistake to get too caught up on spring training stats. Chavez, Petit, and Norris are basically known quantities: garden variety #5 starters who can fill in as necessary, and may have a peak year in the #4 range. Ramirez may have a bit of potential but could also be the worst of the four. Meyer is the one with upside, who could be a #3 if everything breaks right. Or he could be an injury-plagued and erratic #5 guy at best. Anyhow, my point is: you try to make it work with Meyer. Maybe he doesn't start the year as the 5th starter, but he's the guy who has the highest upside and the player with most potential value. If he doesn't work out, one of the first three can come out of long relief or AAA to take over.

[California Cajun]

I'd take Meyer and give him 2-3 starts to sink or swim as a starter because of his potential.  If he sinks, send him to the minors and groom him to be a reliever.

Meyer strikes me as someone with great tools and without confidence.  The team that drafted him gave up.  For that reason I'd fast track him and find out if he can be a major league pitcher.  If not, invest in someone else.

[totdprods]

I start the season with Chavez; he hasn't been the most impressive this spring, but he hasn't looked terrible. He was very solid in that role full-time with Oakland recently and of these candidates, seems the most likely to deliver an expected result, albeit a fairly average one. Personally, I feel that's more than sufficient for a #5 starter. Let him hold down the role until someone takes it from him - and I expect that will happen early in the year. I'm pretty confident Chavez winds up being dealt by July. 

I've mentioned it elsewhere, but I start Meyer in SLC. He hasn't been able to pitch as a starter with any regularity since 2014. He's seemingly healthy and has altered his mechanics, so I'd set him in the AAA rotation with the expectation of him having 5-10 starts; set schedule, slightly controlled environment, let him grow into a routine and work out his kinks - I don't think a sink or swim MLB audition with heightened pressure and a quick hook will do him much good, because he's obviously wildly inconsistent right now, which is to be expected given the amount of time he's missed. 

Petit's best seasons came when he was a swingman; not a starter, not a reliever. So, he's my swingman/long-reliever. Norris has pitched well and I like the parallels to Blaton; I could see him becoming a very good reliever and would count on him in that fashion. 

Ramirez would be my vote if Chavez wasn't here. Think there's a good chance he starts a game or two as Skaggs builds up his innings, more than likely, they'll be paired up for Tyler's first couple starts, with each getting 3-4 innings. 

[Troll Daddy]

Chavez

Although, I wouldn't  bitch if it were Ramirez

[Jig Stew]

Can there be an other option?... if so I want Clayton Kershaw or Madison Bumgarner

[Chuck]

 Remember the question is not who you think will be the 5th starter, but who you WANT to be the 5th guy in  the rotation. 

[Jig Stew]

18 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

 Remember the question is not who you think will be the 5th starter, but who you WANT to be the 5th guy in  the rotation. 

Then 100% Kershaw or Bumgarner

[Chuck]

19 minutes ago, Jig Stew said:

Then 100% Kershaw or Bumgarner

[Angels#1Fan]

I don't really want any of these guys (this group illustrates our overall pitching weakness) but if one of them emerges as a quality #5 then great..I don't care which one it is.

I voted for Ramirez.

[Taylor]

I voted for TBA. He always seems to pitch well against the Angels.

[ettin]

Ultimately the guys who have options to go down to the Minors will likely do so. Meyer has options. Ege was just sent down because he has options despite his stellar performance.

The Angels, I'm sure, would rather try and keep, at least for the first handful of weeks, as many of these guys as they can on the team rather than dropping them to waivers.

Guys like Parker, Yates, Petit, and Ramirez don't have the luxury to be sent down so they likely have spots if they continue to perform.

Chavez is on contract so he is the most likely to take up a starter role although Petit and Ramirez have made the case to do so as well. The best part is all three can move between the bullpen and rotation.

For me personally I selected Petit because he's showing his old form. ST stats do have some meaning but you shouldn't invest a lot of stock in it. A pitcher striking out a lot of guys does matter and a hitter striking out a lot does matter. The extreme performances do indicate something.

[Jig Stew]

5 hours ago, Chuckster70 said:

You keep my glaucoma out of this

[Norman]

well, from what I've seen...Ramirez

[Jeff Fletcher]

Parker and Petit are not on the 40-man roster 

[Ohtaniland]

After reviewing the options....let's just go with a 4-man rotation.

[SlappyUtilityMIF]

JC Ramirez!!!!!

I keep Petit and Norris in the Pen...Add them to BEDROCK, Parker, Bailey, Alvarez and somewhere Morin will probably be involved....

Chavez to me was a wasted hire! I've just never been a fan.

Meyer AAA gets his crap straight...

[Glen]

1 hour ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

Parker and Petit are not on the 40-man roster 

I like it when Fletcher comes in here and drops these mini-bombs.

I voted for Norris because we need a Bud on the team. 

[totdprods]

For a team with such little depth still, it surprises me how quickly people forget to consider the role that options and roster flexibility plays. For a team with middling expectations for 2017 and numerous health/depth issues, we should be erring on the side of caution when it comes to determining who starts the season where. 

Paker may be performing well, but I wouldn't say he's been significantly better than most of our other relievers this spring. He's out of options, meaning that if the pen is overworked early in the year (likely) and he's performing middle of the road (likely) and we need to bring up a fresh arm, we either have to DFA him because we can't option him and risk losing a solid depth arm or stick with him and demote someone with options. And as Fletcher said, it means we have to bump someone else off the 40-man...possibly losing that player for a very temporary asset in a journeyman out of options reliever. 

Keep him in AAA and let him be one of the first arms brought up when we need temporary relief help, and hope that when he gets that opportunity, he takes the bull by the horns and doesn't let go, much like what happened with Dane De La Rosa and Deolis Guerra.

Petit and Norris are a different story; both likely have opt-out dates and will have interest in exercising them early in the year if not by the end of ST. Pitchers with their amount of service time tend to jump orgs a lot when in the minors. Have them break camp with the big-league club, take advantage of their durability for the first month, and let them find new opportunity when our starters have stretched out and we have some more traditional pen arms needing opportunity (Middleton, Mahle, Ege, Parker, Yates, De La Rosa) - they can either be dumped if they're sucking, or dealt in a way like the Chacin trade we did last year.

[Jig Stew]

3 hours ago, Glen said:

I like it when Fletcher comes in here and drops these mini-bombs.

I voted for Norris because we need a Bud on the team. 

Then why not Bud Bundy?? 

[greginpsca]

I think Petit makes the team. I think Norris is let go.