The Nationals Report

Nice short article from Sheinin this morning about the state of our pitching staff. He addresses the fact that gone are the Jerome Williams and Jason Simontacchi's from this year's Spring Training. They've been replaced with players of varying degrees of promise.

And interesting tidbit in here from Bowden:

"I'm not opposed at all to developing [Detwiler] out of the bullpen like the White Sox did with [Mark] Buehrle, and I'm not opposed to starting him in [Class A] Potomac and starting 20 games there," Bowden said. "A left-hander with that kind of stuff, as hard as it is to get lefties in the bullpen, I'm not opposed to a guy developing [in the bullpen] when he's that's close [to being ready] and has that kind of stuff. I believe in that."

I'm largely in favor of this because it gives young players, who are close to being ready, the chance to face real hitters in challenging situations. This gives them the advantage when its time for them to become an every 5th day guy that the team depends on. Also, with out shortage of lefty's out of the pen (not counting King), we might need his arm for reasons other than his own development.

What do you think about putting Detwiler (or other College level prospects) in the bullpen to get their feet wet?