could always be our closer in that event…

I’m more concerned about injury/long-term damage to his arm for the Royals’ purposes. It may be a small increased risk, but it’s definitely not something he’s been doing over the last couple years. Plus, he might be more likely to push himself due out of a sense of pride, lack of other starting options, etc.

I wonder if the Royals told him he couldn’t start to minimize injury risk.

I will shut up forever.

With the really wimpy pitch counts (65 in first round, 80 in second) they are limited too, and mandatory rest there is no big risk involved.

Royals have the decision on whether he starts.. and clearly they would never risk injury for there MLB team because of the mans country pride… no way at all

It would be awesome. But I do worry about injury risk in this case, with no real buildup to higher pitch counts. I think the most he threw was about 30 in one appearance last year.

Regardless (Craig Brown, or is it Clark, stop staying "irregardless" already. I know the dictionary may say it’s legitimate, but come on, "regardless" is so much cleaner, neater, eloquent). Regardless, I can’t wait to see what happens.

I prefer Irrespectivegardlessly

Because 1) it would be unnecessary and dangerous wear and tear on his arm (when added to the full season of pitching he’d have with the Royals, and 2) it wouldn’t affect the likelihood that he ever becomes a starter for the Royals (which is approaching zero).

saying that 65 pitches is the cap by a pitcher. Does anyone know if this is true or did I just mishear it.

And he’ll only need the 80 pitches.

Having Soria throw a lot of pitches before season is a bad thing, agreed.

There are two things to consider: 1) How much control does Moore have over Soria’s pitch count in the WBC? Unless it’s written into his contract, none. No major league team can dictate what a player can and can’t do in the offseason unless it’s written into his contract. Now, Dayton can certainly have a meeting with him and impress upon him what he’d like Soria to do, and not to do, but he can’t force Mexico to refrain from using him as a starter, and can’t force Soria not to start.

2) The “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” premise only holds if we don’t know what he’d do as a starter. And we’re probably about to find out what he’d do as a starter. We’ve had the Soria-as-starter vs. Soria-as-reliever argument ad nauseum over the last two years, and I believe (correct me if I’m wrong), that the conclusion by analysts like Craig and Clark at Royals Authority, Rany, and at least a couple of others is that good starters are more valuable than good closers.

Here’s why I can’t let go of it: closers don’t typically have four plus pitches. Soria throws at least three great pitches, and maybe four. That’s why I’ve never bought into the Mariano comparisons; Mariano has two pitches. Really, he only has one. Soria is a completely different pitcher. He’s a pitcher, not a thrower, and his mechanics are fluid, no whipping action of the arm, I don’t he’s nearly the injury risk some do.

So, irregardless of the fact that throwing pitches before the season is a bad thing, I want Moore and company to be forced to watch him as a starter. I mean, what if he’s Johan Santana?