Luke Hochevar starts today against the Angels, with questions and uncertainties beginning to form around him.
Somewhat surprisingly, Dick Kaegel, in the story linked above, reports that Hochevar's "chances of making the Royals' pitching staff could hinge on Wednesday's start," although the overall body of the story does not necessarily lead to that conclusion. Between the usual coach-speak about competition and every day being important -- because if not, why be here at all? -- there's possibly only a tinge of gravitas to all this. Then again, Kaegel was there, and I wasn't.
"I'm still interested to see what Nomo looks like, John Bale has done good, Hochevar has done good, Kyle Davies has had one good one and one bad one. It's a big day for both Hochevar and Davies tomorrow."
Whatever the case may be regarding the veracity of the report, the important thing to remember is that whether Hochevar starts the season in Kansas City or Omaha is, ultimately, not very important. He'll be promoted eventually, no matter what Nomo or Bale or Davies do, its just a matter of when. And because of his contract status, there isn't even a financial or service-time manipulation issue at stake here: he's already on the clock. So perhaps all this really boils down to is whether Hochevar's entourage should start scoping out a nice apartment in Kansas City, or if they should hold off for a bit.
Late tonight I should have a new Radio Affiliate Profile up. The original plan was to post it yesterday, but I haven't had the time. Papers are due this week in my class, so I've had much more work to do than usual on that side of things. Mellinger's blog has a nice links post up, if you crave links. I also recommend checking out one of the newest KCR blogs, Royals on Radio, Etc.
Update [2008-3-12 15:14:2 by royalsreview]:
I may be wrong regarding Hochevar's contract status. See comments.