Eric Surkamp will start Friday

Posted by Jason Wojciechowski on April 6, 2016 at 7:19 PM

It was all but a foregone conclusion that Eric Surkamp would get the call to start Friday in place of Felix Doubront, but now it's official. Jane Lee mentions that Jesse Hahn was an option, and John Hickey has been saying the same thing, but because he was optioned within the last 10 days, calling him up was only going to be possible if some other player went on the disabled list and Hahn was the replacement. With nobody else hurting, at least as far as we know right now, that means the list of possible pitchers was something like:

  • Surkamp
  • Chris Smith
  • Raul Alcantara

I can't tell you the first thing about Smith beyond that he's 35 years old, and the only thing in Alcantara's favor as far as getting the start would be that he's already on the 40-man roster.

Presumably Andrew Lambo will be optioned back out to Nashville when Surkamp comes up, seeing as how he didn't make the team, really, and was called up only once Doubront hit the DL. Surkamp's call-up will also require a 40-man moveā€•as always, this is a matter of guesswork. Andrew Triggs is my guess, as a reliever recently claimed on waivers and a 27-year-old who has only barely reached Triple-A. There's some talk that RJ Alvarez could be moved to the 60-day, but it seems like his surgery was minor enough that this would keep him out too long. Henderson Alvarez also seems too close to returning, especially after a good simulated game today, to put on the 60-day. Max Muncy and Tyler Ladendorf are the other 40-man members who look relatively expendable.