Should Cecil be given an opportunity to start?

[Steve Urkel]

Outside of Cecil's game in Boston where he gave up 3 runs in an inning and a third he's been great this season. With all these call ups of Ortiz, Jenkins (who both had nice games) and Romero (not as nice) should Cecil be given a chance to start?

I personally have mixed feelings about it as I think he has earned some respect and almost deserves a start but on the other hand I think he has shown that he can be a valuable middle reliever and I wouldn't want to mess with his confidence by him getting peppered in a start.

What are your thoughts?

[There There]

As an alternative to Ortiz (ugh), I thought the team would be better served to piggy back Lincoln/Cecil for ~ 3 innings each.

However after Jenkin's outing yesterday, I assume he'll be given Saturday's start over Ortiz and that would allow Cecil to remain in his current role, at least for now.

I doubt we'll ever see Cecil as a starter for this team though... even now with the crunch they are in, it would take a couple of weeks probably to stretch Cecil out enough to throw 75-90 pitches.

And even then, who knows if his velocity would carry over, as he would not be able to throw max effort efficiently as a starter.

And even though he has looked much better out of the pen, he is still struggling against righties and that would likely be exposed to a much greater extent if he had to go through a lineup multiple times.

[Forza Barca]

I listened to an interview of his on the Fan590, and he was adamant about staying in the bullpen and by his tone, disliked starting at any time in the season. Let's not ruin a good thing.

If he starts and gets rouged-up, it may kill his growing confidence. Which he will most likely carry back to the bullpen once we are healthy.

[Randle McMurphy]

No. Has found a niche in relief (the fact that he doesn't even want to be a starter is telling) and can't get righties out effectively enough.

His MLB career appears to be going down the Janssen road and there's nothing wrong with that.

[tecumseh18]

No. Has found a niche in relief (the fact that he doesn't even want to be a starter is telling) and can't get righties out effectively enough.

His MLB career appears to be going down the Janssen road and there's nothing wrong with that.

Exactly. We need guys who are playing a valuable role they happen to be good at. In fact, we need more of them, not less.

Do you think the A's thought about starting Dennis Eckersley after he had a few good relief appearances?

[J-Roc]

The question is should we have the opportunity to have Cecil start. And I don't think we've earned it.

[Cyrus]

No, far better LOOGY type than starting pitcher, we've seen enough of him as a starter.

[Nolan]

He's been great coming out the pen so far and he's said he doesn't want to start again so why ruin a good thing?