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At least two of these guys will get ten starts in 2018.  At least two.

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ARIEL MIRANDA - SO SAITH HQ

Looking at him from 3,000 miles away, HQ sees the sky covered with fly balls and 2.0 HR rate (!!) although "there are #5 SP skills here."  Their general sentiment is a terse one:  "Pass."

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ARIEL MIRANDA - SO SAITH THE MAINFRAME

Miranda has explosive -- well, at least "turbulent" -- stuff (above-average lefty FB, nice arm action on a fadeaway 81 MPH change they call a "slider") and he is early in his career.  It is a general baseball truism that you have to give some players time to build, to learn.

Whatever that 84 MPH pitch of his is, it's barely even seed money, and Dr. D will cheerfully admit that 2018 may be a developmental year.

The M's talk a lot about wanting that 2-3 inning Scot Shields / Chris Devenski type pitcher out of the bullpen; it seems to us that if Miranda (after 40 starts' experience) could be ready to crush that role if he went to his 2 best pitches for one trip through the lineup.

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ANDREW MOORE - SO SAITH HQ

MLB results were catastrophic but we (HQ) are sticking with the promise of his MiLB results.  If he can cut HR, he's got a path to quality ML pitching.

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ANDREW MOORE - SO SAITH THE MAINFRAME

He had a rising, cutting fastball and he "flashed" a plus change.  (Flash is a scout cliche but in this case if the shoe fits.  When Moore threw it the way he wanted, he got garbage swings, but overall the pitch misleadingly showed -1.22 on the runs count.)

Moore didn't throw the slider or change curve to ML standards, but as the season went on, he showed so spicy potential to locate the slider teacup-style to break just off the black - the way Hisashi Iwakuma does.

In fact when Hisashi Iwakuma himself got here, Jack Zduriencik sat behind home plate shaking his head grimly, with an obvious "no chance" demeanor, and Dr. D firmly insists that Moore is not far away from a game that MUCHLY resembles Iwakuma's, only with the plus change replacing the shuuto.  Moore will have to be fine to get there, but we think he's got that (and Iwakuma's makeup) in him.

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MARCO GONZALES - SO SAITH HQ

They acknowledge his plus changeup as a plus pitch, with its 14% SwStr rate last year.  But again from 3,000 miles away they see lots and lots of yucky in his other component skills and conclude, "no roster."

Bat571 has me intrigued with the INJURY-arc paradigm.  Marco can throw his change a lot better than he did in 2017 and he can finesse his FB location better as well.  When he does he's up into Mark Beuhrle territory.  When a man has a 7+ whiff rate, a 2+ walk rate, and is held back by a 1.8 homer rate, you know he is only some fine-tuning away.

Very simple solution too:  make him show that at AAA, or in the bullpen, that 78-80 MPH change he used to have.  When he gets there, start him.  What's the problem here?

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MAX POVSE - SO SAITH SEATTLEMARINERS.COM

They, and Jerry Dipoto, repent of their weird idea of converting Povse into a Chris Devenski type.  That seemed like a non-starter to us from the start. Dipoto gamely takes the fall for this and warns us baseball fans not to blame Povse.  Read the article; many edifying quotes within.

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MAX POVSE - SO SAITH DR. D

Have always loved Povse's ability to deliver King Felix TM pitch sequences, meaning a 7-pitch AB with 1 ball and nothing that F/X's inside the strike zone.  He's got downhill bite on a fully 95 fastball, good arm action on an 88 change, and "flashes" :- ) bite on a curve ball.

To date, he's been relying too much on "pitch to contact" (over 70% fastballs) and therefore has a tiny 5% SwStr rate.  But give him a chance to play the command off the secondary stuff and, with that 6' 8" downhill fastball, it's not hard to see a draw at the Jake Westbrook / Justin Masterson deck here.

Enjoy,

Dr D