Nieve hasn’t shown the control needed to come into a meaningful game situation with runners on base. He won’t be able to get enough work at the big league level based on what he has done. He needs lots of work to get his command back after the TJ surgery, and he can do that at AAA.

I wonder if he’s just keeping it warm for Rodriguez then… maybe he’ll be the one to go back down.

The only other choices I’d see would be Moehler or Sampson, both have had mixed success as starters, while Borks has mostly been just flat out bad. His numbers actually weren’t too bad going into the last outing, but he hadn’t pitched in a single game with a lead that he didn’t give up at least one run. All his success had been in mop-up duty.

One of Moehler or Sampson will lose their spot in the rotation when Wandy comes back. The question is, will they be better out of the ‘pen than Borks? Then the next question will be, will Cassel stick around once Geary returns or will another of the three mentioned get the boot. I suppose we’ll have a few opportunities to see Cassel out of the ‘pen before that decision needs to be made.

For what it’s worth, I think Sampson is the only one of the three that wouldn’t need to be DFA’d. Somebody might correct me, but based on both of their MLB service time, I’m making the assumption that neither Borks or Moehler have options. My understanding of those rules is a bit fuzzy.