What happened to Cook?

[TuffGuy84]

I knew that Osborne was being lifted in favor of Fusilier on Friday night, but what happened to Michael Cook on saturday?

Is robe moving him to a different day, bullpen, or is he injured?

[raginsaints]

I think it comes down to him not pitching well enough to be one of our top 3 starters. His ERA was even worse than Osborn's. Haagen didn't do well in his start so I don't know if we'll see him starting on the weekend again.

[TuffGuy84]

I figured it was something like that, but I just hadn't heard. I'd have thought that cook would have a little longer leash due to the fact that he was able to show last season that he could be an effective weekend starter, Osborne had yet to really prove anything. I think Broussard stepped up and took control of a midweek spot though. The question to me becomes who to put as the saturday starter, Cook or Osborne and who goes into the pen.

[raginsaints]

Some guys work better out of the pen than others. Osborne was great out of the bullpen, we don't know if Cook would do the same. Maybe Haagen would be better if given another chance, I think he might be best suited a late innings guy..nothing wrong with that, those guys are extremely valuable.

[TuffGuy84]

_ Some guys work better out of the pen than others. Osborne was great out of the bullpen, we don't know if Cook would do the same. Maybe Haagen would be better if given another chance, I think he might be best suited a late innings guy..nothing wrong with that, those guys are extremely valuable. _

Frankly, I'm against Haagan as a starter because he's a late inning lefty...to say he's valuable in that role is a VAST understatement. Osborne looked outstanding out of the pen, but he hasn't been all bad this year, he has 2 good starts this year as well. I am starting to become more confident in our pitching staff as a whole as opposed to a few very good individual pitchers.

[cajun2bag]

I got an idea...if Broussard throws well on Tuesday, lets make him the Sunday starter and move Wilborn to Saturday. We could use Cook in Mid-Week games until he gets out of this little funk he is in.

[USLJim]

_ Frankly, I'm against Haagan as a starter because he's a late inning lefty...to say he's valuable in that role is a VAST understatement. Osborne looked outstanding out of the pen, but he hasn't been all bad this year, he has 2 good starts this year as well. I am starting to become more confident in our pitching staff as a whole as opposed to a few very good individual pitchers. _

Osborne's first start against Nebraska was a good one, NO OFFENSE lead to his loss, 2-1 if I remember. He sure looked good Saturday.

GEAUX CAJUNS

[cajun2bag]

Nebraska prolly hadn't been outside since the summer! Lets not use that weekend to compare how good our pitchers are. It was basically Nebraskas first time to see live pitching!

[wcd35]

I honestly expected to see Cook at some point, but I was still happy with our pitchers, for the most part.

Midweek 1: Broussard (has to do it again since he only has 1 start, but UH will get shut down tomorrow)
Midweek 2: Cook (???)

Friday: Fuselier
Saturday: Osbourne
Sunday: Wilborn

Other options: Haagen and Wascom

Its difficult to set a staff right now because you want to get all of these guys chances, but Cook will have to float around as a reliever otherwise, you pull Broussard back to the pen like last year and give Cook the Tuesday start. Either one would be valuable to get a lot of innings if one of our starters has a bad start to a game and we need someone for 5 or 6 innings.

I think our boys are starting to come around. Osbourne came out with a fire lit under him probably due to not getting a weekend start.

Also, I think Bulliard needs some more innings. He got some bad luck in his 2 appearances to get to 0-2, but his ERA is one of the best and opponents were batting .190.

Bullpen (in some order that can be mixed up):
Cook or Broussard
Haagen (closer for now)
Bulliard
Wascom
Lackie
Wagley
Robichaux (back to closer once he has his stuff)

[rhineaux]

_ I got an idea...if Broussard throws well on Tuesday, lets make him the Sunday starter and move Wilborn to Saturday. We could use Cook in Mid-Week games until he gets out of this little funk he is in. _

I'm going to be cautiously optimistic with Broussard. He's never shown that he can put two good outings together. Last year, he looked great against the SLC teams, but not so hot in Conference and in other mid-week appearances. Obviously he could have gotten a lot better since then, so we'll see. And, this game that Robe is playing with them now, i.e. not telling them who'll start until the day before, might do Broussard and the others, like Cook, a lot of good. This might be why I think there's a chance you might see Cook start tomorrow night. He's keeping them on their toe's, which is keeping them hungry, and the only one it hasn't worked for yet was Haagen, but that was his first D-1 start, so he'll get a pass from me.

Cook's problem could have been due to him pressing because of a lack of run support, or perhaps a little over-confidence or big head due to being the only returning starter, or maybe both. But, he's shown that he's got a lot of promise, and if he regroups and finds that fire again from having to compete to get his job back, then you'll probably see the Mike Cook that we expect to see.

[cajun2bag]

I agree with you rhineaux!

Cook is going to have to log innings for this team to be successful.

[wcd35]

Definitely. Mike Cook on his game is arguably our best starter.

[cajun2bag]

_ Definitely. Mike Cook on his game is arguably our best starter. _

I disagree, when Wilborn is on his game he is the best. If that dude could throw more strikes, he has the best stuff on the team. I am not sure Mike has good enough stuff to get through the lineup of one the elite teams twice. Wilborn has the stuff to do it, but just can't seem to stay in the strikezone!

[wcd35]

_ I disagree, when Wilborn is on his game he is the best. If that dude could throw more strikes, he has the best stuff on the team. I am not sure Mike has good enough stuff to get through the lineup of one the elite teams twice. Wilborn has the stuff to do it, but just can't seem to stay in the strikezone! _

Yea, really its splitting hairs, because both guys have shown they can dominate when on. Wilborn looked fantastic for a good bit of the game yesterday. Obviously he throws heat and gets a lot of K's but his fastball had really good movement yesterday and he was able to mix it up some and really kept them off balance at times. He cant rely too much on the fastball as seen with that first HR, but he was solid the rest of the way for the most part. And of course, there is a reason all the scouts show up to watch him.

We have seen Cook do great things already in his brief career. He has a lot to learn but can be a great pitcher when he develops consistency and confidence. Also, the run support this weekend had a good bit to do with how we pitched.

[ManAboutTown]

Robe went with Blake in game two because of two things: UALR struggles against left-handed pitching, and Haegen earned a shot a start with his relief performance against FAU. Cook is fine, and I wouldn't be surprised if he got a few innings in Houston. I would also argue that "stuff" wise, Wilburn is our most Dominant starter when he is on his game. Mostly because he is a lefty, and his breaking ball is sharp and bites hard when he's got his a game working.

My concern is Tyler Benzel. Anybody know whats up with him? He was hot early, played the best defensive third of anyone, and now he has sniffed the lineup in over a week. Is he injured?