Sporting Gurus: Zeth: Is Kenny Rogers Toast?

Skaboom! KaBlam! it’s over…Toasters is right!

Of course the point is obvious. Kenny Rogers is older than dirt, and when he goes out and gets lit up like a Christmas tree his first few starts, it automatically makes us think he may now be officially washed up, but the fact is, we don’t have enough information yet. It’s too early. The Tigers are going to keep running him out there for another two months at least (unless he hits the DL first, of course), because

1. They’re paying him $8 million, after all, and
2. A scenario involving the Tigers clearing 90 wins probably has to involve Kenny Rogers giving them at least something like average pitching. They don’t have much in the way of rotation depth.

...So, is Kenny Rogers toast? I think it’s better than 50/50 that he is, but I don’t see how Jim Leyland has any choice but to keep running him out there until he proves to everybody’s satisfaction that he’s finished. That’s another one of the reasons I’m not optimistic about the Tigers.