Friday night, the man who replaced Tom Gorzelanny on the roster when Gorzelanny went down with left elbow inflammation, Yunesky Maya, struggled yet again for the Nationals. The future for one of these pitchers looks pretty good. For the other, not so much. Via Ben Goessling of MASN.com:
When I was at Nationals Park yesterday for our first live chat with Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, I saw Tom Gorzelanny playing catch in the outfield, throwing from probably 90 feet or so. I'd guess he'd get on a mound in the not too distant future, and be back in the Nationals' rotation later this month. That's a good development for the team, because while Gorzelanny was tailing off when he went on the disabled list with left elbow inflammation, he was still pitching better than Yunesky Maya has so far. Maya gave up four runs (though three came in after Doug Slaten took over for him) in 4 1/3 innings. He also walked three batters, and gave up a home run, with most of the damage again coming in the fifth inning. He still has some time to sort things out, but he hasn't shown many signs of being a competent major league pitcher so far. He's got to command his fastball consistently for his curveball to be a weapon, and he hasn't shown he can do that yet.
That sounds like good news on Gorzelanny, but obviously the bigger concern here is Maya, who without an extremely strong performance next time out could be toiling in the minors again very soon. The Cuban righthander is 0-1 on the year, with a 8.00 ERA. The Nationals have actually never won a game started by Maya in his two year big league career. They are 0-7 in games started by Yunesky, spanning 2010 and 2011. With viable options in Syracuse, such as Craig Stammen and Tom Milone, Maya might not be long for the big league club.