Edinson Volquez has performed like an expendable good for the Reds throughout most of the season. It is generally unwise for a pitcher with a 6.35 ERA (who has given up five-or-more earned runs in three separate starts this season) to give his team a reason to become more frustrated with him. Since Volquez was once busted for using performance-enhancing drugs, we already knew he’s not all that bright.
Volquez was shellacked by the Indians on Sunday, allowing seven earned runs in only 2 2/3 innings of work. The average person would look at that line and assume the starting pitcher gave his team no chance to win, but Edinson saw it differently.
“I think everybody has to step up and start getting some runs,” Volquez said according to the USA Today. “The last five games, we’ve scored how many runs? Thirteen [actually 12] in five games? It’s not the way we were playing last year. We’re better than that.”
When you give up seven runs in less than three innings, the amount of runs your team scores really doesn’t matter. That’s probably why the Reds sent Volquez to AAA after the performance and the comments, and definitely why Dusty Baker said the team “hasn’t decided what to do with him.”
Moral of the story: if you’re pitching like crap, it’s probably a bad idea to give your team a reason to push you out the door.
