Poreda's route to Charlotte not kosher

It's been a rather puzzling year for the Sox number one pitching prospect, Aaron Poreda. After a pretty solid performance in Birmingham in '08, a stint in the Arizona Fall League and talk during spring training this year of a possible opening day roster spot, Poreda finds himself in Charlotte. Many of us thought a year spent in AAA would be the best thing for him as he needed to work on his secondary pitches and command while being challenged at a higher level of competition. That's where he is now but the path to get there may have stunted his growth.

Rather than start the year in Charlotte, he was assigned to Birmingham where he had more than held his own the year before. Some said they wanted he and Flowers to work together so it wasn't a huge surprise when he began the year there. The surprise came when after only 11 starts, he was promoted to the big show but as a reliever. We should assume sox brass thought he was not only ready but also our best option for a second left-hander out of the bullpen with Richard in the rotation. Ozzie didn't sound like he was so sure, making sure to point out to Poreda and the press at the time that this was not a developmental league and there were non stops daily to Charlotte if he didn't perform. Welcome to Chicago kid!

Ozzie may have been right as he pitched with mixed results mostly in low leverage situations. After announcing to the press that he didn't feel he could be trusted in tough situations he promptly put him in a game against Baltimore where Aaron, full of confidence no doubt,  walked two straight batters with the bases loaded in a tight game. Aaron, your flight was boarding to Charlotte.

So here we are, "stretching him out" for a starter again with a little over a month left in the AAA season. One would think if he gets a September call up it would be back to the pen with a now crowded rotation. I seems to me that we may not have gotten the development from him we were looking for this year and are left with more questions than answers as to where his future lies.