The roller coaster that has been 2011 for Tim Stauffer has been quite the ride.  Before spring training manger Bud Black hinted that Stauffer had not yet cemented a spot in the rotation at the Padres annual awards dinner.  A few months later Tim was the opening day starter for the team in St. Louis.

Coming off a stellar 2009 Stauffer put together a 6-5 record appearing in 32 games, seven of which he started.  His 1.85 ERA was staggering, but he only threw 82 2/3 innings.  After his start on Monday, Tim is now at 173 2/3 innings for 2011 and it shows.

Tim was cruising along through 20 starts, after his start on July 19^th, it appears he hit a wall.  If you take a look at his first 20 starts compared to his last nine starts, you will see my concern.

The question now is, should the team shut Stauffer down for the rest of the season.  In a season that has seen Clayton Richard and Dustin Moseley with season ending injuries, I feel that the Padres need to error on the side of caution with Stauffer.  Stauffer has hit a wall and in a lost season, I see no glory in having him go out and continue to stuggle.

Since July 19^th his ERA has gone up a full point from 2.83 to 3.83, his K to walk ratio is terrible and guys are squaring up his pitches.  With that said, I think it’s closing time for Tim Stauffer’s 2011 season.