Starting Pitchers, Waivers, and The Marlins

[lou]

Good addition.

Although you'd imagine a "Pavano" to be the 4th starter at this point? right? RVH has been good, and maybe Miller/West get their act together, but if we get someone, it's going to be immediately a more consistent option than what we have more than likely. I'm sure we could lop 1/2 million off the Pavano incentives by smart management, but I think the point still stands as, are they going to pick up some portion of a $2 million contract? They firmly would not pay $1.8 for Nick Johnson.

I'd hope the Marlins would trade "RP prospect" for Pavano and $1 mil (clev eat 1/2), and suck up adding $1 to our yearly payroll for a legitimate shot at the playoffs. That seems reasonable to me.

[Swifty]

Yeah, I'd have to agree with you. If Pavano comes, he slots in behind Volstad. That said, I think the point remains that we'd still manipulate the rotation, if not to get the most JJ / Nolasco starts possible, but also to keep Pavano's incentives from hitting. I like Pavano, but the difference between him and a healthy Miller is negligible to the point where I wouldn't be upset if we screwed around and took a start or two from Pavano and gave it to Miller. So yeah, I hope we make this happen.

[Swifty]

Cross Pavano off the list, he didn't even get to us. Oh well, not surprising though.

But, let's add a new name:

John Smoltz.

He was DFA'd by the Sox, so they're on the hook for his salary. If we wanted him, we could pull a Helms/Cody $1 trade, or we could actually surrender a warm body. Or we can wait the 10 days and sign him as a free agent (however, we should just go for the trade so we don't leave his signing up to chance, and in either event, the Red Sox would cover the salary less the prorated minimum he'd be owed).

Food for thought on Smoltz:

As bad as he's been, he's still only walked 8 people in 40 innings; and K'd 33 in 40. Yeah, the 9 homeruns in 8 games are concerning, but he's still K'ing guys and keeping people off base via the free pass, he just lives and dies with the long ball. Sound like anyone we know? Yeah, I'll take a just DFA'd Nolasco as our 4/5 thank you very much. Get this done, please, the individual pitcher stats are somewhat encouraging to the extent that I'd like to say he can be a 6 inning national league 4th/5th starter.

[McLevin]

Yeah, I'll take a just DFA'd Nolasco as our 4/5 thank you very much.

With all due respect, if you are saying that the current Smoltz is the same pitcher as the current Nolasco, you have officially lost all credibility in my eyes

[FishFanInPA]

We had Al Leiter past his prime. That worked out well too.

[Swifty]

I don't think any one pitcher or player is the same as any other pitcher/player. People that say Kershaw channels Koufax, or that Petit was meant to be the Venezuelan Greg Maddux just make the comparison for the sake of simplicity. It's much easier to take a stab at saying _____ and _______ are similar because they both rely on the same stuff/approach/whatever to be effective and successful.

I don't understand why Nolasco is so far above criticism here and people feel that it's just impossible to say, well, Nolasco is great at not walking guys and great at striking guys out but he's only as good as the extra-base hits he allows.

To me, the whole point of this thread is to say that we've got to find flawed pitchers that most other teams don't want, will slide to us, or will clear waivers. Kind of like finding the fat chick with the pretty face or the girl with the great body but annoying laugh, these are not going to be ideal options, merely tolerable ones. If you think that Rick VandenHurk right now, Sean West or the ghost of Kirt Ojala is going to push us to the playoffs, you're sorely mistaken, and if you think the point of this thread is to say "X is better than anyone we have on the entire roster" you're fucking silly. We're shopping for a 4th and 5th starter, excuse me for thinking that it's worth taking a chance on a guy like Smoltz because I see some redeeming qualities in his stat lines.

[nny]

We had Al Leiter past his prime. That worked out well too.

And Al Leiter was putting up horrible peripherals before we signed him. Not the same with Smoltz.

I'd love for us to take a chance on him.

[McLevin]

I don't think Nolasco is above criticism

I just think comparing 09 Nolasco to 09 Smoltz is insane

And I don't think 09 Smoltz pushes us to the playoffs any more than RVH or West does. In fact, I'd take RVH or West over 09 Smoltz

09 Smoltz has been as ineffective as any pitcher I've watched this year

Is he worth a flier, heck why not, just keep your expectations extremely low

[nny]

I mean hell, the year before we got Leiter, he put up a 6 K/9 and a 5 BB/9. How is that even close to Smoltz's 7.5 K/9 and 2 BB/9?
--------------------

I just think comparing 09 Nolasco to 09 Smoltz is insane

Nolasco before sent down

k/9: 7.6
BB/9: 2.7
HR/9: 1.7

Smoltz

K/9: 7.5
BB/9: 2.0
HR/9: 1.8

[Mainge]

With all due respect, if you are saying that the current Smoltz is the same pitcher as the current Nolasco, you have officially lost all credibility in my eyes

Pretty sure he's comparing him to April-May Ricky.

[Ramp]

Check out Smoltz's periph's vs lefties. That's exciting stuff!

(this coming from someone that actually hopes we pick him up)

[McLevin]

Lefties hitting a robust .440/.490/.758 off of him

Let's throw him against the Phillies

[wanks1212]

smoltz is absolutely worth a flier

at this point, there's really nothing to lose by giving him a start or two to see if he can drop those hr's and become a viable back of the rotation starter

[Fish and Chips]

who about padilla? he just got DFA from the rangers.
4.92era 1.5whip 8HBP 10.0h/9 3.5bb/9 4.9so/9 1.0hr/9

[wanks1212]

padilla's peripherals suck