A few words of caution to any baseball fan hoping his or her favorite team will add a pitcher at the trade deadline: consider the case of Brian Lawrence.
Lawrence missed all of last season with a torn rotator cuff. He was smacked around in minor-league rehab starts this year and was cut by the perpetually pitching-poor Colorado Rockies. And even before his injury, Lawrence wasn't exactly the second coming of John Smoltz -- in 2005 he was 7-15 with an ERA of 4.83 while pitching his home games in spacious Petco Park in San Diego.
And yet several contenders, including the Mets, Tigers and Padres, are bidding for his services.
What does this tell us? There simply isn't much pitching available this season.
With trade prospects bleak, expect to see lots of youngsters and journeymen making starts for contenders when injuries hit. The Mets will start Jorge Sosa and his 27-40 career record in place of the injured Orlando Hernandez on Saturday. On Monday, the Yankees turn to rookie Matt De Salvo. DeSalvo will be the fifth starter to make his major-league debut for the Yanks this season.
Of course, some teams have more attractive options. The the injury to San Francisco's Russ Ortiz has created an opportunity for uber-prospect Tim Lincecum. Giants fans and fantasy players are drooling over Lincecum's potential -- in five starts for AAA-Fresno, San Francisco's top pick in the 2006 draft has racked up a 4-0 record with a 0.29 ERA and 46 strikeouts against just 11 walks.
Originally published at About Baseball
No comments:
Post a Comment