Spring training notes: the starting rotation.
Spring training notes: the starting rotation.
Yovanni will be fine, he is an ace in the making. I don't question his ability one bit, but the other guys are shaky.
Lets give it a rundown of the rest of the rotation. Randy Wolf is most likely our number 2 starter, Randy has been a career number 3 starter so things don't look good from the start. Wolf had his career best ERA last year with 3.23 in a pitcher friendly Dodger Stadium. His career avg is 4.13. His average record for his career is 12-10, not so great. This is slightly better than Suppan. The strange thing though is facing other teams in our division, he does pretty well, aside from the Cards (.370) no other team in the division hits him well they are all low .200's. Last year righties averaged .247 against him and lefties only .159. We are a pretty right handed heavy division so that might hurt a little. Randy is our first lefty in the rotation, now lets go on to the second one, our second pitcher picked up this offseason, Doug Davis.
Davis has been with the team before. He pitched with us from 2003-2006. He wasn't really missed. Davis' career ERA is 4.31, and last year he had an ERA of 4.12. That means he isn't very good folks. Sorry to burst the Doug Davis fans bubbles. Although his career ERA in the NL is slightly lower at 4.05, I'm not counting on too many wins from this southpaw. The most games he has won in a season is 13. Again, not good. The best thing he has going for him was a win against the Cubs in the post season when he was in Arizona. I don't care for Doug Davis and my sentiment is strongly felt by the rest of the writers on this site. Thanks for stopping Doug.
Next it gets a bit shaky with who will make the rotation, there are 3 spots taken and two left. The remaining candidates are Manny Parra, Jeff Suppan, and Dave Bush. For the love of God, I hope Suppan gets hurt or put in the pen.
Jeff Suppan sucks balls. His career ERA is a whopping 4.68. That shouldn't be good enough to make the team let alone the pen. In 15 seasons his win/loss record is 135/135. He has been making some serious bank from the Brewers for one good post season apperance with the Cards. Other than that he has sucked most of his career. I am really pulling for the team to cut him and let him go manage his restaurant.
Manny Parra would make up the third lefty in the rotation and that is what I'm hoping happens this year. I know, that is a lot of lefties for a divison with mostly right handed hitters, but Manny has the stuff legends are made of. I am a big Parra fan and you can quote me on anything I say about him. The man saved a baby from a submerging car, he jumped in front of a moving car to save an old lady, and he pounds the hole like no other. None of those may have really happened, but Parra does have huge upside and the guts to do any of them. Manny doesn't have the best ERA in the group or the most wins, he is 21-20, but he has potential. We have seen how great he is when his head is right. Can he control his emotions this year, I hope so, he should be a staple in the rotation with Yo for years to come. He has only been up for two full years and hasn't shown he can stay consistant. With the help of Rick Peterson , I think Manny can be our fourth or fifth stater. Which leaves us with one guy, Dave Bush.
Dave Bush is the man, if you don't count the first two innings pitched. He was our most consistant pitcher until he got smack with a line drive in Florida last year and wasn't the same since. Bush doesn't have the best stats, and he makes me nervous but he is still better than Suppan. I always pray Dave can get though the first inning or two and then it's usually smooth sailing. He is a good man to fill in our fifth spot until we get somebody at the trade deadline.
Next up, I'll try to take a look at our pen.
Ronald
Yovanni will be fine, he is an ace in the making. I don't question his ability one bit, but the other guys are shaky.
Lets give it a rundown of the rest of the rotation. Randy Wolf is most likely our number 2 starter, Randy has been a career number 3 starter so things don't look good from the start. Wolf had his career best ERA last year with 3.23 in a pitcher friendly Dodger Stadium. His career avg is 4.13. His average record for his career is 12-10, not so great. This is slightly better than Suppan. The strange thing though is facing other teams in our division, he does pretty well, aside from the Cards (.370) no other team in the division hits him well they are all low .200's. Last year righties averaged .247 against him and lefties only .159. We are a pretty right handed heavy division so that might hurt a little. Randy is our first lefty in the rotation, now lets go on to the second one, our second pitcher picked up this offseason, Doug Davis.
Davis has been with the team before. He pitched with us from 2003-2006. He wasn't really missed. Davis' career ERA is 4.31, and last year he had an ERA of 4.12. That means he isn't very good folks. Sorry to burst the Doug Davis fans bubbles. Although his career ERA in the NL is slightly lower at 4.05, I'm not counting on too many wins from this southpaw. The most games he has won in a season is 13. Again, not good. The best thing he has going for him was a win against the Cubs in the post season when he was in Arizona. I don't care for Doug Davis and my sentiment is strongly felt by the rest of the writers on this site. Thanks for stopping Doug.
Next it gets a bit shaky with who will make the rotation, there are 3 spots taken and two left. The remaining candidates are Manny Parra, Jeff Suppan, and Dave Bush. For the love of God, I hope Suppan gets hurt or put in the pen.
Jeff Suppan sucks balls. His career ERA is a whopping 4.68. That shouldn't be good enough to make the team let alone the pen. In 15 seasons his win/loss record is 135/135. He has been making some serious bank from the Brewers for one good post season apperance with the Cards. Other than that he has sucked most of his career. I am really pulling for the team to cut him and let him go manage his restaurant.
Manny Parra would make up the third lefty in the rotation and that is what I'm hoping happens this year. I know, that is a lot of lefties for a divison with mostly right handed hitters, but Manny has the stuff legends are made of. I am a big Parra fan and you can quote me on anything I say about him. The man saved a baby from a submerging car, he jumped in front of a moving car to save an old lady, and he pounds the hole like no other. None of those may have really happened, but Parra does have huge upside and the guts to do any of them. Manny doesn't have the best ERA in the group or the most wins, he is 21-20, but he has potential. We have seen how great he is when his head is right. Can he control his emotions this year, I hope so, he should be a staple in the rotation with Yo for years to come. He has only been up for two full years and hasn't shown he can stay consistant. With the help of Rick Peterson , I think Manny can be our fourth or fifth stater. Which leaves us with one guy, Dave Bush.
Dave Bush is the man, if you don't count the first two innings pitched. He was our most consistant pitcher until he got smack with a line drive in Florida last year and wasn't the same since. Bush doesn't have the best stats, and he makes me nervous but he is still better than Suppan. I always pray Dave can get though the first inning or two and then it's usually smooth sailing. He is a good man to fill in our fifth spot until we get somebody at the trade deadline.
Next up, I'll try to take a look at our pen.
Ronald
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