Seattle Sports Insider

Dr's R/X

#5-#6 Starters

Tough Choices

Posted by

jemanji

6/19/14

Erasmo

Since we first saw him in the minors, we've talkd about an unusual set of strengths and weaknesses:

PRO

Maddux-, Fister-like command and mechanics
Very fine arm action on the chageup
A track record of stringing dominant starts at times
etc

CON

Short stature, short stride, fastball is optically slower than it is on the gun ....
... so he has to be very careful about out-and-over pitches

That last line was true of Maddux and Moyer and Fister, of course.

...........

In Erasmo's last three games, he has locked down enemy lineups --- 0 runs in 15 IP on 11 walks. Look close, because you'll never see that again.

But it is a first step forward for Erasmo, the realization that he can never throw a fastball out-and-over, as a mistake pitch.

Maurer, Beavan

Pass on

Hammel or Other Trade Target

We asked an amigo the other day, "Supposing you went out and got Jason Hammel. Are you really going to keep him in front of Elias, and Taijua, and K-Pax, for two years?"

The reply was eminently logical. "What are the chances that all three of those young pitchers will out-perform Hammel?" Pascal to the rescue! ;- )

..........

The thing is, Dr. D is using a different paradigm here. Taijuan Walker, and James Paxton, are the two biggest assets possessed by this organization except for Felix, Cano, and perhaps Iwakuma.

James Paxton has thrown exactly 6 games in the big leagues, and the results were: he locked down 6 consecutive playoff teams. This constitutes one of the all-time great 6-game runs to start a career in the majors.

Taijuan Walker, if he's 22 years old and healthy, is more talented than Paxton. Those two pitchers would seem to be givens.

Swing Men

Jack Zduriencik, in making offers for Hammel, or Samardzija, or whoever, has said that Paxton and Walker are "short-term issues" and that he wants to go to war in 2014. Fine. You grab Samardzija, slot K-Pax and Taijuan behind him, and deploy TWO swing men behind them (Elias and Young). Guys like Beimel and Medina/Leone make way for the sensational two swing men.

By the way, supposing you got Hammel or (Gasp!) SAMARDZIJA in here for Erasmo/Maurer. And then suppose Taijuan or K-Pax was ready to go.

Would Chris Young or Roenis Elias make way for Taijuan, and move to the Earl Weaver role in long relief? Think about it. Roenis Elias might be very well suited to a 2H in long relief: take some pressure off the arm, learn the league, do some thinking ...

Blog:

Dr's R/X

Comments

Hammel

Hammel would be a short-term guy in Seattle....for the duration of this campaign. But he would be a valuable one. No issues here. But to tell you the truth about Samardzija, 'gimme Elias. I think. Man, he's stil learning....and he's running a WHIP way lower than Samardzija's career best (this year). And Walker. And Paxton. Well, if their arms function. Next year, Samardzija might well be our #5, even if Walker or Paxton didn't pitch. But what a #5 he would be. And it's worth remembering, there is no guaranteed 'Kuma beyond next year. Safeco might save Samardzija 5 homers a year. He's spendy...but nice. I would ratehr we paid for a bat, if I get my 'druthers, though.

Samardzija turned down 5/80ish from the Cubs

So he's gonna be a rental. We'd get him for this stretch run and all of next year, and that could be pretty, but for what we'd have to give up to make that happen it may be easier to just get Hammel for this stretch run.
If Hammel also had next year on his tag, I'd be thrilled to get him. Harder to rent people for 3 months when you can't get draftpicks back for em. As it is, we'll see how we wanna improve this team. I'm not at all against adding an arm... as long as we're getting a bat as well. And if we need to include Walker or Paxton in a trade for said bat, then getting a pitcher makes a lot of sense... depending on the price.
Thanks for the article series Doc! Our pitching looks strong and might get stronger with a trade. Taijuan pitched last night and gave up a bunch of runs, but most of em were unearned. He still looks set for a promotion as soon as his next start - unless we wanna play games with his service time, I suppose.
Felix / Kuma / Hammel / Walker / Elias looks pretty ferocious, more so once we get them a few more teeth in the offense backing those quality starts.
~G