Due to the broken body parts of Felix, Iwakuma, Paxton and some other guy that now litter Safeco Field, the M's have had to dig deep into the pasta barrel to find "major league" (used carefully with some of these guys) arms to fill the void. While a Fister or two was fairly available, we've rolled our own, to varying degrees of success. Here's a sort of report, from the peanut gallery, assuredly, of the guys we've trotted out onto the mound. Of course, I'm not including Gallardo (Thank goodness we've had his innings, but beyond that he's mostly been "Bleh!") or Miranda (currently our ace, he's mostly been good: 47 K's in 48 innings, btw).
Chris Heston: 5 innings, ERA of 21.60. 'Nuff said. But beyond that, didn't it look like he was playing slow pitch fast ball the other day? Did he throw this way when he chucked a no hitter? Can't be. 27 batters couldn't get a hit off of that? In case you think '17 is a SSS fluke, I will remind you that he threw 5 MLB innings in '16 and had an ERA of 10.80. That doubles his sample size to a whole TEN '16-'17 MLB innings, and his combined ERA to 16.20. Whew, maybe he isn't that bad, after all. That looks WAY better than 20+! Back in '15 he actually ran WHIPs below 20.7 (combined '16-'17), and was relatively decent. Something happened after that. He was pretty terrible in AAA in '16, tolerable this year. But as a MLB pitcher over the last two years, he makes even the Tuffy Gosewischs look like a Pinball Wizard, lighting up the scoreboard. If I never see him throw another game in a M's uniform I will not lament. Not even close.
Dillon Overton: 18.1 innings, ERA of 6.38, FIP not much better. OK, he's only walked 2 guys in those 18.1 innings, and one of them was an IBB, but the 4 homers and the scarcity of K's (3.9/9) mostly make him look like a BP pitcher. The ERA of 11.47 and the 17.8 hits/9 for the Orcs last year don't light up the Confidence scoreboard, either. He's given up 16 HR's in 42.2 MLB innings. Really. I'm not kidding. He had a 1.79 WHIP in Tacoma this season, which makes last season's 1.3 (Nashville) look Kershaw-esque. Once he moved past Rookie League, he's not given up less than 9 hits/9 innings at ANY level. Flat out, he's not very good. Please M's, never torture me with an Overton appearance again.
Ryan Weber: He fell apart and started spurting oil on the field in his first M's appearance. But he wasn't coyote ugly in his first 64.2 MLB innings with the Braves. OK, he wasn't pretty, as his ERA+ was 79, but that early him is a gazillion light years ahead of the last two years of Heston and Overton. I feel sorry for Weber, a bit; he's had a 1.17 WHIP in 40 MLB innings as a starter and he's been a terrific AAA pitcher, three years running. I won't cringe if we see him as a starter again. I promise.
Christian Bergman: Is 29 years old with a lifetime history of a whole 15 MLB starts before this season. In his 147.2 career innibngs, he was giving up about 12 hits per 9 innings. A Blue Chipper he isn't, although he's been decent in 80+ PCL innings over the past two seasons. Well, he's better than decent in Tacoma this season, sporting a 5-0 record in 5 starts and 29 innings. At age 25, in AA ball in '13, Bergman was pretty good, other than that, he's been organizational fodder. He's done well this year. There is not much reason to believe it will continue. Meh!
Chase De Jong: He's young (23), but his 24 innings of 11 hits/9, and a BB/9 that exactly equals his K/9 (4.1) doesn't inspire a lot of hope. OK, I will admit that he had 10 good Tacoma innings this year, and 142 really nice (1.02 WHIP) AA (Tulsa) innings last year. Since '15, his MiLB stuff has established himself as a MLB contender, about 8 hits/9 and about 8 K/9. I'm willing to see more, but not if we're playing for September. Well, OK, one more start and that might be it! Better yet, make him earn it from the pen.
Sam Gavligio: Comes with the least fanfare of the bunch, but had a pretty dang good 1st MLB start. Ove the last 3 seasons he has been pretty reliable in Tacoma, even better this year. He's had a career AAA 1.24 WHIP and gives up less than 9 hits per., in 197 innings. He was worse than that in AA, and isn't a top 25 farm guy, by any means. But he's thrown well enough in AAA to deserve a Safeco shot. He managed to stick to the wall for one start, at least. Compared to the much more "hyped" Heston and Overton, he's some kind of a Marichal or Kaat. Maybe he's figured something out. He certainly hasn't been atrocious and that alone beats some of the guys above. The fact that he's been way better than that gives him a couple more of fill-in starts, in my book.
Robert Whalen: While we haven't actually seen him, he's rumored to be a MLB starter, he's young (23) and does actually have MLB experience (Atl.) Maybe the rumors are right. He's 0-2 in Tacoma, walking 4 guys per, but only giving up 8 hits. His career MiLB H/9 is about 7, so there is some stuff there. He is wild, however. He's likely better than some of the guys above and we may see him sometime, although he's dinged right now. I'll tip a wee dram of scotch to Dipoto if Whalen takes the mound rather than Heston (Ick!) or Overton (Eek!). Of course, I would do that if we put a 78 year old Gaylord Perry on the mound, throwing 4 different variations of a slobber ball, rather than Heston or Overton.
Andrew Moore: Hurry him up, already! Sigh.
Drew Smyly: Who he?
Moe
