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Q.  Where is he going into the offseason?

A.  Erasmo Ramirez, if he qualified, would rank in the AL's top 10 for ERA, FIP, and xFIP.  That's because few pitchers fan 7 men per game and walk 2, not unless they're giving in like Colby Lewis does, and coughing up a ton of homers.  If you've been watching a ballgame now and then, you're not encumbered by the hackneyed "small sample size" cliche here.  Erasmo does not, and will not, walk batters, end of story.  And he's got dangerous weapons.  He can and does finish off 2-strike counts - against anybody.

Let's call this the 7K, 2BB template.  Precision pitchers, totally reliable command on a game-in game-out basis.  Who are not overwhelming, but who are dangerous enough to put hitters away and embarrass them.

AL starters in this category include Dan Haren, Jered Weaver, Jake Peavy, Doug Fister, Erasmo Ramirez and Hiroki Kuroda.  That's it.  Roy Oswalt when he's right; you could argue Colby Lewis though I wouldn't, because the rising gopheritis and fading precision are worrying.  Troy Patton of the Orioles is coming on and will be a huge roto sleeper in 2013.  

Erasmo has not certified himself as a Dan Haren or Roy Oswalt, yet.  That's an important fact.  And it's the only thing separating him from those other guys:  having sustained it over 300+ innings.

It's not a given that Erasmo can handle 200 innings, not by a long shot.  And the same goes for Mr. WBC-san.  Jason Vargas doesn't grow on trees.

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Q.  Fister y'say?

A.  Around the 5th inning Sunday, the tired (?) Erasmo sailed three or four real sloppy 90 MPH fastballs high and armside.  Disgusted, he shook his head, mashed the re-set button and ... came back with 8 strikes in a row.  Blowers aptly pointed out that there are a lot of young pitchers who don't fight through that so quickly.  Ramirez' makeup is, as Gordon has always said, Fister-like.  You don't have to sweat Ramirez' composure out there, at any time.

..........

Dr. D was jazzed to see a 4th pitch on Sunday, also.  Ramirez threw 6-8 really sharp 75-77 MPH curveballs, power curves rolling straight down off the top of the table and IIRC the A's were locked up on all of them.  ... One lefty, he started with a 76 MPH overhand curve and .... came back with a changeup for 0-2.  A changeup after a change curve?!

Fister used his glorious mechanics and hard wrist snap to add pitch after pitch and now he throws 39 different identifiable pitches.  Erasmo, Sunday, showed flashes of doing exactly that.  ... and as he started mixing in his change curve, he got onto a roll wherein 13 consecutive A's hit only one ball out of the infield.

Fister didn't start off dominating.  Over the period 2009-2011, he was a snowball rolling downhill.  Eventually he took out the ski lodge.

..............

Doug Fister will always have angles that Erasmo doesn't, and Fister has that "hidden velocity" based on the close release point.  Ramirez will never have those things.  But on the other hand, Ramirez has more juice in the arm.  He's comfortable at 93-95 MPH, whereas Fister labored at 88-90 MPH for quite a while.

I'd rather have Doug Fister than Erasmo Ramirez, but Erasmo is the next best thing in the AL right now.  That's how roto championships are won:  your rival takes Dan Haren in the 3rd round and you take Erasmo in the 8th.

Yeah, Erasmo turned out to be Fister, pretty much.  

BABVA,

Dr D