Pitchers we didn't get - updated

I'll update this again. I think I got all the pitchers that reasonably came up in discussions.

We got:

Kevin Correia 2y/10m. 6 Starts, 3-2, 2.83 era, 143 ERA+, 41ip, 1.137 whip

Mike Pelfrey - 1y/4m. 6 starts, 3-3, 6.35 era, 64 ERA+, 28 ip, 1.694 whip

Fans suggested:

Joe Blanton - Angels - 2y/15m + 3rd option/1m buyout. 7 starts, 0-6, 5.66 era, 67 ERA+, 1.79 whip, 41ip.

Joe Saunders - Seattle - 1y/6.5m + option. 7 starts, 2-4, 6.15 era, 61 ERA+, 15bb/14so on season, 41ip

Francisco Liriano - Pitt - 1y/1m + 8m option. 5 MiLB starts.

Scott Baker - Cubs - 1y/5.5m. 60day DL

Carlos Villanueva - Cubs - 2y/10m - 7 starts, 1-2, 3.02 era, 132 ERA+, 1.00whip, 47 ip

Edwin Jackson - Cubs - 4y/52m. 7 starts, 0-5, 6.39 era, 62 ERA+, 1.632 whip, 38ip

Ryan Dempster - Red Sox -2y/26.5m. 7 starts, 2-3, 2.93 era 147 ERA+, 43 ip, 1.093 whip

Brandon McCarthy - DBacks - 2y/15.5m. 7 starts, 0-3, 6.75 era, 60 ERA+, 40 ip, 1.675 whip

Shaun Marcum - Mets - 1y/4m. 2 starts, 0-2, 10 ip, 7.20 era, 53 ERA+, 2.100 whip. Started season on DL.

Dan Haren - Nats - 1y/13m. 6 starts, 3-3, 5.01 era, 76 ERA+, 32.1ip, 1.454 whip.

John Lannan - Philly - waiver claim. 3 starts, 0-1, 6.14 ERA (68 ERA+), 14.2 IP , 4.3 K/9. Back on DL.

Brett Myers - Cle - 1y/7m. 3 starts, 0-3, 8.02 era, 49 ERA+, 21 ip, 1.594 whip. Back on DL.

Saunders has had a weird season so far with some good games some terrible, and I'm not ready to give up on him being an asset, but his overall numbers aren't good at all in this table - I'm sure other pitchers can say the same about their one good start.

 

Gunnarthor, an additional bit of info that would be useful in your table, some work for you one time but not needing updates, is the contact (years, dollars) each pitcher eventually signed for. I was in favor of giving Lannan a try, not because the odds of him turning out well were as high as for the others but because the cost of signing him would be nearly trivial. (I.e. no point in hoping for a deal that doesn't exist in Ryan's universe.)

That's the first set of numbers. I probably should have made that easier to read.

Those are some really ugly numbers overall. Wasn't Anibal Sanchez mentioned a time or two this offseason?

I don't think he was ever a realistic possibility for the Twins. Frankly, I'm not sure Jackson or Dempster were either.

Kevin Slowey:

 

7 GS / 1.81 ERA / 44.2 IP / 211 ERA+ / 0.94 WHIP / 7.3 K/9 / 1 year $750K

 

Sorry, had to don't know if it belongs more here or in Fun with Numbers though..

I'm not sure anyone suggested bringing him back but he's certainly the type that would have been under normal discussion.

Pelfrey's numbers are right with them......Correia's will be there shortly

I doubt Correia finishes with a 60 ERA+. But the more important point, in my view, is that this starting rotation has managed to hold up early in the season. As the season goes on, we'll have some reinforcements - Gibson may be up soon, with Hendriks and Deduno behind. Had we rolled the dice on Baker and Marcum and Blanton .... we sure wouldn't be .500

What is the risk of not having any good pitchers, because you don't want to risk money? I'd say that risk is much more likely to be a problem, than spending money on good players maybe not working out. Just ask Pittsburgh, or KC, or Houston, or any number of other teams how well only building for the future and never signing players works out. There is another side of the coin that those that are afraid to spend money don't seem to think about.

Or, we could ask the Twins, Rays and A's who have been competitive with low payrolls b/c they didn't waste money on risky free agents and instead built with cheap young talent.

I think the Twins should spend more in certain circumstances but this year was not one of them so I don't really care about the payroll as much. In 2010 they had a large payroll and expect in the future they will again.

Or we could ask how many World Series have The Twins, Rays and A's won over the last two decades? The goal should be to win the world series not just be competitive on occasion, shouldn't it? I'm not saying the Twins can or should spend like the Yankees, but there are times it makes sense to open the wallet and pay for the top of the line guy. They seem to get it with guys like Mauer and Morneau, but have refused to do so with Pitchers.

 

Including the Twins in with the Rays and A's is also a little strange to me, since both of those organizations apply and use advanced statistical analysis to try and offset some of their lack of funds. The Twins have for years ignored that and this off season, despite saying they now included this analysis in their decisions, signed two poster boys for the "scouts said he was good" camp.

So you think the year the Twins should open up their wallet is after a 96 loss season? Sanchez and Grienke would have made this team into a WS challenger? That makes sense to you?

Only teams that might apply advanced stats know how to save money? Surprising. Ryan was the only GM of a small market team that kept his team competitive while changing out the nucleus of his team. And moneyball's author first wanted to write about Ryan and the Twins and went to the A's only after Ryan said no.