Unnecessary Worrying
The first few months of After Barry seem to be going as well as anyone could have expected. Brian Sabean appears to have woken up from his nearly decade long infatuation with over priced veterans at every position. In a well publicized conference call he came out and said that the team has to be ready to take chances with unproven young players in starting positions.
The newest rumor is that fallen prospect Andy Marte of the Indians is on the radar. Whether or not he will someday be a star isn't really the point. The key is that he is the type of player the team has to look at. Nine Andy Marte's could produce one Carlos Pena. That would go a long way over the next five years to making a competitive offense to go with Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and the rest of the staff.
This isn't new stuff. But in looking at the Marte rumor I saw what the Giants have that matches up well with the Indians is relief pitching. They know Joe Borowski isn't a real closer. If he implodes that moves Rafeal Betancourt out of the eighth and the team wants a player ready to step in to that role.
The Giants have a glut of relievers that are sitting just below that level, but Marte may be so far in the dog house it doesn't matter. I started looking first at Brad Hennessey, because 19 shinny saves can go a long way in creating an overvalued player.
But is Hennessey the new Joe Nathan? Both players began as starters, performed around average and then pitched somewhat better as relievers. Nathan had an ERA+ of 142 in 2003, compared to 130 for Hennessey this year. Hennessey's K/BB wasn't as impressive, but if you match the two up by age they follow a similar path (Especially age's 24 and 25 when both were starters). Nathan's 2003 was his age 29 season, 2007 was Hennessey's 27.
What kills the comparison is the huge jump in K/9 Nathan had in 2003, to over a K per inning. Hennessey isn't anywhere near that and probably wont be. But as I said Nathan was two years older than Hennessey, so we'll see how he progresses. But in an offseason where it seems like most people will be happy as long as Cain and Lincecum stay put, that there're are plenty of ways to lose talent for nothing. Taking a flyer on Marte is great, but that's no reason to just throw players off the bus.
The newest rumor is that fallen prospect Andy Marte of the Indians is on the radar. Whether or not he will someday be a star isn't really the point. The key is that he is the type of player the team has to look at. Nine Andy Marte's could produce one Carlos Pena. That would go a long way over the next five years to making a competitive offense to go with Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum and the rest of the staff.
This isn't new stuff. But in looking at the Marte rumor I saw what the Giants have that matches up well with the Indians is relief pitching. They know Joe Borowski isn't a real closer. If he implodes that moves Rafeal Betancourt out of the eighth and the team wants a player ready to step in to that role.
The Giants have a glut of relievers that are sitting just below that level, but Marte may be so far in the dog house it doesn't matter. I started looking first at Brad Hennessey, because 19 shinny saves can go a long way in creating an overvalued player.
But is Hennessey the new Joe Nathan? Both players began as starters, performed around average and then pitched somewhat better as relievers. Nathan had an ERA+ of 142 in 2003, compared to 130 for Hennessey this year. Hennessey's K/BB wasn't as impressive, but if you match the two up by age they follow a similar path (Especially age's 24 and 25 when both were starters). Nathan's 2003 was his age 29 season, 2007 was Hennessey's 27.
What kills the comparison is the huge jump in K/9 Nathan had in 2003, to over a K per inning. Hennessey isn't anywhere near that and probably wont be. But as I said Nathan was two years older than Hennessey, so we'll see how he progresses. But in an offseason where it seems like most people will be happy as long as Cain and Lincecum stay put, that there're are plenty of ways to lose talent for nothing. Taking a flyer on Marte is great, but that's no reason to just throw players off the bus.
Labels: Brad Hennessey, Giants, Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Transactions
posted by Chris at
4:04 PM
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