Thursday, January 22, 2009

Signings

A couple of real barnburners:

Alex Cora is already signed, sealed and delivered.

Freddy Garcia is imminent.

Oh. Good. Eeee.

6 comments:

dark commenteer said...

I think the Garcia signing is insurance for our next deal--Ben Sheets.

Sheets would come at a much lower price than Ollie, he pitches consistently excellent (when healthy), and does not have Boras for an agent.

I personally think it's a no-brainer. Bring in Sheets with an incentive-laden deal and let him be your #2. If he breaks down, odds are he will have won you as many games as Ollie would in a full season. Like I said, when he's pitching Sheets is lights-out.

Then you've got Garcia as a fall back. To quote the immortal Fred Dryer, "Works for me."

Fredo said...

Its a gamble. Your banking on Sheets to stay healthy which hasn't worked out too well for the Brew Crew the last few years.

Still, I like it better than what I fear is really coming: nothing.

Santana, Maine, Pelfrey, Garcia, Redding

Either treading water from last year or taking a step back, depending on what Garcia shows you. I'm not expecting a return to Cy Young form, but his 1.3 WHIP of 2-3 yrs ago could get him by as a #3.

But we certainly haven't improved.

SheaHeyKid said...

Well, this is exactly what I feared. By blowing the bank on two closers we shopped ourselves out of picking up another legit starter (lowe). So once we're down 8-3 in the 8th inning we'll be able to hand it off to putz and k-rod.

Can omar say TRADE?!? how many useless seasons is it going to take before he realizes that we should trade beltran or reyes and get a top-tier starter.

SheaHeyKid said...

Enough with the re-treads, and enough with banking on miracle healthy seasons when past performance dictates otherwise. We've been burned by Pedro, Duque, Glavine, etc.

Enough is enough. When you bring in the best (johan), you get the best. Let's stick with it.

Fredo said...

What do you think of Sheets, SHK? On the one hand, the guy's a top=flight starter. That's not just wishful thinking. Whenever he's able to pitch he's at a high level. It's not like you're hoping he reclaims form from 4 years ago, like Garcia.

On the other hand, he's hurt every year.

SheaHeyKid said...

A deal between Sheets and Texas is apparently all but signed, so it may be irrelevant. Sheets is tricky - he certainly is a legit #2 when healthy, and he has had full seasons with 200+ IP in his career. But, he had a lot of seasons in a row with injuries recently, and that trend would seem to argue that he'll miss at least 4-6 weeks this season. If Maine stays healthy that's ok, but...

I'm with you, that if the alternative is nothing he's FAR better. But I'd still like to see a trade of reyes or beltran to get a solid pitcher.