Lets just hope next time Lima or whatever fill-in has to pitch we don't face the ace of the other staff...
I honestly think we're going to go make an offer for Clemens now... and with 2 great pitchers, 2 good ones, and 1 hole he would fill our starting rotation. The facts that we are arguably the best team in the NL and that we'd have a stable pitching staff with him could entice him to come here; if the price is right.
Our payroll will go from 98-101 mill to easily over 120 if we go for him, I think the Wilpons are too cheap for that
Well we did have our payroll over 120 in the Mo Vaughn, Roberto Alomar Era so if Manaya can convince them that he's going to be a key part of the team in the quest to knock off the Braves as division champs and win the world series they may be willing to do it. And have Lima starting a key game in September? I'll take Clemens thank you.
I turned the TV off from disgust but looking at the Yahoo! thing I see Fortuano has given up 8 runs in 1.1 IP... how the hell can a pitcher be that bad? His ERA jumped from 5.40 to 27.00 today.
Lima won't start a key game in September if he pitches badly. We will eventually make a trade if we need to.
For who? Don't expect The A's to trade Zito if they're on top of the playoff hunt unless they get blown away with an offer... which would mean we'd have to trade Milledge for sure and possibly Pelfrey/Humber.
I don't know who. Some could overrate Zambrano's loss. We only need a 5th starter to do ok and if/when playoffs come we don't have to worry because they won't be pitching.
Not that I have anything to base this off of, but I could see them going after one of the Twins guys, Loshe, Silva, or Radke. Minnesota doesnt look like they have much of a chance with the WSox and Indians in the division, and they want to clear a spot in the rotation for Liriano. Radke is probably the guy they'd part with because he's 33 and is making $9 mil. All 3 of them are struggling big time (Radke: 3-3, 7.29 ERA, Silva: 1-5, 8.59 ERA, Loshe: 1-3, 9.71 ERA) however, but they've all been effective in the past. I'm assuming Minnesota could use a guy like Diaz because thier offense is downright anemic (most of their production is coming from Hunter, who sports a .241 AVG/.292 OPB). Again, this is just me playing GM, but it seems like a reasonable way to add a back of the rotation guy.
When I saw the score I figured it was just a standard Lima Time blowup, but in reading this thread I see that it was more subtle than that - he actually wasn't totally horrible (unlike Fortunato, with 8 baserunners in 11 men faced). It seems pretty obvious, however, that he's not a major league pitcher. Bringing up Heath Bell seems the obvious thing to do. It's hard to find complete minor league stats, but I know that he has 5 saves at Norfolk, so he can't be doing too badly, especially since the Tides are 6-17. And how about this dubious career achievement: his last save was his 100th career minor league save.
I would be alright bringing any of those 3 in as our 5th starter and would be thrilled if we can pull it for Diaz and an A prospect. Radke would be my personal favorite because he put up decent numbers against Oakland, Toronto, and KC and his numbers are only that high due to horrible starts against 3 good offensive teams (Yankees, White Sox, Tigers). He could make the move to the NL and have an ERA around 4, which is better then anything we're going to get from inside the system. Maybe Seattle will part with Moyer as there is really no chance they're going to make the playoffs at this point. His age is of course a scary thing but if he can pitch 6 strong innings like he has done in virtually all of his starts the past 2 years he would make an excellent 5th option. Also, in a less realistic view, the age of SF may force them to fade late in the year and Schmidt may come onto the market again.
It's pretty typical Bell, he's giving up more hits then you would like, 14 in 13 1/3 innings, but he's also got 20 k's in that time.
Sounds great. I say let Lima pitch 1 or 2 more starts until Bannister is healthy and then send him down for Bell and have a rotation of Pedro-Glavine-Trachsel-Bannister-Oliver until we can pull a trade or sign Clemens.
I'm able to overcome the Piazza-Yankees-steroids hatred for Roger, but I really can't see him coming to NY to pitch for anyone other than the Yankees.
