A good way to think about Gabe White may be as the anti-Gryboski. I know I talk too much about Gryboski and these reliever profiles are in danger of turning into a long comparison of everyone with my least-favorite reliever, but this one makes sense.
- Gryboski is righthanded, White is lefthanded.
- Gryboski is an extreme groundball pitcher, White an extreme flyball pitcher.
- In consequence, Gryboski rarely allows homers, while White allows a whole bunch.
- Gryboski has a nearly even strikeout/walk ratio, while White’s is better than 3:1.
- Gryboski, of course, allowed six unearned runs last year, while White has allowed seven in his entire 562-inning career.
- Gryboski’s platoon splits are far greater than White’s, but Gryboski is allowed to face everyone while White is often pigeonholed into a LOOGY role.
- Gryboski is a cheap commodity starting to get expensive, White was once an expensive commodity but is now cheap.
- Hardly coincidentally, Gryboski is coming off his best season, White his worst.
White began his career with the Expos in 1994 but has spent most of it either on the Reds, being traded from the Reds, or about to be traded back to the Reds. His best year, oddly considering his homer problems, came with the Rockies in 2000, when he had a 2.36 ERA in a 5.19 ERA environment. He also allowed only six home runs, accounting for much of his success after he’d allowed 30 combined in the previous two years. He proved that it was a fluke by allowing 18 the next year. He was good back in Cincinnati in 2002 but his career decayed after that, and last year with the Yankees and then back with the Reds he had a 6.94 ERA.
He still has good strikeout/walk data, but gave up too many fly balls and too many homers last season, and opponents hit .294 as well. He’s a project. If Leo can get White to get more ground balls without losing his control, he’s a chance to be good again. It’s worth the risk for $600K.
Good points all around. He definitely needs to find a way to bring that BAA down. But fly ball pitchers can thrive at Turner Field, so it’s definitely a good risk for the price.
The clock is ticking on Hudson.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=mlb&id=1999078
“We had a bunch of different conversations with the Braves. They’ve been positive,” Cohen said. “Obviously, we’re apart financially. We’ll continue to have discussions. I think there’s a chance it could get done.”
This to me sounds like it is little things, and they are gonna get it done. I am less worried about that and more worried about the outfield. Mondesi sounds like he will be back to his oldself, but jordan is scaring the crap out of me.
“I am optimistic about everything,” Hudson said. “If things continue progressing the way that they are, I don’t see why something can’t get done.”
Sounds like there’s good chance we’ll be able to lock him up.
I agree that so far Mondesi looks like a good deal. It’s hard to judge just form comments from the team, but by all accounts he seems to be in excellent shape and ready to work. I guess we’ll know better as spring training gets under way. I wouldn’t say I’m scared about Jordan at this point, I see it as a toss up.
I can’t post it right now, but there’s an article in the Huntsville Times today about Mondesi.
Rumored Hudson signing on AJC now (stole the link from Primer):
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/sports/braves/0205/26hudson.html
To elaborate on the specifics mentioned in the article, we’d get him for 3 years at 11 mill per, plus two vesting option years based on innings pitched. In other words, we’d pay 39.5 million for 4 years of Tim Hudson (including this year)… which is less than what the Yankees will pay for 4 years of Carl Pavano. They’re the same age. Which would you rather have?
“I know what I’d be worth on the free agent market,” Hudson said. “I don’t care about the money. It’s about being where my family wants to be, and being with a winning organization, one that’s committed to winning.”
I’m getting shivers just reading that.