caught looking

a blog about the philadelphia phillies. not to be confused, exactly, with "caught looking" the debut album by independent/unsigned/unheard of singer/songwriter greg roth, who is, coincidently, yours truly.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Coldblooded

It's a little tough to think about baseball with snow on the ground. We're also in the middle of a job search, a new apartment search, throwing arm rehab, the holidays and, oh, did we mention we just had a birthday last week? Sabremetrically speaking, we appear to be entering the downside of our athletic career production, having posted more injuries than catches in last week's flag football game. Yes, we are busy.

But we'll suck it up.

Pat Gillick is reportedly making the most of his lifetime of connections by power-networking at the Baseball winter meetings in Dallas (no doubt, enjoying the non-Toronto, non-Philadelphia, non-Seattle, non-Baltimore weather -- what's with this guy's penchant for northern cities?) by facilitating the reporting of trade possibility after trade possibility after trade possibility. Most involve the Phils getting fairly reputable starting pitching, ranging from the promising (Mark Prior) to the overrated (Matt Clement) to the wildly overrated (Carl Pavano) to the Randy Wolf-like (Barry Zito), to the Barry Zito-like (Erik Bedard) to the Andy Reid-like (David Wells), plus a few others who's names whiz by like some fan telephone polls on the main street thoroughfare (Odalis Perez, Mark Redman, Jerod Weaver, Bob Lahblah).

Cook with the hotstove if you must, but either the Phils attain a pedigreed hurler or Ryan Madsen enters the rotation, hoping to provide the youthful promise and spark that as eluded Gavin Floyd to this point, save one night in St. Louis this past Spring. For the Phils to really make out in this deal, especially if dealing their best hitter, they ideally need to find someone who fits these criteria:

1. 3 years of major league service or more
2. Not in the last year of their current contract
3. A 3:1 groundball to flyball ratio
4. Can log over 200 innings consistantly
5. Has career WHIP under 1.3
6. Lefthanded, but not essential
7. Under 30-32 years of age
8. Limited injury history
9. Has mental durability to enjoy pitching in Philadelphia for a manger not particularly strong at handling pitchers.

As you can see, being serious also means being limited. By all accounts, after the first 8 points, Barry Zito really is the frontrunner or best deal. He momentarily stalls at point number 2, but otherwise fares as well as anyone put to the test (I believe he's a flyball pitcher, but how many lefthanded groundball pitchers are their, really?). However, number 9 is a different story. Zito is loved by many, but in many ways does not seem like he would pass the "Philadelphia test". He is a career west coast guy, having grown up in San Diego, played college ball at USC, and has been with A's ever since. He surfs, plays in a rock band (perhaps he can jam with Brett Myers), has a radio show, has appeared in a stage production, and is generally known to be hanging out. No one can doubt his talent or accomplishments, but he's a Hollywood guy. One has to wonder how a career Californian would react to being shipped to someplace where it actually snows.

To be perfectly circumspect, one has to wonder.

3 Comments:

At 8:33 AM, Blogger Tom Goodman said...

Zito is not coming here and your post makes the case as well as anyone possibly could. Plus, a lefty in this ballpark would want to see the fence moved back about sixty rows, not two, and the wall raised to a height somewhere in the vicinity of the Green Monster.

On that subject, Larry Bowa is quoted as saying the Phillies' plan to move the fence back and up amounts to "throwing a deck chair off the Titanic." Have I missed something here or is the Calm One not making any sense here? Why would someone throw a deck chair OFF the Titanic and what does that have to do with flyballs at the Bank? Signed: Willing-to-be-enlightened.

 
At 2:15 PM, Blogger Deanna said...

Eric Byrnes, one of my favoritest players and a career Californian until this year, took quite a hit upon being traded first to the mountains and then to the east coast. Despite the A's not generally paying humongous salaries, it always sounds like guys enjoy playing there, doesn't it?

I'd hate to see Zito leave the AL West anyway, because he's cute. Same goes for Jarrod Washburn, who fits about half of your requirements, and seems to be sort of sliding under the radar so far. We already know he looks good in red...

 
At 2:38 PM, Blogger gr said...

washburn might be an option if he was about half as expensive. looking at him and guys like him really makes me appreciate randy wolf circa 02/03 before the arm troubles.

 

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