M’s Claim Yusmeiro Petit
The M’s continue to collect moderately interesting, low upside pitching without expending any resources. This time, they’ve claimed Yusmeiro Petit off waivers from the Diamondbacks. Petit is a Cha Seung Baek kind of pitcher – throws a lot of low velocity junk in the strike zone, gives up a ridiculous amount of fly balls (and correspondingly, home runs), but gets a decent amount of strikeouts because he’s willing to go upstairs with the fastball.
He’s not good, but he’s not horrible either. Safeco could help reduce his HR problem, which is his biggest issue, but as a right-hander with a minor league fastball, he’s kind of a worse version of Doug Fister. He’s certainly not one of the 11 or 12 best pitchers in the organization right now, and he’s out of options, so he can’t be stashed in Tacoma without clearing waivers.
He’s not a bad guy to have in spring training. If his change-up or breaking ball improves or he learns a two-seamer or something, he might turn out to be an okay back-end starter. Otherwise, he’s just a replacement level arm. But he was free, so the M’s have picked up a guy who might turn out to be useful for a few innings without paying anything to get him.
This is what freely available talent looks like.
Let the offseason begin.
WHAT THE…??? I don’t get it. Lump him in with Vargus, Fister, Batista, French, Jakubauskas, Olsen, and Silva? Does that make the team any better? It looks like just another warm body that is Replacement Level…or worse. I’m not terribly impressed especially since he didn’t shine in the NL…why would he do better in the AL? Does this portend other deals that may be in the works that would “thin out” the herd?
Petit has allowed 1.96 HR/9 through 229 1/3 major league innings, tied for the worst rate in MLB history.
Seriously, you’re freaking out beause the team added a replacement level arm for nothing?
Calm down.
Hi Dave, please educate me. We picked up Petit “free” off the waiver, but does he take up a spot on the 40 man roster? Petit may have potential pitching in the pitcher-friendly Safeco with an excellent defense behind him, if giving up homerun is his major problem.
Spanky,
First of all Batista won’t be back in 2010. Second if Petit makes it out of Spring Training Safeco and Gutierrez will help him out big time. Lastly he was FREE, so whats the fuss about? If he doesn’t make the team maybe he clears waivers and ends up in Tacoma who knows, no downside to this move. I like it.
Way to be on top of things Dave,
A lot of concern over a no risk move. A move that will most likely not even matter by April.
Hi Dave, please educate me. We picked up Petit “free†off the waiver, but does he take up a spot on the 40 man roster? Petit may have potential pitching in the pitcher-friendly Safeco with an excellent defense behind him, if giving up homerun is his major problem.
Technically, the waiver claim cost $25,000, but they can just use the money they got from Pittsburgh when they lost Justin Thomas a few days ago.
Yes, Petit requires a 40-man roster spot. However, the M’s have a ton of open roster spots right now because of all the guys on the roster whose contracts expired. They can afford to carry Petit without it being a problem.
Cool. Nothing wrong with stockpiling arms. Let the hot stove begin!
What does Petit have in his arsenal? I saw a 89MPH Fastball, 77MPH Change and 75MPH Slider. Is that Adair has to work with?
If you click on the link in Petit’s name in the post, it will take you to his FanGraphs page. Scroll down towards the bottom, and you’ll see his average velocity and frequency of pitch types.
His fastball sits in the 87 range, he throws a curve and a slider, as well as a change-up. None of them are particularly good.
Thanks Dave
Okay…I suppose my post had the tone of overreaction and this probably didn’t merit any reaction at all. But, it just seems like not even worth the effort because this guy has “Horacio Ramirez” written all over him. Wouldn’t we all be scratching our heads if this was Ramirez we just picked up off of waivers? Stockpiling arms is one thing…but you need to have an arm first before you can stockpile it.
Thanks for the update Dave.
If you look hard, Petit seems somewhat interesting. He has a deceptive delivery and is able to strike guys out at an above-average rate (though, as Dave says, part of this is a result of being willing to pitch up in the zone). He also has shown above average control at times over his career, though it doesn’t show up in his walk rate at the major league level because his mediocre stuff forces him to nibble. He’s the kind of guy who might figure something out and turn into a #4/#5 starter with the ability to pitch a lot of innings. Those guys aren’t worthless.
it just seems like not even worth the effort because this guy has “Horacio Ramirez†written all over him. Wouldn’t we all be scratching our heads if this was Ramirez we just picked up off of waivers?
Well, in actual fact we didn’t pick Ramirez up off waivers, we traded Rafael Soriano to get him. That’s the real headscratcher, that and the fact that we tried to plug him in as a #4 starter, instead of treating him like a random extra arm.
Too bad we couldn’t claim Andy Pettitte off of waivers for only $25k.
I’ve always had an irrational affection for Petit as one of those “Isle of Misfit Toys†types of baseball player. Here’s to hoping it works out for him in the more spacious confines of Safeco.
And inevitably, a couple of pitchers will get hurt in the spring, and a couple will pitch so poorly that they wash out. So, stockpiling free talent gives Wak a little choice when it comes to the #5 starter and the mop up guy in the bullpen.
No we wouldn’t be scratching our heads if we got HoRam off of the waiver wire. We scratched our heads over that because Bavasi traded a pretty good reliever in Soriano for him. Big difference.
Not to mention working our way towards the mandatory Mariner unspellable “weird name” quota beloved by all (and especially the comment moderators). This one seems like the bastard lovechild of Joel Betancourt, with a sawed off bit of that Yankee guy thrown in for good measure.
What a difference two T’s make.
Soriano is a type A free agent this year. He had 102 K’s in 75 innings.
Cha Seung Baek should have been the M’s 5th starter in ’07 instead of Jeff Weaver. That would have saved $7.5M and he couldn’t have been any less effective.
And of course there is Carlos Silva at $55M.
No point really, I’m just glad Bavasi is gone.