Duchscherer Talking to M’s, Two Other Lousy Teams
Over the twitter wire this afternoon, news has come that the Mariners are one of three finalists for the services of Justin Duchscherer, the other two being the Orioles and the Nationals. One can only imagine how agonizing the decision must be. Dan Connolly, who is breaking the story, adds that he has more than one major league offer on the table.
You probably remember Duchscherer from the Oakland A’s. He shut us out for seven innings last year, and has been an all-star twice in his career. He’s also been injured off and on, with hip, bicep, shoulder, and back injuries along with a bout with depression a couple years back. Over the past two seasons combined, he’s pitched fewer than 40.0 innings.
Assuming he’s healthy and his command is in order, he could be added to the Robertson/French/Pauley mix we have going for the final spot in the rotation and/or swingman. Duke is one of those weird pitchers that doesn’t have great stuff, but possesses a deep enough arsenal to keep hitters off-balance, and has managed to run a lower than average BABIP throughout his career, a .235 mark aiding his 2008 campaign. We can’t really expect him to do that again, but for an overall fit in the organization in the short-term, we could do worse than this.
Welcome to the last few weeks before spring training, everyone.
Edit: And now they’re out of it. Resume whatever activity you were occupied with before.
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22 Responses to “Duchscherer Talking to M’s, Two Other Lousy Teams”
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I was really hoping Jack Z would get in on this. He is the best pitcher left on the FA market (when healthy). There really is no downside to this. We would have been stuck with Pauley/French/Robertson or whoever if we didn’t bring him in anyway so he can only help by not forcing us to play those three if only for a few starts. COME ON DUKE! No one likes the east coast anyway!
Mariners are out of the running, says-
http://twitter.com/mlbtrmariners/status/31850333080657920
Apparently they’re content with D. Pauley and L. French….
MLBTR says the M’s are not in the mix for Duchscherer anymore….Oh well give the innings to Beavan or Pauley.
Hahaha I’m slow on the draw.
Well that sucks.
*zzzzzzzzz*
His record looks good but man…40 innings over the last two seasons? No thanks. Especially not for the kind of money reported to be paid this far.
This post was created and self-shut down before many people even had the chance to ponder any possible excitment.
I guess who are we kidding, this guy wasn’t going to turn the team around anyway.
He’s agreed to sign with Baltimore. This site hasn’t been nearly as informative as recent past but I still check here regularly hoping to find Cameron’s perspective on the subject. I like to hear his thoughts on the matter as well.
Duchscherer and now Mark Hendrickson again– the Orioles are setting up to make a little extra $$$ with a “Where Are They Now” Reality TV look back at former Major League pitchers… It will be broadcast live from their bullpen.
They already passed on Miguel Batista… Carlos Silva’s contract was too weighty. But, they were one of the “guaranteed” offers that Erik Bedard had…
AND… they’re still holding out for Jamie “Grandpa” Moyer, but he insists that an electric cart be part of the deal, for getting to the mound.
(All kidding aside, I think this was a good “pass” for us… I’m sure Duke wanted a Major League contract, but Z is more akin to offer guys like that a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training… Pretty sure he wasn’t the difference maker between competing and losing 100+ games.)
I’m much more disappointed that the Figgins deal seems to have fizzled out, than any feelings either way for Duchscherer.
The only way we could have been in the running is to offer him a Major league contract. And there is no way he deserves it, from MLB trade rumors:
I will apologize ahead of time, seeing as how my comment does not pertain to this thread, so I am sorry. I was just curious as to whether or not Carp has any chance of winning a position on the team, possibly a DH/1B option. I understand that we already have A LOT of players vying for the same sort of deal. Whether it be Cust or Bradley, I just wanted to know if there is any chance of Carp making the team. He seems to have a smooth swing, and can drive the ball pretty well.
Carp has a chance at getting playing time during 2011. However, that’s going to require him to hit better than he did in 2010 as well as to improve his play in the field. To his credit, his outfield play improved considerably in 2010, from dismal to passable. If that continues, he could well give Saunders some competition for LF playing time. Personally, I think that we shouldn’t be giving up on him.
Oh well. We already have a couple of guys we’re seeing if we can get some bounceback in spring training- Bedard and Robertson. I don’t think we need to corner the market, especially if we have to hand out MLB contracts instead of NRIs.
I’m much more disappointed that the Figgins deal seems to have fizzled out, than any feelings either way for Duchscherer.
I’m not. It sounded from the press reports like Billy Beane was going to make the M’s send cash as part of the deal (which reduces the salary relief, which is the big reason why we’re ditching Figgins) and send back little in the way of immediately useful talent (which means we’re blowing a hole in the 2011 team, and the in-house options for 3B, like Tui or Mangini are all not real solutions to the problem, and neither is signing some clunker like Aybar).
I’m perfectly fine for not accepting a fire-sale price for Figgins when he’s obviously at the low point of his value, coming off of a horrible season. It seems to me if there’s a market now, there’s probably a market in a few months if he plays decently in 2011, and the Mariners need to do some sorting and evaluation of their prospects (Saunders, Smoak, Moore, Ackley) during 2011 anyway, and dealing Figgins then once they know a bit more about where they need to go for 2012, while getting some decent 3B out of him during 2011 isn’t the worst way to handle the situation.
As for Carp… I still think he needs to develop with the bat and glove some. Maybe he turns into a bit player.
Is there anyway you can listen to the Mariners spring training games? Whether it be online or on the radio?
Well at least we got Jamey Wright! Your 2011 Mariners ____________. Um.
Oh, yuck, hadn’t heard about the cash part of that. Yeah EC, I suppose Figgins as a midseason trade is ok.
Is Mangini really a Tui-level sort of “meh”? I thought there were hopes for his offense at one point.
KIRO will broadcast most of them.
Man, that’s going to be the worst – that first spring training game without Dave Neihaus’ voice on the radio. I think that’s when it’ll really hit me that he’s gone.
Most definitely, it will be very sad. Last night was “Mariner Mondays”, which featured the Mariners at the Yankees. It was very sad to hear Neihaus’ voice.
Wait… two OTHER lousy teams? Are you implying the 2011 mariners are lousy?
How dare you?!
nope, just implying the 2010 version was undeniably horrific and until I’m proven wrong I believe the 2011 version is undefeated!?!