In Happier News
Dave · June 10, 2008 at 2:21 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Thank God we didn’t trade for Dontrelle Willis. After being the worst pitcher anyone has ever seen so far in 2008, he was optioned to Single-A Lakeland today to overhaul his mechanics and try to remember how to throw strikes.
If the “[Expletive Dave Samson]” quote from Bavasi had a negative effect on our ability to trade with the Marlins, then we should induct “[Expletive Dave Samson]” into the Mariners hall of fame. This season has been horrible, but at least we haven’t had to watch D-Train fall apart.
I’ve got a slightly longer writeup on Dontrelle’s situation over at fangraphs. /end self promotion.
Is it sad that I feel okay taking that first sentence literally, that one could reasonably argue that only God’s hand itself prevented us from willfully having Dontrelle become the cherry on top of our giant turd sundae of a season?
imagine if we had Dontrelle and Zito….
Yeah, we dodged this particular bullet in a major way.
I also liked seeing Felix #2 in that fastball velocity chart to the right of the article!
We had Weaver last year. Memories are short.
Is that about as hard as he ever threw or did he have a big dropoff before last year?
As a side note, it’s not exactly happy news – it’s good for the M’s that he’s not on the roster but I think it’s generally bad for baseball that his career didn’t sustain for longer.
As a side note, it’s not exactly happy news – it’s good for the M’s that he’s not on the roster but I think it’s generally bad for baseball that his career didn’t sustain for longer.
I completely agree, it was a lot of fun watching the kid with the funky pitching motion and all of that emotion on the field. Hopefully he can get things figured out in the minors because I think it would be good for baseball for him to become a star again.
Willis wasn’t ever as good as the hype surrounding him…he didn’t have star talent. But he’s a tough guy to root against, and I hope he becomes a useful starter again.
Sort of reminds me of Mark Fidrych.
Plus, he’s one of the three best hitting pitchers in baseball. It’s a shame he ended up in the American League.
Rick Ankiel walked fewer batters per inning in 2001… by a wide margin.
I have to agree. When I used to watch the Marlins when I lived in Florida, he did hit very well. It was a shame that the 2004-2005 Marlins were underachievers, one moment that disappointed me the most was when he lead off an inning with a triple, and the next three guys failed to bring him home. I do remember him pinch hitting at times when he had a day off and was successful at it. While its possible his pitching would be like Jeff Weaver and Barry Zito, at least he could probably still put up a better OPS than half of the Mariners line up. Maybe this is a far-fetched idea, but if his pitching becomes too horrendous to fix, he could possibly pull a Rick Ankiel and come back as a hitter?
Rick Ankiel is up there with Hamilton as best comeback stories in baseball. Hopefully D-Train can be added to the list.
And I’m still holding out for Heathcliff Slocum to make a star-studded return ala every sport movie ever.
Honestly, if I were the Detroit organization, I might try to take him down the Ankiel career path.
I don’t know enough about their system overall to know how deep their pitching is, but he’s only 26 so it’s not entirely non-feasible for him to still have a nice career as a position player, and it’s like Dave says; he doesn’t just need a stint in the minors to figure things out. He’s seriously broken.
slightly disheartening to see Tim Lincecum at #4 on the same chart and think: “we coulda had him”.
I don’t think that Willis has anywhere near the hitting talent that Ankiel has.
Interesting point you bring up in the Fangraphs piece, Dave: that his fastball velocity this year and last has sat between 88-89.
Pardon me if my memory proves incorrect, but I recall his velocity being in the low 90’s after his 2003 callup. Could it be possible that, while he hasn’t suffered any recent injuries, his delivery has caused some cumulative wear/tear problems over the years that have left him in his current state?
Either way, either he completely needs to re-learn how to pitch, all the way to ditching or reducing the leg kick and learning some more orthodox mechanics… or he may want to channel Ankiel even more and try to translate some of that power-hitting ability, that we saw glimpses of here and there in Florida, into a 2nd career as a position player… however unlikely that is.
You might be right; I’m just not sure Willis is fixable as a pitcher, so it might be worth making the attempt.
I was under the impression that F Dave Samson was already in the Mariners Hall of Fame.
I like any title that reads: “In Happier News” …
But but but…..IF we had traded for Dontrelle, we’d be even worse and perhaps Mac, and Bavasi would be gone already.
Oh right…..but we’d still be paying Willis a tone. Eh, trade-offs.
Don’t forget about Zach Grienke, either.
I feel bad for D-Train; he was always fun to watch. Hopefully a little soul-searching will do good for him in A ball, whether that means re-learning how to pitch or going the Rick Ankiel route.