From Susan Slusser, via MLBTR:
Duchscherer will throw 60 pitches or so in a rookie-league game in Scottsdale, Ariz., tonight. He is working on short rest after pitching for Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday, but by moving up to tonight, he’s in line to go Tuesday at the Coliseum.
The A’s aren’t the only team interested in the right-hander’s recovery from March elbow surgery. Scouts have been at both his rehab appearances and more are expected tonight, including ones from the Tigers and Red Sox. Most contenders need pitching and Duchscherer can start and work as a set-up man. He’ll be a free agent and he is not expected to come back to Oakland.
At the trade deadline, I was pushing for the Yankees to try and acquire Duchscherer. Justin has had a very solid career as both a starter and reliever, as Buster Olney notes:
He has been often hurt in his career, but when Duchscherer is active and pitching, he usually fares pretty well, whether as a starter or a reliever. The 31-year-old has had four seasons of 55.2 or more innings, and his ERA has never been higher than 3.27 in those seasons. Twice he has made All-Star teams: once as a reliever, and once as a starting pitcher, most recently in 2008.
The Yankees have since acquired Chad Gaudin, who is a poor man’s version of Duchscherer. However, he is almost certainly better than Sergio Mitre, and having someone like Duch in the rotation would likely make the Yankees more comfortable in protecting Joba Chamberlain. For more on Duch’s abilities, let’s turn to Joe from RAB:
Duchscherer is a cut fastball (high 80s, low 90s), overhand curve, slider type pitcher. He strikes out a decent number of guys, around 8 per nine as a reliever and was at 6 per nine as a starter in 2008. He also doesn’t walk many people, 1.5 per nine as a reliever in 2006 and 2.2 per nine as a starter in 08. Even better, he keeps the ball in the park, allowing less than a homer per nine over most of his career. This profiles him as a solid option at both starter and reliever.
A guy who keeps the ball in the ballpark and keeps runners off base is a perfect fit for this Stadium, and would be a valuable bullpen piece in the postseason. As the linked MLBTR post notes, obtaining Duchscherer would not require much more than a moderate prospect and relief from the 1.06 million remaining on his contract. Should he clear waivers, the Yankees should jump on him. He would be a valuable addition to this club, and can fill the only discernible hole that they have at this point.
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
22 Responses to Duchscherer To Audition For Start Against The Yankees
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
Oakland moved him out of the bullpen because he couldn’t handle the “stress” of relieving…which caused him to develop a bad case of I.B.S. (I sh*t you not).
So how do you think he’d handle the stress of pitching for the Yankees in the middle of a playoff run???
I’d be willing to give him a shot. For all the stress, he still had stellar numbers as a reliever. It didn’t seem to bother him enough to alter performance.
I really don’t want someone on the team who not only can’t stay healthy but can’t stay in clean pants, if you want a 6th starter just go pick up Jon Garland for nothing from the Dbacks at least you know he will be healthy and will give you 6 or 7 innings a start.
In regard to health, you need him for 6 weeks, not 6 months. Worst case he gets hurt, you are no worse off. In regard to the other stuff, he gives more felxibility than a guy like Garland, and has better chance of being really good. He pitched through the IBS to ERA’s 3.27 or lower.
I doubt he will make it through waivers with the Red Sox ahead of the Yankees in the pecking order. They need a starter and they know the Yankees need a starter so they will block the Yankees and inquire about Duchscherer to get him for their playoff run.
That was the one kink in my plan. Olney thinks Texas will take him.
I was thinking that as well but I believe they would rather give their young prospects as well. The Rangers are an interesting team when it comes to waivers, Duchscherer is an interesting case for any contenders. The AL teams that would consider claiming him on waivers would be the Red Sox and Yankees definitely, Tigers and Rangers are maybes. Both non Al East teams could use a 5th starter with the release of Vincente Padilla and the struggles of Gallaraga but the Yankees and the Red Sox could use a 4 starter. Depends if the Rangers claim him just to prevent him from reaching the other teams, but one of the sleeper teams I believe would take a flier on Justin would be the Los Angeles Angels. They have no solid starter past Lackey, and they are in front of the Yankees on the waiver list.
The Yankee don’t need a 4th starter they need a 5A starter…
CC Sabathia = 1, AJ Burnett =2, Andy Pettitte=3, Joba Chamberlain=4, Sergio/Gaudin=5A/5B So we just need someone to be 5A and allow Gaudin to be a reliever and 5B by taking some of Joba’s starts. That is why we don’t need Gaudin, you want to go get a starter all you need is an ok starter who can give you 6 or 7 innings consistently with little injury history and he doesn’t need to be all that great aka Jon Garland. They guy is the perfect 5A starter for an AL team looking to make a run.
———————–
On the Angels Lack is a good starter yes but what is Ervin Sanatana to you? Chopped liver? He is more than solid…. I also forgot how god awful Jered Weaver (3.72 ERA) is…oh wait… he’s not… so they have 3 very solid starters
I forgot about Weaver who is having a good season but Ervin Santana’s ERA is over a 6 he is not a solid starter. The Angels could use Duchscherer to shore up the 3rd or 4th starter if he remains healthy.
If you trade for a guy who pitches once and goes on the DL or never comes back to form because he hasn’t faced big leaguers damn near all year than yes I would say we are somewhat worse off because we have a pitcher on the 40 we can’t use…
So then you release him. I just think the reward outstrips the risk.
I just don’ think it’s a risk that has a huge success rate, the guy is coming off elbow injuries that could never heal right. Not to mention he has never been in a big play off run and someone like Garland has world series pitching experience that can’t be over looked… Healthy and experienced over injured and risky…
He has an ERA over 6 but
HE has an ERA over 6 because he has been injured this year but if you have ever watched him pitch the guy has Ace caliber stuff and has finally started finding his groove this year. Last year he had a 3.49 ERA over 200+ IP and he just shut the Rays down completely in a game I watched… To say he isn’t “solid” is either misinformed or just looking at the numbers…
Also Weaver isn’t having a “good year” the guy is having a good career! He is another pitcher with Ace potential on that team just look at his career ERA’s since being called up… 2.56 in 06, 3.91 in 07, 4.33 in 09 was his one less than great year and this years of 3.73. With Lackey they have 3 guys who can go out and shut down any line up in the league at anytime! They are scary in the post season.
That is one start, the four starts that he had before the Tampa Rays game he had an ERA of 8.43. His stats fall in line with his first 3 seasons, K/BB is almost the same, K/9 is down by 1.5 since last season which is similar to the first 3 seasons. The batters have an OPS of .875. He may have been injured but since returning he has not been the pitcher he was last season. He may have shut out the Rays, but he has had performances like this against Oakland (July 16) and Detroit (June 5) and hasn’t improved on it. The offense has driven this team not its pitching.
The pitching isn’t driving the team but you can’t act like Ervin is a scrub… The guy has some real talent and major potential… That game is just an example of the type of stuff he has and the type of games he has put up before, is he a Cy Young winner? Right now not even close, but is he solid as a starter? I would say so, you never said great you said solid.
Last year was his season by far, but this season after coming off the DL, he has not shown signs of improvement and has become the pitcher he was in the first few seasons as an Angel. Until he starts stringing quality starts back to back this season he is not a solid pitcher. He has the potential to be a great starter in baseball, but has yet to show us the type of pitcher he was last season.
And to the numbers below me I point! vvvv
E. Santana has had 10 starts since June 5th and out of those 10 I think 6 can be called solid or better with solid being 6 innings and no more than 5Rs (not a quality start just keeps you in the game).
Ervin Santana’s “solid” or better since June 5th
9IP, 3H, 0ER, 2BB, 7Ks
6IP, 5H, 4ER, 5BB, 6Ks
6IP, 8H, 5ER, 2BB, 6Ks
6IP, 8H, 5ER, 1BB, 7Ks
8IP, 3H, 1ER, 2BB, 4Ks
8.2IP, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, 7KS
You can’t tell me a guy that can put up good numbers and at times spectacular numbers isn’t solid with the potential to be Cy Young quality at some point.
You are missing three losses in between the 8 inning starts
8IP, 3H, 1ER, 2BB, 4Ks (July 16th)
4IP, 7H, 5ER, 1BB, 4Ks (July 8th)
5IP, 8H, 4ER (6R), 3BB, 5Ks (July 3rd)
4.2IP, 8H, 6ER, 2BB, 3Ks (June 11th)
8.2IP, 6H, 1ER, 2BB, 7Ks (June 5th)
He is not shown any consistency this season and has a horrible ERA, so how do you see him as a solid starter?
A garbage pitcher is Sergio Mitre a guy you have to worry about losing every game, a bad starter goes 5 innings no more every game no matter the results, a solid pitcher keeps you in most of the games he starts. He doesn’t win every game but he allows you to be in a chance to win most games he starts and he never gave up more than 6 runs in any start you or I posted and only once did he give up 6 earned runs and he was able to do it with more than 5 innings in almost every start and the two he didn’t he went 4 and 4.2 and the team still had a chance to win his starts. You don’t have to wonder how you are going to get through each start and then once every week he will give you a gem… is he shaky? Very much so, is he solid? Yes he keeps you in games for the most part and coming off injury allows him to have some wiggle room.
A solid pitcher to me is Brad Penny who seems to throw 6 innings with 4 earned runs or 7 innings with 5 earned runs. Ervin Santana has been hampered by injuries but unless he throws back to back good games once in a while he can’t be seen as a solid pitcher this season.
I would take Santana over Brad Penny any day of the week, Penny can get blown out just as easy as Santana but can not dominate the same way. If I were going into a playoff game and had to pitch game 3 I would feel better sending out Ervin than I would sending out Penny.