Don't Even Think About It

As you’ve probably heard, the Tigers designated right hander Armando Galarraga for assignment yesterday to make room for anther right hander, Brad Penny.

My first thought was “Wow, I’m surprised they did that.” My second thought? “Sucks to be him.” My third thought? “The Yankees better not even think of signing this guy.” There are probably some people who want to do it, but I just don’t see Galarraga as any sort of good fit. The “Better than Sergio Mitre” bar is a pretty low bar to clear, but I’m not sure Galarraga does.

In his third year with the Tigers, Galarraga’s put up a semi-respectable 4.49 ERA (93 ERA+) in 144.1 innings. Both of those totals are ones for which the Yankees would sign up for to get out of the fifth starter. However, I do not think that Galarraga can put up those numbers again? Why? A bunch of reasons.

Galarraga strikes nobody out. And I mean NOBODY. His K/9 this year was under 5 (4.61). He didn’t walk many in 2010 (3.18/9; 3.52 for his career), but he served up his fair share of homers: 1.31 per nine, and that was actually a drop from the previous year’s 1.50 mark (1.42 career). His FIP? 5.09. His xFIP? 5.44. Those marks look very similar to those from ’09–5.47 and 5.02. His ’09 ERA was 5.64. In 2008, his ERA/FIP/xFIP combo reminds me of his 2010 slash: 3.73/4.88/4.49. In 2010 and 2008, the years in which Galarraga had acceptable ERAs, we see him outperforming his peripherals. EDIT: 11:20 AM: I forgot to mention this: Galarraga also doesn’t get many grounders. His career GB% is 40.4, but that’s buoyed by a 43.5 mark in ’08. In both ’09 (39.9) and ’10 (37.3), he was under 40%. 
Basically, the only positives for Galarraga are that he’s (at least temporarily) available and has decent control. The negatives? No strikeouts, too many home runs, not enough grounders, and crappy peripherals. This is an easy, easy pass–or at least it should be.

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