Saturday Six Pack

November 25 – Let me know what you think of the trade…drop me a note at dbacksbooth@aol.com.

There are eleven pitchers in the Major Leagues who have made 100 or more starts over the last three seasons. After Saturday’s trade, three of those arms now wear D-backs uniforms. No other team has more than one of these durable pitchers on their staff, considering some may move via free agency over the next few days and weeks.

Livan Hernandez has made 104 starts (1st MLB), Doug Davis 103 (2nd) and Brandon Webb 101 (4th) over the last three campaigns. Other names on that list include Oswalt, Santana, Lowe and Willis. All three Arizona pitchers have not only been durable, they have been dependable, and the highest ERA in the trio is Hernandez’s 4.10.

For the next exercise in numbers, wear your GM hat and choose one of these two pitchers to work in your rotation next season based on their last three seasons:

Pitcher A: LH, 103 ST, 34-34, 3 CG, 633.1 IP, 274 BB, 533 K, 4.04 ERA, .249 OBA, 63 Quality Starts.

Pitcher B: LH, 103 ST, 41-34, 0 CG, 662.1 IP, 269 BB, 485 K, 4.05 ERA, .247 OBA, 57 Quality Starts.

I will let you know who the pitchers are as you read on.

In his first 77 starts with Milwaukee, dating back to August of 03′, Davis sported a 3.51 ERA, and while Ben Sheets battled staying healthy Doug stepped in admirably as the ace. During the 2005 season, he struck out seven or more 18 times and my personal favorite was a 10 K day in September against the Cubs during which Derek Lee took a left turn four times. However, 2006 was a bit more bumpy, Doug’s ERA spiked to 4.91 and he saw his walks jump up with his strikeouts going down. I am optimistic that the new scenery will benefit Double D.

Davis features a fastball (88-91), an above average cut fastball, a curve ball and a change up. When he is on his game he hammers the right handed hitters inside with his cutter and changes their line of site with high fastballs. He is one of the rare southpaws that handles right handed hitters better than left handers and above is part of the reason. Doug will tell you that when he keeps his arm path shorter during his delivery, everything is more effective especially his curve ball. He can at times fall into the Sutcliffe hook behind his back which lengthens things out quite a bit before throwing a pitch.

One thing should be made perfectly clear about Doug, he is accountable. Even on those days that it may have been tough to watch him pitch, it was beyond refreshing to listen to him stand in front of his locker and let you know that the blame stops with him and we could all expect better next time out. More often than not, he backed up it up.

Since 2004, left handed strikeout leaders are Santana 748, Johnson 673 and Davis 533.

By the way Pitcher A is Davis, Pitcher B is Barry Zito, this year’s elite free agent pitcher.

I’ll have thoughts of Eveland and Krynzel soon.

What are your thoughts on the deal?

Thanks for the huge welcome mat you have rolled out for me in the desert.

Welcome to Arizona.  If you want really good Mexican food, you need to ask Gracie to bring you up to the Globe-Miami area.  We have some excellent restaurants in this area.  The 2007 season can’t start soon enough for us!
-Sarah, Miami, AZ

I can’t wait to get started either!