06-13-2010, 12:58 PM
Signing John Grabow.
I never thought he would be as bad as he is, but it was absolutely a mistake to take on a financial obligation to an at best mediocre pitcher. I know people will argue his ERA shows differently. First of all, his ERA is mediocre for a late inning reliever. Second, ERA isn't a very telling stat for relief pitchers. If you look at Grabow's WHIP over the years, it has been unappealing. He has put a lot of base runners on over the years and has somehow been lucky enough to get out of some messes. However, if you keep playing with fire you get burned and Grabow has been burned to an extreme this year. If he was a strikeout pitcher, he would be better equipped to get out of those messes, but his strikeout numbers are nothing special.
That's the one mistake I thought Hendry made. I wasn't happy with Silva either, but I understood it was a tough situation with Bradley (which he admittedly put himself in). All together though, I thought this team was built to win and would compete for the division. There are a lot of under performing players. That being said, there needs to be a new GM after this season. While the circumstances weren't ideal, sometimes the guy that has just a little bit of accountability has to take on a large share of that accountability. Change can also be a very refreshing approach.
I never thought he would be as bad as he is, but it was absolutely a mistake to take on a financial obligation to an at best mediocre pitcher. I know people will argue his ERA shows differently. First of all, his ERA is mediocre for a late inning reliever. Second, ERA isn't a very telling stat for relief pitchers. If you look at Grabow's WHIP over the years, it has been unappealing. He has put a lot of base runners on over the years and has somehow been lucky enough to get out of some messes. However, if you keep playing with fire you get burned and Grabow has been burned to an extreme this year. If he was a strikeout pitcher, he would be better equipped to get out of those messes, but his strikeout numbers are nothing special.
That's the one mistake I thought Hendry made. I wasn't happy with Silva either, but I understood it was a tough situation with Bradley (which he admittedly put himself in). All together though, I thought this team was built to win and would compete for the division. There are a lot of under performing players. That being said, there needs to be a new GM after this season. While the circumstances weren't ideal, sometimes the guy that has just a little bit of accountability has to take on a large share of that accountability. Change can also be a very refreshing approach.