Watch me be pessimistic.
Here’s something to think about.
Mike Pelfrey and Philip Humber are, or at least had been, touted as top prospects, front-line starter material, but I think it’s time to realize that neither is likely to be a difference-maker in the near future. We all know about Pelfrey’s struggles this season, and Humber has been having a rough year at AAA.
For instance, someone like Cole Hamels, who’s about a year younger than both Pelfrey and Humber, is currently succeeding on the big league level, with a sick change-up helping him become second in the league in K’s.
Also, Tim Lincecum, someone a few of us had the pleasure of watching, is six months older than Hamels, yet still younger than the two Mets’ prospects. He, too, is having success in the majors. His BAA is .212, and he has struck out 87 batters in 78.1 innings.
Now, some stats:
Hamels 2006 (AAA):
23 innings
10 hits
1 earned run
1 walk
36 strike outs
0.39 ERA
.130 BAA
Lincecum 2007 (AAA):
31 innings
12 hits
1 earned run
11 walks
46 strike outs
0.29 ERA
.119 BAA
Humber 2007 (AAA):
104 innings
105 hits
49 earned runs
26 walks
85 strike outs
4.24 ERA
.261 BAA
Pelfrey 2007 (AAA)
42.2 innings
41 hits
17 earned runs
15 walks
36 strike outs
3.59 ERA
.252 BAA
By the way, Brian Bannister has a 3.87 ERA for KC with a 1.21 WHIP and a .245 BAA. Maybe he could have been our fifth starter instead of Pelfrey, who, that’s right, didn’t win a single game in nine starts.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
July 21st, 2007 at 11:09 am
Pelfrey still has some potential. He needs the offseason to develop a better breaking pitch and work with someone new. Maybe he just needs a new face to give him some advice. We definietly should have picked Justin Verlander instead though.
I don’t know much about Humber. All I know is that he had some injury setbacks and this is his first full year in the minors. Glavine said that he has the makings of a star, but he was long off. I don’t really expect to see much out of him.
I also think this really was the worst offseason I have seen in my whole entire life. Moises Alou was the big acquisition for crying out loud. Everyone in the whole entire world could have predicted that he was going to get hurt, like he has the last three seasons. Two trades this offseason that flew under most peoples radars. Brian Bannister was traded for Ambrioux Burgos and Heath Bell and Royce Ring were traded for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins. Yea, very very sad. Bannister is in the Royals rotation with a 3 something ERA, Bell is now touted as one of the best non-closer relievers in baseball, Ring is the lefty that Shoenweiss was supposed to be. Burgos started in the majors, but was replaced and sent down to triple A, Johnson made a three week stint with the Mets and didn’t even come close to hitting something, and that other guy I have never even heard of. Those two trades pushed together are almost if not just as bad as the Kazmir trade. So, Omar, you might have people fooled, but I know that you have no idea what the hell you are doing.