Nationals Acquire Jerry Blevins
The busy bees … er, A’s … have dealt lefty reliever Jerry Blevins to the Washington Nationals in return for speedy outfielder Jerry Burns.
I like this deal for both sides. The Nats have plenty of outfield depth blocking Burns, and they were desperate to add a solid lefthander to their bullpen. The Athletics had a surplus of LOOGYs, are always on the lookout for cheap, controllable assets, and Burns appears to be Vince Coleman Lite. In fact, it’s too bad that the Mets couldn’t wrangle away Burns in return for one of their lefthanded relievers — if I’m the Mets, I give up Scott Rice for Burns in a heartbeat. But maybe the Nats wouldn’t do that deal, and/or, maybe neither team wants to work with a NL East rival.
In other news, reliever Ryan Webb officially signed a two-year, $4.5M contract with the Orioles. He had a career year with Marlins and cashed in. As did his former Miami teammate Chad Qualls. Maybe the Marlins bullpen management is something to look at? Perhaps they’re doing something differently from other clubs, to get the most from their relievers?
Also, Roy Halladay, Mark Prior, and Jerry Hairston, Jr., all announced their retirement over the past few days. But, Adam Kennedy and Mark Mulder announced they are not retired, and attempting comebacks. Interestingly, did you know that former Astro outfielder Jason Lane is still playing pro ball? Except now he is a lefthanded pitcher — he found his way into 11 AAA games for Tucson, and was hammered, though most PCL pitchers have ugly stats.
Yeah, in 2010 he was great.
In 2011 he was terrible… also for the Marlins.
Hmm. Maybe their techniques only work for a year.
It’d be like if Maddux had retired after 2000 — his career totals wouldn’t be as amazing, but he’d be more vivid in people’s minds as The Best, as opposed to turning into an 80-pitch finesse guy for his final half-decade.
I imagine Halladay’s best shot at the Hall will be his first few times on the ballot. Once the people who saw him pitch retire from the BBWAA, his numbers alone may not suffice (3.38 ERA, only 8 seasons of 30+ starts, pretty avg K rate).
Hunter’s best 4-year stretch: 90-38, 1198 innings, 2.58 ERA (league 3.38), 2.37 K/BB.
Halladay’s best 4-year stretch: 77-37, 969 innings, 2.59 ERA (league 4.14), 7.9 K/BB.
Outside of those 4 years, Hunter was more durable than Halladay, but less effective. From ’67-’71, Hunter averaged 255 innings, but was 77-70 and with a league-average ERA.