Cheap Arms - For A Reason

Fifth of a Series.

We’re looking at the record number of $1 players purchased in the 2007 BABI auction. Traditionally there are a few $1 pitchers who are useful and keepable. It didn’t work out so well in 2007. Here are the cheapos:

Category 1 – The most keepable guy, except he got waived:

Correia, Kevin - waived
4W 7L 101IP 80K 3.45 1.32

The best pitcher picker, Mr. Leaguer, picked up Correia as a possible closer in San Francisco. It didn’t work out that way, so he waived him. At the end of the season, he found himself added to the Giants’ rotation, and he pitched well. The Pecklers, chasing wins, picked him up for $6 and got his last 36 innings. He was actually unlucky, getting only 2 wins despite a 2.75 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. He’d definitely be kept at a buck, and he’s a marginal keeper at $6 if you have a crappy keeper list. Yeah, he’s available.

Category 2 – Not really keepable, but they pitched ok:

Ayala, Luis - Bats
2W 2L 42IP 28K 3.19 1.30

The Nats resigned Chad Cordero, and Jon Rauch is still ahead of him, but Luis Ayala had a pretty good comeback from a serious injury.


There is one interesting statistic for Ayala: he had the only save of anyone on this list.

If Cordero had been (or is eventually) traded, he’ll be a sure keeper, despite suffering an offseason bizarre injury. He has a bruised nerve in his upper forearm from being hit by a shotgun pellet during a hunting trip. He plays for a team in Washington DC. Could it have been this guy? On Ayala, th-th-that's all folks.

Cruz, Juan - Old Rips
6W 1L 61IP 87K 3.10 1.262

He’s 4th in line behind Pena, Lyon and Qualls (in some order, who knows). Or maybe he’s a starter. He did pitch well overall. Check out crazy those strikeouts. I wouldn’t be surprised if Boof finds a place for him on his keeper list.


Category 3 – Technically, he didn’t hurt:

Hampton, Mike - Bums
Not a single stat

We doubt the Bums are planning on keeping him. Offseason update: Hampton hurt himself (his hamstring) in the first inning of his first start in the Mexican Winter League.

Category 4 – Guys that weren’t good, but they weren’t Jim Bullinger:

Coutlangus, Jon - Hobo
4W 2L 41IP 35K 4.39 1.59

Johnson, Tyler - waived
1W 1L 38IP 24K 4.03 1.24

Mitre, Sergio - Falkuhns
5W 8L 149IP 80K 4.65 1.483

Paronto, Chad - waived
3W 1L 40IP 14K 3.57 1.64

My favorite guy on this list is the last, who I nicknamed Tonto Paronto.

We really have nothing to say about these bums except that the bums listed below were even bigger bums than the above bums.

Category 5 – Brutal Relievers

Cormier, Lance - waived
2W 6L 45IP 27K 7.09 1.71

Kuo, Hong-Chih - Old Rips
1W 4L 30IP 27K 7.42 1.62

Stanton, Mike - Any 9
1W 3L 57IP 40K 5.93 1.61

Wagner, Ryan - Cartel
0W 2L 15IP 9K 5.74 1.79

Three of these 4 guys survived on their original teams all season. How?

Remember just one season ago when Stanton was the Giants’ closer?

Category 6 – WHIP Wreckers

Cook, Aaron - waived
8W 7L 166IP 61K 4.47 1.47

Miller, Wade - waived
0W 1L 13IP 6K 10.54 2.20

Moyer, Jamie - waived
14W 12L 199IP 133 5.01 1.44

Tomko, Brett - waived
4W 12L 131IP 105K 5.55 1.50

Wells, David - waived
9W 9L 157IP 82K 5.43 1.54

Wells, Kip - waived
7W 17L 162IP 122 5.70 1.62

If you are a starter and you suck, you'll get waived. Not as true for those relievers, though. And I guess this is an item for rules discussion. Are we too forgiving about these guys? We didn't have anyone on this list, because in the auction, techincally we paid $0 for Mike Pelfrey.

Moyer did get 14 wins, a useful number. But when a pitcher has 199 innings with an ERA over 5, you need a lot of really, really great innings to offset that.

Here is a great BABI stat on Tomko: he was the ONLY pitcher the Bums waived or reserved last season. That’s how bad he was.

Category 7 – Lest we forget:

There was one more guy on this list. His season did not work out too well. Maybe this is the guy that allowed the Pecklers pass Any 9, who used a roster spot for him. This is what we said several months ago when we evaluated him:

Hancock, Josh - sucked, waived, dead

OK, we’re cold. Bite us.

One last entry to this series to come.