Saarloos

[spence99]

Kirk Saarloos has a 0.68 ERA through 13 innings so far now for Oakland. Meanwhile, Harville has a 6.56 ERA for the Astros right now. Great move! At least we have Duckworth to be our 5th starter this year! Saarloos is only 25, why did we trade him for crap?

[BigM]

what 2 years ago he threw a shutout for us so that would be a 0.00 era in 9 innings. he has the ability to pitch well but 13 innings isn't a very good sample. i don't think he really has the stuff or command of that stuff to make us regret this trade at any point. who knows though.

[bobrek]

2002 - June 0-2 17.65 ERA
2002 - July 3-0 1.77 ERA
2002 - Aug 3-2 5.08 ERA
2002 - Sep 0-3 6.75 ERA

2003 - 2-1 4.93 ERA

Let's give him a few more starts to find out who he really is. Perhaps he's just a heckuva July pitcher (see 2002)

[rocketfat]

man, i didnt even know he was on their big league roster, and i promise you i'm not saying this in hindsight, but, i was worried about this.

the guy had nasty, nasty stuff, and i always liked him. he got rocked a couple times when he was here, but he's young. add to the fact that the alleged best talent scout in baseball traded a different reliever for him, and that's a recipe for a trade that's going to backfire.

they gave up on saarloos way too early.

[redgoose]

Wait till you guys see Willy Tavaras in a couple years.

Or if you were to travel to one of his games now. You certainly won't be saying we traded him away for crap when he's a mirror image of Carlos Beltran.

[bobrek]

Originally posted by rocketfat
the guy had nasty, nasty stuff, and i always liked him. he got rocked a couple times when he was here, but he's young. add to the fact that the alleged best talent scout in baseball traded a different reliever for him, and that's a recipe for a trade that's going to backfire.

they gave up on saarloos way too early.

Got rocked a couple of times while he was here? Here are his 4 starts from 2003:

2.0 innings, 5 runs
4.1 innings, 7 runs
3.2 innings, 4 runs
3.0 innings, 1 run (last game of season)

Here is a sampling of his starts from 2002 (he did have an outstanding July):

4.2 innings, 6 runs
2.0 innings, 6 runs
2.0 innings, 5 runs
5.2 innings, 5 runs
2.2 innings, 4 runs
4.2 innings, 6 runs

He is still young and he may be a good/great pitcher someday, but to say is was rocked pnly a couple of times is inaccurate.

As a starter with Houston he was 6-8 with an ERA over 6.0. This includes a stretch where he was 3-0 and only gave up 4 runs in 20 innings.

So if Harville is "crap" now with his 6+ ERA, then Saarloos was "crap" when the Astros traded him - correct?

[codell]

I wouldn't call Saarloos' stuff nasty by any stretch of the imagination.

Hes one of those pitchers who can get by when his stuff is on in any given game. If not, hell get rocked more often than not.

[kevwun]

I don' think Taveras will ever develop the power that Beltran has. Up to this point in his career, he's been a slap hitter.

[RocketFan007]

originally posted by redgoose
Or if you were to travel to one of his games now. You certainly won't be saying we traded him away for crap when he's a mirror image of Carlos Beltran.

Let's not get carried away, Taveras has 8 extra base hits in 230 ABs at AA, while Beltran has already hit 20+ homers. In addition, Taveras doesn't have anything to do with Saarloos, we got Taveras in return for Robertsson and Harville for Saarloos.

[bobrek]

Just thought I'd bump this up for spence99's sake. In Saarloos' last 3 games he has pitched 11 innings and given up 11 runs.

[RocketManJosh]

I also had a question about Scott Linebrink ... How terrible was he with the Astros because he has been one of the best setup men in the game this year with the Padres and he has had electric stuff 95-96 mph fastball? It seems like relief pitchers turn it on as soon as they leave the Stros

[Nick]

Meanwhile, Octavio Dotel is still blowing saves left and right in Oakland.

Gave it up big-time to the Yankees last night at the stadium... he's now blown 3 saves in 11 chances for them.

Combine that with the 3 saves he blew for us, and that is one AWFUL year for him as a closer.

If you look at every team, they all have players who did bubkis for them... and then went on to find their true calling, and place, in this game.

Also, Harville is still young, and he could still be a very good releiver in time... he's gotten some more consistent appearences now that Garner is in charge, and he seems to be improving each time he goes out there.

[rocketfat]

i had a good feeling saarloos would come down to earth. you could tell when he was with us that he was a shallacking waiting to happen. i'm glad we dumped him. ;)

[xcrunner51]

do we just have a really bad staff or something? it doesn't seem like any of our coaches really ever fixes any of the players problems (hidalgo) or generally improves a pitcher. i'm hoping gaetti can change that

[bobrek]

Originally posted by xcrunner51
do we just have a really bad staff or something? it doesn't seem like any of our coaches really ever fixes any of the players problems (hidalgo) or generally improves a pitcher. i'm hoping gaetti can change that

Were Hidalgo's problems "fixed" last year? If so, do the coaches get credit?