Astros trade Wagner to Phillies

Laugh all you want, but Pettitte and Villone had nearly identical ERAs and WHIPs in 2003.

 

You expect Villone to repeat his performance? He's done what you mentioned (100+ innings, ERA under 4.5) exactly twice in his 12 year career, Pettitte 8 for 9.

Oh, Ronny V was a stud down the stretch too, going 0-3 7.03 in September.

 

And don't forget the Big Rig getting being the third out @ 3rd base against the Giants, then getting pulled one batter latter. And that was the same damn game where our ace closer gave up 2 dingers to close out the game.

 

Y'all are concentrating on Villone's deficiencies way too much. I was just using him as an example of Joe-average pitcher. The Stros can always find a Joe-average type of guy to fill out the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation. Dime-a-dozen. The average ERA in Major League Baseball this season was 4.41 (total earned runs / innings) and Pettitte, frankly, wasn't much better than that. Among 91 qualifiers for the ERA title this season, Pettitte was 42nd. Statistically, he was closer in era to Mike Maroth and Jeremy Bonderman than Pedro Martinez.