6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog: But Do Their Needs Meche?

Proceeds from the ads below will be donated to the Bob Wuesthoff scholarship fund.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

But Do Their Needs Meche?

Mariners Wheelhouse and U.S.S. Mariner have mentioned a possible unloading of starter Gil Meche "while he still has value", as Wheelhouse puts it. The questions before the house for the teams covered by this blog: do you bite and why?

The Angels are sitting on a rotational mess, hidden nicely by the offseason's additions to the team's bat collection. Colón has come very close to being a bust, Lackey's failing to turn it around, Ortiz earned himself a demotion to the bullpen, nobody's confident that Sele's 3.05 ERA isn't a fluke, and Washburn's run support luck is running out. Certainly, you can't bring another starter in without losing face on the Colón signing, as Bart is now the less-than-proud owner of the worst ERA in the rotation. But there's a couple mitigating factors here:

Meche came back from surgery recently
The M's pushed him hard to increase his innings count in 2003

Both of which mean he might be suitable for a long-relief role. If that's the case, it means you could do something like releasing Josh Paul, whose last appearance was May 20th against the Yankees, and/or a struggling Weber, who doesn't seem to be turning it around.

The problem is that the M's would probably demand too much in return. A guy who can start but hasn't been effective in that role is probably better off on one of your competitors' teams, and preferably somebody in your own division.

Dodgers: This is a better fit from both teams' points of view. Not in the same division, the Dodgers might figure Meche is better than Nomo, whose mystery ailment (come on guys, the shoulder isn't right anymore) isn't improving, and whose sixth starter, José Lima, presently owns a 7.62 ERA in that role.

Again, the problem is the guy you give back.

Jackson, last year's wunderkind, now struggles at Vegas with a 5.21 ERA in 46.2 IP. Do you give him up? Tanyon Sturtze, with a 2.90 ERA at Vegas, was given permission to sign with the Yankees (where he is now the proud owner of a 18.00 ERA). There's another guy to check off the list. And on it goes; the list of Dodger pitching in the minors that's healthy and doing well is surprisingly short at the moment, and none of it is even in AAA. And as for hitters, what the M's would want back, the Bradley deal cleared the deck of anything like offensive help in the Dodgers' high minors.

I just can't see this deal happening, either.

// posted by Rob @ 9:06 AM link // 0 comments