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Wells.
Posted: March 21 07, 11:33 pm
by Ace
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports ... enDocument
From Orioles Hall of Famer Jim Palmer:
"It looks to me like this Wells throws everything with command. There's nothing not to like," Palmer said.
From what I've seen his problem is his command.
Posted: March 22 07, 12:36 am
by GatewaySnayke
You're right.
He walked 99 batters in 2005, and had average control during his good years. Hopefully he'll put it together this season.
Posted: March 22 07, 6:36 am
by stlmark
I'll be happy if Wells gives us what Suppan has for the last 3 years.
Posted: March 22 07, 8:28 am
by Leeyat
stlmark wrote:I'll be happy if Wells gives us what Suppan has for the last 3 years.
I will be happier if we pay less on him,
Re: Wells.
Posted: March 22 07, 8:36 am
by heyzeus
Which may be a symptom of his numerous health issues over the past few years.
Posted: March 22 07, 9:16 am
by stlmark
Leeyat wrote:stlmark wrote:I'll be happy if Wells gives us what Suppan has for the last 3 years.
I will be happier if we pay less on him,
True, if Wells has a good year this year, or according to this past years free agents, a mediocre year, he may just cash in after the season.
Posted: March 22 07, 9:49 am
by JL21
stlmark wrote:I'll be happy if Wells gives us what Suppan has for the last 3 years.
The beauty of it is that Wells could do that.... but he's also got it in him to be better than Suppan.
I'm starting to get really excited about Wells. That nice tight slider and power sinker will make hay for this team this year if he can stay healthy.
The guy was on the verge of becoming a pretty good #2 guy (and ace for teams like the Pirates) back after 2003, and then he kept hitting one physical snag after another ever since. If he's past that, he'll surprise a lot of people.
Posted: March 22 07, 10:09 am
by stlmark
RC21 wrote:stlmark wrote:I'll be happy if Wells gives us what Suppan has for the last 3 years.
The beauty of it is that Wells could do that.... but he's also got it in him to be better than Suppan.
I'm starting to get really excited about Wells. That nice tight slider and power sinker will make hay for this team this year if he can stay healthy.
The guy was on the verge of becoming a pretty good #2 guy (and ace for teams like the Pirates) back after 2003, and then he kept hitting one physical snag after another ever since. If he's past that, he'll surprise a lot of people.
I could get to really like this guy if he passes Suppan in performance.
Posted: March 22 07, 11:51 am
by Radbird
RC21 wrote:I'm starting to get really excited about Wells.
Calm down - it's only spring training... only spring training... only spring training...
(that's a chant I keep repeating to myself to keep my blood pressure in line, but with reports like this one, it's not working so well.
)
Posted: March 23 07, 12:09 am
by PujolJunkie
Sorry for bumping this back up but I wanna take time to post some stuff here on Wells.
In 2005, his worst season, he went 8-18 for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
A team that went 67-95 and only 2 people that hit over 60 RBIs(Jason Bay, 101. Daryl Ward, 63).
A team that only had 2 people hitting over .300 with a minimum of 100 at bats(Jason Bay, Chris Duffy)
A team who did NOT had a winning record the entire time Wells was with them, mainly because, and I'm elaborating on the two above this one, the highest they ranked in runs scored in the NL was 7th. No run support = 8-18 record.
There's not a lot of things to look at and find major positives, I'll say that. But look. He's pitched for nothing but teams that have given him 0 run support.
2002(12-14, 3.58) - Pirates(72-89) - 15th in NL in runs, 16th in NL in hits, 14th in NL in HR, 16th in NL in Batting Average, OBP and Slugging.
2003(10-9, 3.28) - Pirates(75-87) - 7th in NL in runs, 3rd in NL in hits, 10th in NL in HRs, 3rd in NL in BA, 5th in NL in OBP, 7th in NL in Slugging.
Look at the numbers. When he gets run support, he's absolutely great. But his wins? Still down. Why? Losing ball club. Imagine if he was on the Cardinals in say.. 02:
2002 Cardinals(97-65) - 2nd in runs in NL, 2nd in hits in NL, 3rd in HR in NL, 2nd in BA in NL, 4th in OBP in NL, 2nd in SLG in NL. Plus 16th in Ks.
So how many more wins does he get? Replace Simontachi(#2 starter) with him in starts against Atlanta, Cincinatti(x4), Houston(x2), Pittsburgh(x3), Royals(x2), Cubs(x3), Padres(x2), Giants(x2), Montreal and Colorado/Philly/Milwaulkee. None of them, barring the Giants were great offensive ballclubs.
So 24 starts. Plenty of run support. Against sub-par teams in his prime? My lord. There'd be no reason he couldn't go 15-6 or so and post a nice 3.00-3.35 ERA. Hopefully, the Cards can put enough run support out there this year for him and he can show that star quality that Dave Duncan KNOWS he has.