December 20, 2005
Washburn vs. Garcia
Art Thiel of the Seattle Post Intelligencer compares the signing of Jarrod Washburn to the potential signing of Freddy Garcia.
Still, despite Garcia's shortcomings and wanderlust, it is hard to imagine there is anyone in baseball who would take Washburn over Garcia straight up, much less if the $11 million and extra year differential were factored in. Yet, that is the essence of what the Mariners have done to anchor their staff.
Posted by David Pinto at
08:58 AM
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It's hard to compare the two signings. Garcia's was a few years ago, when it was a totally different era as far as contracts. Teams didn't have as much money, and this offseason, the AJ Burnett signing raised the bar for everyone else.
Actually, YD, Garcia's signing was one year ago, and I think it's a valid comparison. The Mariners opted to trade Garcia in the middle of his free agent year instead of signing him to a three-year, $8 million a year contract. This year, in an effort to save face after a disastrous season, they had to sign Jarrod Washburn to a four-year, $11 million a year deal. But hey, at least Washburn's been on the DL only six times in his career.
Given the age difference, I agree that i would rather have Garcia. But it is hardly a slam dunk. Look at Warp3 for the last 5 years for the two pitchers
Garcia 5.3 3.7 4.3 3.0 6.2
Washburn 5.8 7.0 4.9 3.8 5.6
Last year is the only year that Garcia has outpitched Washburn, and then by a narrow margin. Washburn averages almost one more win of value per year than Garcia. Garcia has had 2 years worse than Washburn's worst year in the last 5. Washburn has the single most valuable season over the last 5 years.
Washburn bashing seems to be a popular sport this year. I suspect in 18 months, he will look like one of the better signings of this offseason.
I don't know about that one, Craig. The Mariners are the Mets of the AL. When was the last time any of their seemingly good signings actually turned out a worthy performance? Ichiro?
the mariners are old and slow, trading reed for matt clement might be there next move, why?
might as well trade ichiro... the a's, rangers, and angels are all much better teams.
I'm with Ben. Warp3 aside... Jarrod Washburn is Jarrod Washburn. While Garcia is Mr. Super Inconsistent (his day/night splits are crazy-person-esque), Jarrod Washburn has had ONE commendably good season. Take '02 away from him, and his ERA last year was his only other outstanding achievement. And he went 8-8 on a division leader. I bet Washburn finishes up somewhere around Pineiro (!), but behind Moyer.
the mariners should have gotten kevin millwood. maybe kevin will end up in texas watching the ball fly over his head, aka chan ho'/
re: jarrod washburn
still a fine pitcher. not sure of his winshares the past couple of years. freddie garcia had a resurgent year last year for the Chisox and could be expected to regress to the mean this year and fall back to earth.
--arthur john kyriazis
In defense of Washburn, he was the hardluck pitcher for the Angels this year - they had a hard time scoring runs for him. He often left the game with the score tied or down by a run or two - The Angels often went on to win, but Wash didn't get the decision.
On the other hand, h's also had a lot of time on the DL, or nursing an injury on a "day to day" basis.