February 12, 2007
And Ex-Met for an Ex-Met
The Orioles reached an agreement with Steve Trachsel to fill in for the injured Kris Benson.
The deal, which will pay the 36-year-old right-hander between $3 and $3.5 million, is pending a physical, which could happen as early as today, the source said. Trachsel has a 134-143 career record and a 4.28 ERA in 13 big league seasons.
Trachsel posted a 15-8 record despite a poor ERA in 2006, the third highest ERA of his career. He's moving to a higher scoring park in a league with a DH, so I don't expect his ERA to be going down. And the Orioles offense isn't exactly as good as the Mets. He could end up 8-15 this season.
The Orioles are out of their minds. Trachsel was barely a league average innings eater in the NL, he'll get positively murdered by the Boston, New York, Blue Jay and maybe even the Tampa Bay offense. Then again, considering this late stage, the Orioles didn't really have much of a choice either. Still though, I'd have rather given Hayden Penn a chance (yes, he's nowhere near ready, but he's still the future, NOT Trachsel), then bring Trachsel on. Big mistake by Duquette and Co.
agree with Yamen. as an O's fan I'd rather have seen them give Penn or Guthrie a chance, maybe Garett Olson gets a chance at some point this year. Also, I probably would have rather had Redman over Trachsel, but with Duquette having the Mets connection, I'm not at all suprised that they got things done with Trachsel very quickly. Again, not very happy with this, but then again, I'm not sure how much of a difference there is between Trachsel and Benson, or Rodrigo Lopez for that matter.
we'll see
I think it's a good move. Every rotation needs depth and you can't expect them to rely just on you arms the whole year. If someone else goes down to injury or gets sent to the minors during the season (Cabrera) Trachsel provides a little stability.
I'm not saying he's a great pitcher, far from it. But they had no choice. Depth and veteran presence is important. Expect to see Hayden Penn get his starts and Olsen might be brought up sooner than mid-season.
It's a tough break, but it's not they're replacing Erik Bedard.
I initally expressed awe that Steve Traschel has been in the league for 13 years, but then I realized he's only thrown 87 pitches in that time. The rest has been spent wandering around the mound like a former resident of a shuttered mental hospital, poking at the rosin and asking to see the Dean of Blue.
Hopefully, the Orioles won't let him pitch during games out west so no one drowns from rising sea levels.
He's not desirable by any stretch, but I suspect Mark Redman would be a bit cheaper and more effective.
