Mike Pelfrey -- new and improved thread for his future

[WSUwatcher]

I've seen some pretty egregious irrelevant subject lines, but using the three year old Pelfrey thread about arm surgery to update on this year's performance is about as bad as it gets. So here's a new thread -- have at it.

[WSUwatcher]

I'll have at it myself, because I just looked at Pelfrey's numbers, and as much as I wish him well and would like to see him continue to represent WSU in MLB, it's hard to imagine that anyone would be too excited about him next season.

Having not really followed him in detail over the years I was startled, and not happily, to see what he's done. He'll be 32 next season, a righthander with a rebuilt elbow, a career ERA of 4.5 (he's better this season so far), a career opponents' BA of .287 (he's worse this season, at .296[!]), never a winning season since 2010, never a season with fewer hits than IP, and coming off a year in which he carried a $5.5 million price tag. The power pitcher with the killer breaking ball that I remember from his college days has never pitched a big league shutout and has a total of one season when he averaged as many as 6 Ks per nine innings (2013, at exactly 6.0). Even at his best, in 2010 with the Mets when he went 15-9 (3.66), he gave more hits than IP, struck out just five and walked three per 9 IP, and barely cracked 1.4 (1.377, to be exact) on his WHIP totals.

Where's the guy we saw at WSU?

[Keyser Soze]

The show is hard.

Watching Darren Dreifort perform at a lower than league average level over the course of his career taught me that lesson once and forever. You need both stuff and superp command with multiple pitches. Pelfrey has mediocre stuff and mediocre command for a major league starter Dreifort had top 5 percentile ML stuff and still couldn't succeed against national league lineups.

[small tyme baller]

Having not really followed him in detail over the years

Stats can only tell you soo much

[SPEShockAlum]

You are what your numbers say you are.

[WSUwatcher]

I'd love for him to be better, small tyme. But I just don't see the evidence. Bill James once noted that there's so much statistical information in baseball -- and the amount and detail just keep growing, even since he pioneered sabermetrics back in the 70s -- that if something is true, you'll be able to see evidence of it. It's like asking if a dinosaur walked across a field of snow: if it did, you'll be able to see tracks.

Soze is right -- it can be tough up there, and Dreifort was indeed a good example. Injuries hurt him, as they have Pelfrey in his career, but he still wasn't nearly the big league pitcher I (or the Dodgers, obviously) expected him to be. And the same has been true of Pelfrey, whose performance even before he started getting hurt wasn't what you'd expect from a top ten overall draft pick. It's a good reminder of how much tougher pro ball is, especially at the highest level, than college.

[ArtVandalay]

In a short time frame, stats can easily slant perceptions one way or another. Good or bad defense, run support, pitcher's ballpark vs hitter's ballpark, etc. But, now in his 10th season in the Bigs with his 2nd team, it's hard to look at much else but the stats when sizing up his career. 60-77 with 2 winning seasons (outside of 2-1 in his first season). 4.51 career ERA. He's a replacement level pitcher. He's been well paid, although Madoff cut into that. He'll pitch a few more years and retire. Won't be a Hall of Famer, but most guys are not.

[lawmaker]

Big Pelf to the Tigers on a two-year deal.

[RoyalShock]

I wish he'd get out of the AL Central. I don't like having to root against him. But glad to see he's keeping his career alive.

[ShockTalk]

I wish he'd get out of the AL Central. I don't like having to root against him. But glad to see he's keeping his career alive.

2 year, $16 mill, yeah, that'll keep ones career alive.

[Play Angry]

They're saying he got 2 yrs/$16 million. If true, he must have the best agent in the biz.

Congrats to Mike!

EDIT: hah, @ShockTalk: beat me to it by seconds!

[pinstripers]

He DOES have the best agent in the biz.

[Cdizzle]

They're saying he got 2 yrs/$16 million. If true, he must have the best agent in the biz.

Congrats to Mike!

EDIT: hah, @ShockTalk beat me to it by seconds!

He had a pretty solid season this year. Definitely revived his career. I think he made himself believable as a 4th/5th starter in a rotation again.

[Play Angry]

Yea make no mistake I am very happy for him, but that is a crapton of money for what he put together last year (and especially with it being his only decent showing since 2011):

30 GS, 164.2 IP, 4.26 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 45 BB, 86 SO, 6-11 W/L

His saving grace was a lack of HRs allowed but the team signing him already plays in the 4th stingiest AL ballpark for bombs (per 2015 numbers).

He did real well in negotiations IMO.

[Cdizzle]

Yea make no mistake I am very happy for him, but that is a crapton of money for what he put together last year (and especially with it being his only decent showing since 2011):

30 GS, 164.2 IP, 4.26 ERA, 1.48 WHIP, 45 BB, 86 SO, 6-11 W/L

His saving grace was a lack of HRs allowed but the team signing him already plays in the 4th stingiest AL ballpark for bombs (per 2015 numbers).

He did real well in negotiations IMO.

I agree he did well. DET doesn't seem to mind throwing around big numbers, so good for him. 4.26 isn't bad for a back end starter. You could argue he had finally fully recovered from surgery and what you saw last year is what you might get for a couple years. He certainly didn't come out on the wrong end of things though! Good luck to him, even when playing the Royals. I always root for a tie game til he's out and the bullpen blows it. DET is a great place for the bullpen to blow it.