Questions About Yovanni Gallardo and OF Franklin Guittierez

[ELMERO]

 I think this is a huge issue. What are the expectations for Gallardo?  Are his physical ailments healed now? The guy that pitched for us last year was an albatross. I would think his contract and declining ability makes him untradeable.  Would they consider releasing him now and eating the 11-12 million he's owed?  True, he's still in his prime and has a lot of pride, but do you really think he can bounce back with us?  FA outfielder Franklin Guittierez-is he capable of playing 130 games in RF?  Is he worth signing?  The "who's gonna play RF" subject has been beaten to death here and I, for one, don't like any of our other options.  Certainly can't trade for a decent one, can we?

[Can_of_corn]

Zero chance they cut him now, to what end?  Free up a spot on the 40 man?  The earliest they would cut him would be at the end of spring training and I don't think that is likely.

[ArtVanDelay]

There's no point in releasing Gallardo. If we're paying him the money either way, you might as well throw him out there and see what he has left. 

Gutierrez used to be a phenomenal defensive player but he's now bad defensively. He doesn't have a great arm. Maybe he'd work in LF. He has a good bat. 

[ELMERO]

4 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Zero chance they cut him now, to what end?  Free up a spot on the 40 man?  The earliest they would cut him would be at the end of spring training and I don't think that is likely.

Good answer.  I was afraid someone was gonna say that.  Do you believe he can bounce back this year?  Help me feel better about this, will ya?

[weams]

9 minutes ago, ELMERO said:

Good answer.  I was afraid someone was gonna say that.  Do you believe he can bounce back this year?  Help me feel better about this, will ya?

I suspect his arm feels better right now than it did last spring. It's not like there is a surgical cure for this and the physical did indeed show this concern when we signed him.  That's how I'll help you. He might have some good starts. It's not like he can't pitch with diminished arm health. He has proven he can. 

[Can_of_corn]

18 minutes ago, ELMERO said:

Good answer.  I was afraid someone was gonna say that.  Do you believe he can bounce back this year?  Help me feel better about this, will ya?

Had a good laugh out of that one.

I'm the wrong person to ask.

[Moondoggie]

Gallardo's velocity was back up to around 89-90 after he came off the DL and he pitched very well in four of his last five starts (one stinker against the Rays in the middle). He just wasn't healthy last year and hadn't been since mid-season the previous year. If he can enter the season healthy, I see no reason he can't be closer to the pitcher who put up a 2.62 ERA over 19 starts in the first half in 2015. He'll probably never be the pitcher he once was, but I think he has a chance to be a solid back-of-the-rotation starter in 2017.

[Redskins Rick]

1 minute ago, Moondoggie said:

Gallardo's velocity was back up to around 89-90 after he came off the DL and he pitched very well in four of his last five starts (one stinker against the Rays in the middle). He just wasn't healthy last year and hadn't been since mid-season the previous year. If he can enter the season healthy, I see no reason he can't be closer to the pitcher who put up a 2.62 ERA over 19 starts in the first half in 2015. He'll probably never be the pitcher he once was, but I think he has a chance to be a solid back-of-the-rotation starter in 2017.

I agree, back of the rotation starter, he should be just fine.

[sportsfan8703]

34 minutes ago, Redskins Rick said:

I agree, back of the rotation starter, he should be just fine.

Yeah in the NL.  He's not an AL or AL East SP.  

He's Freddy Garcia 2.0 at this point.  He'll throw 4 different pitches and change speeds, but he has to nibble and live on the corners.  The only way he's getting outs is if the other team is chasing all game.  If not he's at his usual 75 pitches in the 4th/5th inning and the top of the lineup is seeing him for a 3rd time.  

[scOtt]

Manny Ramirez is eyeing a comeback..

http://www.tmz.com/videos/0_ks7tfpwc/

 

[ELMERO]

2 hours ago, weams said:

I suspect his arm feels better right now than it did last spring. It's not like there is a surgical cure for this and the physical did indeed show this concern when we signed him.  That's how I'll help you. He might have some good starts. It's not like he can't pitch with diminished arm health. He has proven he can. 

Thank you.  This soothed my nerves, somewhat.  I shall not "stress out" about this over the coming cold months, well, not until his first start, anyway.

[ELMERO]

2 hours ago, Can_of_corn said:

Had a good laugh out of that one.

I'm the wrong person to ask.

Yeah, but I look forward to your posts.  Witty, informative, especially when you get sarcastic.  I enjoy it when you tear into some posters.  I hope I never give you the chance, LOL!

[Moondoggie]

1 hour ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Yeah in the NL.  He's not an AL or AL East SP.  

He's Freddy Garcia 2.0 at this point.  He'll throw 4 different pitches and change speeds, but he has to nibble and live on the corners.  The only way he's getting outs is if the other team is chasing all game.  If not he's at his usual 75 pitches in the 4th/5th inning and the top of the lineup is seeing him for a 3rd time.  

That 2.62 ERA in the first half of 2015 was in the American League. And he was 3.42 for the season. If he can get back to 4.00 or less, I'd happily take that for a 4th or 5th starter.

[wildbillhiccup]

1 minute ago, Moondoggie said:

That 2.62 ERA in the first half of 2015 was in the American League. And he was 3.42 for the season. If he can get back to 4.00 or less, I'd happily take that for a 4th or 5th starter.

I am fairly confident that there is a 100% chance of this not happening. 

Even in his prime I hated Gallardo. Consistently walks too many batters and gives up too many hits to go deep into games. Even when his ERA has been respectable it's been fools gold as his WHIP has always been terrible. Add to that his diminished velocity (which was common knowledge when they signed him) and I want no parts of him in the rotation. The best thing they can do is trade him for a bag of balls (i.e., salary dump) so they're not even tempted to trot him out to the mound every 4th / 5th day. 

Signing Gallardo was the equivalent buying something just for the sake of buying it. A. Complete. Waste. Of. Money. 

 

[DrungoHazewood]

2 hours ago, Moondoggie said:

If he can enter the season healthy, I see no reason he can't be closer to the pitcher who put up a 2.62 ERA over 19 starts in the first half in 2015.

I don't see any reason to believe he'll be fully healthy, and on top of that his career ERA mostly in the more pitcher-friendly and slightly lower quality NL isn't anything remotely like 2.62.  My wild guess for his 2017 performance is something like 125 innings of a 4.75.  But I wouldn't be surprised by 50 innings of a 7.00.  More surprising would be qualifying for the ERA title with a mark around league average.