Monday, September 12, 2016

It could be worse (and it is)

Zack Greinke hasn't matched his career marks with Arizona,
but he's been a lot better than the rest of the staff.
OK, Twins fans: What team has the worst ERA in the majors this year?

Nope, it's not Minnesota. The Twins have an ugly ERA, to be sure: 5.19 entering Sunday's games. But the Arizona Diamondbacks entered Sunday with a 5.24 ERA, which is as unsightly as their charcoal road unis.

That's astounding, considering that:


  • Arizona plays most of its games without a designated hitter and
  • the Diamondbacks made two really expensive moves last winter to import quality starting pitchers, signing Zach Greinke and trading for Shelby Miller.

Greinke, long one of my favorites, has a 4.54 ERA (and a 12-5 record), but he's only made 23 starts, having missed more than a month with an oblique injury. Miller has been a disaster (2-11, 6.89 ERA).

It's a cautionary tale for whoever lands the top baseball job with the Twins. Greinke was the top free agent pitcher on the market last winter, and Miller is a highly regarded young pitcher who made the All-Star team in 2015. These were the kind of moves that I suspect a lot of Twins fans want the new boss to make, and they absolutely blew up in the faces of Tony LaRussa and Dave Stewart.

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