I'm trying to remember similar cases to Ryan Vogelsong: an OK prospect in 2001, traded, hurt, bad, Japan, AAA...now back in the majors for the first time since 2006, and I don't know how long it'll last but, you know, Wow! With 6 IP tonight and only an unearned run, he's now up to 5 starts, 32 IP, and a 1.93 ERA. I mean, how often does a SP go down and you win the first five starts with his replacement, no matter who it is?
Where did that come from?
Hey -- it's five starts. Still, even if he collapses after this, what a story, no? And for what it's worth, his K/9 and BB/9 are both far better than his career norms.
How about this one. If when Vogelsong was traded (along with Armando Rios) for Jason Schmidt at the trade deadline in 2001, you were told that his first five starts in 2011 would look like this, what would you have thought of the trade based on that information?
Or, if you don't like that one...Vogelsong actually debuted in 2000. Other pitchers who debuted in 2000 include Adam Eaton and Mark Mulder -- remember them? Or, of the 117 pitchers who debuted in 2000, guess how many have pitched in 2011? How about: 14. Of those, Vogelsong is dead last in ERA -- by a full run. To find guys with comparable ERAs, you need to go back to pitchers who couldn't make it beyond 2007. Which, of course, was Ryan Vogelson, just a few weeks ago.
With pitchers, it's all Joaquin Andujar. Youneverknow. I'm certainly enjoying the ride.
Friday, May 20, 2011
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You made me think of the Yankees' Dion James http://bit.ly/lWqZxQ (couldn't remember his name and had to look up 90s rosters) -- also bounced around quite a bit, including to Japan (though after his golden season with Yankees, not before, as I thought), with a couple of sterling years. What I remember is him telling one of the Yankee radio announcers, Michael Kay, when he was tearing it up in what turns out to be 1993, "I hope I don't wake up."
ReplyDeleteThe name Ryan Vogelsong sounds suspiciously similar to Ricky 'Wild Thing' Vaughn.
ReplyDeleteJust sayin'.
Aaron Small?
ReplyDeleteWow. Aaron Small is a great call. He doesn't have the business of coming back to the original franchise, but other than that, very much so.
ReplyDeleteAnd then he went pumpkin again...the big year was 2005, and he had about 75 IP remaining in organized ball. That he went bad is no surprise, but looking back it seems odd that he just quit at that point; anyone know if he got hurt? You'd think that a guy who spend so long hanging in there before he struck it big would have stuck around for a few more years hoping for lighting to strike twice.