Hot Stove

I like the Yovani Gallardo trade. Sardinas is a decent player and could become a starter at short or second. Was never going to do either for the Rangers though with Elvis signed long term, and Odor/Profar blocking his path. the other two prospects sent over have some potential but were not among the elite I would hate to see given away.

Plus Rangers needed a reliable starter since there are so many health questions in their entire current rotation available for 2015.

1 year deals for 8 million dollars never cripple a franchise. Rasmus has put up more than 4 warp twice in his career, and did so as recently as 2013, and put up 2.5 war in a third season. He doesn't even have to hit his upside for the contract to be cost justified; wins cost roughly 7.5million per in this offseason, so he justifies the contract if he simply is a 1 warp player. Let's say he puts up another duck of a season with .5warp only. That's about the equivalent of a 4 million dollar loss, a one time hit to the Astros, which is utterly manageable to their future. But if he puts up an "average" season of 2 warp it quickly becomes an 8 million dollar surplus win for them; and that number escalates rapidly if he hits his previous upside of 4 wins.

So its a cheap signing that doesn't chain the Astros to a long term investment, and one that could easily pay dividends in 2015. Even if their team is lousy Rasmus becomes a decent trade piece at the deadline. And there is some reason to believe they won't be lousy.

Have a good day.

Good analysis of Rasmus. If he has a decent season, he will be great trade bait for a contender needing his skills. Then the Astros can get a couple of prospects in a late-season deal.

Though never a good sign when an AL team touts the bat of an acquired pitcher.

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2015/01/19/106840762/rangers-acquire-homer-threat-yovani-gallardo

Does bring up an interesting question. If the pitcher was an outstanding hitter would you ever consider using them as DH on their non-pitching days?

Strether, the "short term" refers to the gamble not Rasmus' upside. It's a short term investment.

Does bring up an interesting question. If the pitcher was an outstanding hitter would you ever consider using them as DH on their non-pitching days?

For the most part, only if the GM has done a poor job assembling his bench. If a team doesn't have a reserve hitter available who can't outhit all the team's pitchers, the GM has failed to do that. There have been, and are pitchers, who managers have used as pinch hitters. They are usually of two types. The first are pitchers who were awesome hitters in college and were scouted as such. Those would be guys like Brooks Kieschnick (who was an outfielder in the majors as well), Micah Owings, and Darren Dreifort. The other type are just the excellent athletes who never lost their hitting skills, such as Don Robinson, Mike Hampton, Victor Zambrano, and Livan Hernandes. Those guys pinch hit as well, and Robinson was decent at it.

However, a pitcher would have to be a very good hitter, to merit 4-5 at-bats over all of the hitters on a team's bench. While there are some potent hitting pitchers out there today, like Bumgarner, none of them merit a Dh slot.

However, a pitcher would have to be a very good hitter, to merit 4-5 at-bats over all of the hitters on a team's bench. While there are some potent hitting pitchers out there today, like Bumgarner, none of them merit a Dh slot.

Right, and most never will, given the way organizations are about their pitching prospects. With the DH in use at all levels of professional baseball, pitchers get little opportunity to maintain their hitting skills. By the time most pitchers get to the majors, they haven't picked up a bat in real-game situations in several years. It would make sense for organizations to keep their best hitting pitchers active in game situations in the minors, to see if their hitting can progress with their pitching. One would suspect there are guys who have the skills to pitch in a team's starting rotation and play the field between outings. But again, we're talking MLB, where traditions die hard.

Sorta off topic...

Didn't Carlos Zambrano pinch hit a few times in his career?

I remember when John Olerud came up he was a quality pitcher as well as a quality hitter and there was discussion as to whether he would be a pitcher or a position player. The Blue Jays chose hitter and that was likely the correct choice as he was a career .295 hitter with a .398 OBP with 500 doubles and 255 HR.

Also look at Rick Ankiel. Although he was not even close to the hitter that Olerud was he was able to stay in MLB for 7 seasons as a position player after his pitching career was over.

This Ankiel card was $$$:

http://onlinegames.strat-o-matic.com/pl ... 007/1/2007

Sorta off topic...

Didn't Carlos Zambrano pinch hit a few times in his career?

Yes, he did, but not very well. I mentioned him as a pinch hitting pitcher in my post:

There have been, and are pitchers, who managers have used as pinch hitters. They are usually of two types...The other type are just the excellent athletes who never lost their hitting skills, such as Don Robinson, Mike Hampton, Victor Zambrano, and Livan Hernandes. Those guys pinch hit as well, and Robinson was decent at it.