Comments on: What do Kyle Davies, Todd Van Poppel, Kevin Jarvis, and Claude Willoughby have in common?

By: humanexcrement

humanexcrement — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:54:32 +0000

So you’re telling me the 1925 Claude Willoughby rookie card I keep in my firebox is just taking up space?

By: dreamkafka

dreamkafka — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 22:29:29 +0000

Now, who would be the worst by era+, all good hitting eras here…

By: FC

FC — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:47:52 +0000

And to think… the Braves almost drafted this guy instead of Chipper Jones… (They only didn’t because Poppel said he would not sign with the Braves). Major bullet dodged Matrix-style right there. I wonder how the 90′s Braves would have been different without Chipper.

By: sportsdrenched

sportsdrenched — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 20:44:28 +0000

Someone ask Dayton which of the other 29 teams were first in line to sign Davies after he was cut loose.

By: rje49

rje49 — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 20:42:49 +0000

Todd Van Poppel is one of the main reasons I stopped collecting baseball cards after 1993. You were expected to pay a premium for his card, even if you were convinced the guy was nothing special.

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:49:58 +0000

I’m not the biggest fan of WAR, but his is -5.6 for his career and he earned almost $10 million in his career. LOL.

By: adenzeno

adenzeno — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:43:45 +0000

He must have been gritty, competitive, and always took the ball and had veteran presence.

By: b7p19

b7p19 — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:43:26 +0000

They were all traded for Octavio Dotel?

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:40:20 +0000

I can understand Davies as he was a 4th round pick. Same thing with Van Poppel being a first round pick. Obviously, those guys must have shown some skills to be drafted into the league that high and teams didn’t want to give up on the guy.

I don’t get Kevin Jarvis though. 21st round pick so he really didn’t have a pedigree to speak of. Then his first 6 seasons, he goes 12-19 with a 6.62 ERA in 299 innings. So what happens next? In 2000 for Colorado, he goes 3-4 with a 5.95 ERA and this is impressive enough for the Padres to give him a 3 year deal? Amazing. He actually was only below average in 2001…12-11 with a 4.79 ERA. Then his last 5 years, he goes 7-15 with a 6.44 ERA in another 174 innings.

So a 21st round draft pick NEVER has an average year, yet gets 12 seasons in the majors? Weird.

By: elmaquino

elmaquino — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 19:36:32 +0000

They all suck at pitching!