“Dropped his ERA from the first half by nearly two runs, got his BB way down too. Or didn’t you bother to notice?”
– Kinda similar to how you didn’t notice Cahill raise his K/9 last year.

“Latos? I’d say Beckett is his floor. His ceiling could be Clemens (until, of course, Dusty gets his claws into him).”
– How’d you come up with these comps. Please share your reasoning.

“How come your commenters have to do your work for you? What a gig…”
– How come you can’t just respectfully disagree like some above. Why be such a dick?

You’re still girly starry-eyed over a fluke 18 win season for the utterly mediocre Cahill, who simply can’t miss enough bats to be more than a #4 on a flawed team.

Parker? His second half last year, in that first full season following TJ, screams ace. Dropped his ERA from the first half by nearly two runs, got his BB way down too. Or didn’t you bother to notice? His stuff is swift, heavy and hard to center up, lots of K and busted bat grounders. This will be seen as a coup, once the fog the likes of you dust up blows off.

Latos? I’d say Beckett is his floor. His ceiling could be Clemens (until, of course, Dusty gets his claws into him). But Pads were right to sell him for that haul, and Yonder is barely the reason, the real gem is Grandal.

How come your commenters have to do your work for you? What a gig…

Cahill is not as good as his record. He’s a middle-of-the-rotation pitcher and young but he shows no markers that he will be more than that. Latos is a much better talent. He does have maturity questions but he’s a top-caliber pitcher.

Jarrod Parker, I say, is nowhere near the prospect that Yonder Alonso and Yasmani Grandal are – Parker’s overrated. I like him but what about 2011 screams ace? Nothing, yet scouts say he is? I disagree. He could become a no. 2 but right now he looks like a no. 3 to me. So the A’s traded Cahill for a no. 3.

The Padres traded a better pitcher for a better haul. The A’s, I don’t believe, undersold on Cahill.

Rockies’ Analyst

Although I do find it amusing the Reds decided to pick up an injury prone starter when Dusty Baker is the manager. Especially when you consider said starter has never thrown 200 innings in the majors, and will be expected to do that and more if they intend on making the playoffs.

Also, part of what makes Oakland a pitcher’s park — the expansive foul territory — does Cahill less good than it would most pitchers.

Of course, Cahill has far bigger home-road splits than Latos does over the course of his career anyway. Someone is sure to point that out sooner or later… it might as well be me.

There are plenty of other factors I didn’t want to try to examine in a quickie entry. Cahill’s contract is a point in his favor, even though he has the extra year of service time. People have long questioned Latos’ character, though he’s never gotten himself into real trouble. I think Cahill is the better bet to hold up physically. That said, Cahill looked legitimately lost at times last year and he still hasn’t perfected a breaking ball. Latos is the one of the two with a chance to be a legitimate top-10 starter someday, while I’d say Cahill is more of a No. 2.

I’d rather have Latos. But if Cahill could have been had for Alonso and Volquez — which is arguably more than the D’backs gave up for Cahill — I certainly would have preferred that trade.

Unfortunately, the A’s and Reds didn’t match up too well. I doubt either Alonso or Grandal was on Oakland’s wish list.

Latos career – 94/91/89 (ERA/FIP/XFIP)
Cahill career – 95/110/100

Their ERA- is similar, but based on the peripherals Latos has to be considered significantly better.

My point was more directed at your comment that the difference between the two isn’t extreme. I would argue that it is, even when acknowledging that Cahill’s GB% isn’t properly valued in FIP or XFIP.

Fangraphs has park/league adjusted FIP (FIP-) and xFIP (xFIP -).

Cahill 2010: 104 FIP-, 95 xFIP-
2011: 105 FIP-, 96, xFIP-

Latos: 2010: 83 FIP-, 80 xFIP-
2011: 90 FIP-, 91 xFIP-

Again these are just a sampling of statistics to consider when evaluating players.

That said, the component stats do favor Latos by a signficiant margin. Though xFIP (something I put little weight into) actually takes away quite a bit of that difference.

I’d say there’s a fairly big difference between the two.