Comments on: Fresh off contract extension, Dustin McGowan to begin season on disabled list

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:05:38 +0000

Yep. Signing Mathis has to be the biggest question mark move AA has made since he got the GM job, and that’s with the Rasmus trade factored in. I can’t help but think that this is some sort of Anti-Scioscia thinking behind it. Remember when Costanza decided to do the opposite in that Seinfeld episode? Ignore his first instinct and so on? I wonder if AA is doing something like that with Scioscia? If Scioscia thinks the player, especially if its a catcher, sucks, then he might be really good. If the catcher underperforms for Scioscia, then he’ll be a stud elsewhere.
McGowan, on the other hand, is really quite straightforward: plantar fasciitis is a minor detail, like a hangnail or a small cut. Not that big a deal. Treat with tincture of time, over the counter meds, and some trivial changes. McGowan throws in the mid-90′s and has a nice array of breaking pitches, too. He has every chance of being a stud.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:44:58 +0000

He actually got the injury before the contract extension.

While I don’t like the extension, he basically needs to pitch 40-50 innings a year to justify it. Which for him might be difficult, but in reality it’s not a crazy idea. If McGowan is servicable, and that’s how low the bar is set, the Jays come out ahead. It’s not that hard to produce $1.5M in value. If he breaks out, which isn’t impossible (but not the likely outcome, either), the Jays end up with a fairly big bargain. Considering he’s a free agent and all. Coming off a good year I think we can all admit he’d make more than $1.5M given his history.

Honestly, I have a bigger issue with the Jays giving up an actual asset for Jeff Mathis, and then guaranteeing him a bench spot while paying him more than $1M. Guaranteeing $1.5M to McGowan is an intriuging risk, but at least he has some upside. Unlike Mathis, who’s signed because he’s a veteran defensive catcher. Which makes it ok to overlook the fact he’s one of the 10 worst hitting position players since the 1950′s.

I’d be amazed if he throws 150-200 innings over the 2 year period, but like I said, to earn back the $1.5M in value he basically needs to throw 40-50 innings. And they could be 5 FIP innings and he’d probably still earn his value. We’re talking about him needing to be worth what, 0.3 WAR to earn $1.5M in value?

I didn’t like the contract when I first heard about it, and still don’t. But when you realize he needs 0.3 WAR to break even, it’s not exactly a head scratcher. The Jays (right or wrong) believe in his upside. If nothing else, it’s creative. Or crazy. I don’t know. But it’s not really that difficult to figure out why they did it. It’s fairly straight forward.

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:31:50 +0000

You guys only just getting this story? Wowie. Old news. He’s been gimping around with this for about a week now. Its in his landing foot and, while it can linger, isn’t the end of the world. He’s a pitcher, not an outfielder, so the fix can be quite simple. Stop with the obsessive jogging, get better arch support, stretch the Achilles tendon better, and take anti-inflammatory meds. Plantar fasciitis is among the most common foot complaint on the planet after warts, so its not like his foot’s falling off or something.