Danny Haren is a pitcher that D-O-V boldly proclaimed one of the league's 15 best starters this winter.  We wanted a huge package offered to Oakland.  Who knows, maybe the M's even did.

He fired a shutout for 8 innings on May 14, lowering his ERA to 1.4 x 10(-14), but his club lost. Because Gil Meche allowed zero runs on the night.

1.91 ERA for Meche on the year, thru nine starts and 61 innings. 47/14 control.

Saw the game on cable. Did not see a centered FB during the game. The Royals simply told Meche that the league was waiting for mistake FB’s, that he should pitch backwards, to throw tons of changes and curves. They (obviously) told him all you have to do is to never center a FB at any time, and now he’s overwhelming.

Key AB to Cust in the 7th, after the A’s finally got two guys on, was typical. Three changeups mixed with three overhand curves, zero fastballs. Strikeout. Shutout intact.

……………………

Also, the Royals made some simple little adjustment, like telling him to land on his front toe vs. his front heel.  Check me.

When the Royals offered $55m and Seattle fans had heart attacks … the Royals seemed to know with calm clarity that they could fix Gil Meche.  Instantly. 

…………………………..

Do you think the M’s ever get embarrassed when guys like Carlos Guillen and Meche leave and instantly fulfill their potential?  

Carlos was so un-valuable as a Mariner that we traded him for Ramon Santiago.  The very first year with Detroit, in a huge pitcher's park, he hit .320/.380/.540 and led the league (IIRC) in range factor at short.

102 OPS+ his last year with the M's.  142 OPS+ the next year with Detroit.

The M's hated Guillen's injuries, his drinking and his work ethic and saw it as Guillen's job to please them on a personal level, as though he were a computer programmer making $75k.  

The Tigers saw it as their job to manage an MLB player so as to extract his best performance.  And that did not simply mean criticizing the player and focusing on what he couldn't do.

…………………….. 

Who is the guy who CAME here and became Guillen or Meche?

Cool Papa:

Boone, but I think he brought his pixie dust with him.

Yeah, Boone was the last guy. Exactly.  Like you say, that wasn’t the M’s, it was the pixie dust. And that was what, 2001?

In 2004-2007, who is the closest analogue to Guillen or Meche, a guy who had NEVER been better than mediocre, and who instantly became a franchise player…

And it’s not just them. Miguel Olivo was a hitter the day before he came here and the day after he left, and an .000+ hitter the whole time he was here. Spiezio, Aurilia, Cirillo, other guys. Snelling is liable to post a .400 OBP the rest of his career.

Ben Broussard was slugging .500 for Cleveland on the day he was traded, came here, and instantly became a useless player. Eduardo Perez.

Am trying to think of the guys who got here and instantly showed something they hadn’t shown before…

Siggghhhh,

Dr D