Thread: Article: Blackburn's Persisting Struggles

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Blackburn has a 5.32 ERA since leaving the Metrodome (or since signing his contract).
Another HORRIBLE decision from Bill Smith....but sadly what else are you gonna do.
The guy is an atrocious pitcher on the team with the worst starting pitching in baseball.
Only shot is to deal him in offseason for some other teams horrible contract & hope.

Other than the one bad pitch that resulted in the home run, he had a pretty good day today. His trend seems to be improving, and he may yet be an effective #4 or #5 starter.

Originally Posted by glunn

Other than the one bad pitch that resulted in the home run, he had a pretty good day today.

Nine hits and two walks in six innings qualifies as "pretty good"? How far our standards have fallen.

I know the trend in baseball is to lock up players through their arbitration years and 1 to 2 of the first free agent years while gaining cost certainty. This is definitely one of the situations where going year to year would've been much preferable. Arbitration has been around long enough that teams should be able to build in some certainty based on past experience. I understand that almost all players are getting raises through this process, however, the bank isn't broke unless they have a monster year. In which case, they deserve it. I would more than trade the cost certainty for the flexibility of being able to make decisions one year at a time during those arbitration years.

No GM is going to trade for Blackburn, so we're stuck with him through next season. $5.5 million is ridiculous for a back-end starter.

PJ Walters wasn't great but he's at least as good as Blackburn, and he was picked up on the scrap heap for pennies.

Right now the twins can either pay him 5.5 million to lose us games next year or they can cut ties and pay a total of 8 million or so by signing another average pitcher who might win some games. Great options.

Thank you for finally calling out Blackburn on his start this year. We rip on Marquis for his performance and when he was cut Blackburn had an ERA that was identical. We rip on Liriano for his performance this year and he has an ERA almost a point lower than Blackburn. Even if you take his 2009 WHIP he would rank 83/112 pitchers in baseball. He just isn't that good when he is good and he is really bad when he is bad.

Originally Posted by silverslugger

I know the trend in baseball is to lock up players through their arbitration years and 1 to 2 of the first free agent years while gaining cost certainty. This is definitely one of the situations where going year to year would've been much preferable.

Right, because Blackburn isn't the kind of player that's likely to get big arbitration awards anyway. His contract was pretty much all risk, with little potential reward.

Originally Posted by jharaldson

Thank you for finally calling out Blackburn on his start this year. We rip on Marquis for his performance and when he was cut Blackburn had an ERA that was identical. We rip on Liriano for his performance this year and he has an ERA almost a point lower than Blackburn. Even if you take his 2009 WHIP he would rank 83/112 pitchers in baseball. He just isn't that good when he is good and he is really bad when he is bad.

+1

I've had enough of the excuses made for Blackburn by the Twins and their apologists. He's too strong early in the game, so his sinker won't sink. He's battling through injuries. He's battling his tail off. He's close. Maybe the real reason for Blackie's struggles is he's a replacement-level pitcher with a penchant for grooving waist-high sinkers over the middle of the plate.

Originally Posted by Nick Nelson

Nine hits and two walks in six innings qualifies as "pretty good"? How far our standards have fallen.

This is a case where the numbers sound a little worse than it actually was. Yes, the 5th inning was bad, and he did give up a couple of hard hits early in the game, but until the 5th his control was better than it had been recently. You take out the 5th inning, and he did OK. Not good, but not bad either.

Here is a comment I made last week about Blackburn: He just doesn't have enough quality to his pitches--not enough movement, not a real good fastball, terrible curveball, etc. Everything has to be perfect for him to be successful. If he is pitching I wouldn't but a ticket!

Originally Posted by peterb18

If he is pitching I wouldn't but a ticket!

I think that's a typo but...a butt ticket ?

Blackburn is currently the textbook example of "sunk money".

Originally Posted by TwinVike61

I think that's a typo but...a butt ticket ?

Typo---buy a ticket