Can you guess the pitcher?

[Rik19753]

Below are the career ERA, ERA in their best season(+140 IP), and road ERA of 4 former and current Twins pitchers. Can you guess who is who?

Pitcher List

Chris Paddack

Dylan Bundy

Anthony DeSclafani

Tyler Mahle

 

Career ERA

Player A: 4.30

Player B: 4.20

Player C: 4.74

Player D: 4.21

Best ERA season

Player A: 3.75

Player B: 3.17

Player C: 4.24

Player D: 3.33

Road ERA

Player A: 3.73

Player B: 3.81

Player C: 4.84

Player D: 3.89

 

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The answer is....

Player A: Tyler Mahle

Player B: Anthony DeSclafani

Player C: Dylan Bundy

Player D: Chris Paddack

 

I wanted to provide this exercise to point out that some people are hating too much on DeSclafani.

Some opinions of DeSclafani I have read on this site in the last few days are

"He isn't even a depth starter"

"He shouldn't be in the rotation"

"He's on the same level as Bundy"

These takes are all insane.

First of all, Bundy is nowhere close to DeSclafani. Bundy's best season doesn't even match up to DeSclafani's average season. So for those of you acting like the Twins just added another Bundy, or Shoemaker, or Happ, please stop.

As for Paddack and Mahle, DeSclafani's numbers are remarkably similar. Most people look at Paddack right now and see a No.3 or No.4 starter. Why can't the same be said for DeSclafani? Both are coming back from injury. As for Mahle, the Rangers just paid 22 million to get one and a half years out of Mahle who is recovering from TJS. There is clearly value in these players.

I know DeSclafani is coming off a meh season (which is mostly because of injury, like Joe Ryan), but looking at the body of work there shouldn't be an argument about whether he belongs in the rotation. DeSclafani is definitely someone we should be taking a shot on with our No.5 spot, and if we get a healthy season from him, he may be the answer we need for the No.2 starter.

[Linus]

Interesting information and a good counterpoint. I think the disappointment comes from expectations of a Lopez type of deal and that DeScal hasn’t been good lately. So here’s hoping he is healthy and effective as that is one of the possible outcomes. 

[Heiny]

I hope that DeSclafani pitches lights out for two years and the Twins can't afford to keep him after '25.  Then, we would have had two great seasons, and all the pissers and moaners can eat their words.  I guess I just despise negativity, and we get a lot of it here.

[tony&rodney]

Naturally, Twins fans want DeScla to be really good. He was good three years ago. The last two years were pretty tough though and he has given up more hits than innings pitched in his career and has always been a pitch to contact guy which isn't a death bell. Hopefully things work out for him. Baseball players work hard to come back from injuries and the road to significant playing time is tough at the best of times. Good luck Anthony. 

[2wins87]

2 hours ago, Heiny said:

I hope that DeSclafani pitches lights out for two years and the Twins can't afford to keep him after '25.  Then, we would have had two great seasons, and all the pissers and moaners can eat their words.  I guess I just despise negativity, and we get a lot of it here.

He's only under contract for 2024

[2wins87]

Honestly not sure exactly what I'm supposed to take from these collection of ERAs.  He's been better than Bundy for his career, sure, there probably were some bad takes comparing Bundy and Desclafani, but that's not really surprising to me.

I don't dislike the trade.  I don't think it's obvious it makes the team worse like many do, in fact I think there is a decent chance it made the team better.  Losing Polanco definitely reduces the infield depth, but with ready replacements and a little luck, the loss of Polanco could still be very marginal for the team as a whole.  With Topa I think they probably improved their bullpen a decent amount.

Desclafani isn't totally without upside, but I don't see anything to convince me to expect him to be more than the 5th starter, to think his upside is better than Varland's, or to think that he'll be someone I want to see start a playoff game. 

I'll just focus on the Paddack comparison.  Both have been hampered by injuries the last couple years.  Paddack is 28 though while Desclafani is 34.  The Twins got Paddack from the Padres who had longstanding issues getting the most out of young pitchers.  We haven't really had a chance to see whether they have managed to tap into his upside, with only a couple solid starts in 2022 and a little bit of tantalizing velocity from the bullpen last year.  Desclafani is probably past the point of unlocking something new, and is coming from an organization in the Giants that already does a lot of the same things as the Twins on the coaching side.

Getting Desclafani is less than I would have hoped to see them do for the rotation.

[Doctor Wu]

Good post and analysis. I like the idea of going beyond the "perceived" ideas and looking at things from a broader perspective. I'm also hoping he can pitch better than expected, or at least better than most of us are expecting. The results the past 2 years are not that encouraging, but hey, it's a new year and a new team and new coaches and manager, so hopefully it clicks and he looks like an all-star once July rolls around. Stranger things have happened!