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Q. Does he start or reieve?
A. Dipoto liked his "versatility," which was what Dipoto said about Phelps. Though Phelps' ability to start games is off the table this year.
Also the Gray rumors were held to be "nonsense" from the beginning, so you Kyle Lewis sighs can breathe a sigh of heavy relief. We seem to have 2-to-make-1 from Marc-O and Erasm-O. Dr. D could think of a whale of a lot worse.
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Q. Where has Erasmo been these last three years in Tampa? Has he evolved?
A. When he left, his arsenal was:
√ 92-93 straight fastball, thrown into a teacup, Maddux-like mechanics, super still head
√ Plus 82 MPH straight change was best weapon
√ dubious 83 slider was okay if kept on the black
Most SSI Denizens liked Erasmo; the Pencil hated him with a fiery passion. As far as we can tell, this Erasmo is pretty much the same 7 K, 2.5, 1.2 HR pitcher who needs merely to keep those low-release straight fastballs out of the middle-middle to win games.
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Q. What were his results with Tampa? Not as big a park as Safeco, huh.
A.
2015 = 11-6, 3.75 with a 7.0 / 2.2 / 0.9 slash line
2016 = 7-11, 3.77 with a 6.3 / 2.6 / 1.4 slash
2017 = 4-3, 4.80 (4.13 xFIP) with a 7.1 / 2.1 / 1.3 slash
Like we sez, he does need to keep the fatball out of the little basketball area waist high.
....
I don't see where he started any games at all in 2016-17, probably due to the Rays' use of Archer, Odorizzi, Smyly, Matt Moore, Matt Andriese, and Blake Snell. This year Alex Cobb and Jake Faria have been on big rolls. In 2015 a quick glance (check me on this) seems to show 14 good starts and 3 bad ones.
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Q. What do the Rays fans think?
A. Surprised, loss of a "beloved" pitcher, can pitch well out of a rotation, is the Ben Zobrist of pitchers. ... The 5-hour Boston game left me feeling like Steve Cishek was decidedly redundant and if this is the Erasmo we traded, I give the deal five corn cobs out of five at Ye Ol Crab Shack. Apparently Jerry Dipoto is no longer beholden to Lloyd McClendon grudges. (Well, not grudges ... misjudgments? Tactical errors? Unhappy circumstances? In any case Dr. D loves Re-Do's.
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A recent Video gives us a 93 MPH teacup fastball at the knees to end an inning. Erasmo's verve and panache is up a bit, a little more "ooomph" in the acceleration.
Here is a YouTube. April 2017 vs. the Tigers. Think I'll start using that rather than MLB.com?
√ 94 lo-away FB swung on and miss
√ 84 deadfish change to LH for strike three
√ Ladder fastball swung thru
√ 91 paintball vs LH, park holds it (so might Jar-Rod)
√ Fastball inner third, ties batter up
... we might almost hope that three years in Tampa have put some seasoning and pitchability on the lad. I'm pretty stoked! :- ) To get him into a big park that will forgive a few of the fly balls. Now if our #5 were simply Marc-O and let's hope, that would be one thing, but a 2-for-1 one draw between Marco and a career solid-average SP? For the #5 slot? Yes please. I LIKE it.
BABVA,
Dr D
