12-14-2003, 08:27 AM
Aah, spoken like a true Yankee fan. One bad season, let's just write off their whole career!
Listen, like I said, Weaver had a horrible year. However, any true baseball fan knows that he has the talent to be one of the best pitchers in the game, and has shown that ability in the past. Don't believe me?
Look at his career. After struggling in his rookie season, as a 23 year old sophmore in 2000 he put up very respectable numbers for the mediocre Tigers: 11-15 record (on a team that won only 79 games), 136 K, 111 ERA+ in 200 innings. Nothing spectacular, but very good for a second year pitcher on a sub-500 team.
In 2001, his numbers: 13-16 (team record: 66-96), 152 K, 109 ERA+ in 229.1 innings.
2002: As a starter in Det before being traded, he went 6-8 for a team that would finish the year with only 55 wins. He left the Tigers having thrown 3 shutouts, eating 121 innings in 17 starts with an outstanding 132 ERA+.
After the trade, he split his time between starting and relief with the Yanks, going 5-3 with a 108 ERA+ and 57 K's in 78 innings.
So, not including his rookie season, he's had 3 very solid seasons in 4 years. For a 27 year old pitcher, that's an impressive resume.
Now let's compare Weaver to a similar pitcher: Jason Schmidt.
Schmidt started his career as a 21 year old rookie with the Braves, where he struggled before being traded to Pittsburgh in the middle of the 1996 season. Over the next few years, he would show signs of the player he'd become, winning 10, 11, and 13 games for the sub-500 Pirates from 97-99.
In 2000 he had a terrible, injury plagued year, and by midseason 2001 the Pirates had enough of him so they traded him to SF. At 27 years of age, he played half a season with the Giants posting a 7-1 record with a 118 ERA+, and went on to win 13 games each of the next two seasons before really breaking out this year, winning 17 with a whopping 183 ERA+ (and he should've won the Cy Young...).
Now, go back in time to the 2000-01 offseason and talk to any Pirates fan and ask them about Jason Schmidt, and they'll probably say the same things Yankees fans are saying about Jeff Weaver today. They wanted him gone, figured any success he'd had in the past was an anomaly and he'd never amount to anything more than a mediocre starter and not the kind of guy you'd build a rotation around.
Boy, were they wrong. And look where the Pirates are now. I'll bet they'd love to have Jason Schmidt on their team now.
And in a few years, Yankee fans will wish Jeff Weaver were still wearing pinstripes. I guarantee it.
Listen, like I said, Weaver had a horrible year. However, any true baseball fan knows that he has the talent to be one of the best pitchers in the game, and has shown that ability in the past. Don't believe me?
Look at his career. After struggling in his rookie season, as a 23 year old sophmore in 2000 he put up very respectable numbers for the mediocre Tigers: 11-15 record (on a team that won only 79 games), 136 K, 111 ERA+ in 200 innings. Nothing spectacular, but very good for a second year pitcher on a sub-500 team.
In 2001, his numbers: 13-16 (team record: 66-96), 152 K, 109 ERA+ in 229.1 innings.
2002: As a starter in Det before being traded, he went 6-8 for a team that would finish the year with only 55 wins. He left the Tigers having thrown 3 shutouts, eating 121 innings in 17 starts with an outstanding 132 ERA+.
After the trade, he split his time between starting and relief with the Yanks, going 5-3 with a 108 ERA+ and 57 K's in 78 innings.
So, not including his rookie season, he's had 3 very solid seasons in 4 years. For a 27 year old pitcher, that's an impressive resume.
Now let's compare Weaver to a similar pitcher: Jason Schmidt.
Schmidt started his career as a 21 year old rookie with the Braves, where he struggled before being traded to Pittsburgh in the middle of the 1996 season. Over the next few years, he would show signs of the player he'd become, winning 10, 11, and 13 games for the sub-500 Pirates from 97-99.
In 2000 he had a terrible, injury plagued year, and by midseason 2001 the Pirates had enough of him so they traded him to SF. At 27 years of age, he played half a season with the Giants posting a 7-1 record with a 118 ERA+, and went on to win 13 games each of the next two seasons before really breaking out this year, winning 17 with a whopping 183 ERA+ (and he should've won the Cy Young...).
Now, go back in time to the 2000-01 offseason and talk to any Pirates fan and ask them about Jason Schmidt, and they'll probably say the same things Yankees fans are saying about Jeff Weaver today. They wanted him gone, figured any success he'd had in the past was an anomaly and he'd never amount to anything more than a mediocre starter and not the kind of guy you'd build a rotation around.
Boy, were they wrong. And look where the Pirates are now. I'll bet they'd love to have Jason Schmidt on their team now.
And in a few years, Yankee fans will wish Jeff Weaver were still wearing pinstripes. I guarantee it.