The Yankees' trade for Chad Gaudin may prove to be one of the most important moves of the 2009 season for any team. Even by writing those words on the day he notched his first win as a Yankee in relief, part of my sense of reason labels this reasoning as absurd.
His career statistics are nothing impressive. In seven big league seasons (only 1 3/4 as a regular starter) Gaudin is a modest 32-35 with a 4.58 ERA and a 1.521 WHIP. This is most definitely not the stat line of a pitcher who — even at the relatively young age of 26 — should be projected for a high level of major league success. The quandary with Gaudin is that if one physically watches him pitch, on some nights, one might project him as one of the future better No. 2 or No. 3 starters in the game based totally on perception..
Gaudin does not have over-powering stuff but he has enough command and a good amount of movement to enable him to strike people out. It is his control that has always been the catalyst for his inconsistency. Chad has always posted good strikeout numbers relative to his innings pitched — posting a career 7.0 K/9 career ratio — but this season his control has once again eluded him at inopportune times, most obviously in Gaudin's poor starts listed below. Not always translating into pure walk numbers, Gaudin consistently getting behind batters in these rough outings forced him into poor pitchers counts, and inevitably he was hammered, not because of his inherent hitability, but because of his sporadic loss of ability to work the corners that is so vital to his success.
Gaudin's worst starts in 2009:
May 3 vs. Dodgers: 5.2 IP, 6 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 5 K
May 14 vs. Cubs: 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 1 H, 7 BB (!), 5 K
May 25 vs. D'backs: 5.1 IP, 7 ER, 5 H, 5 BB, 6 K
June 12 vs. Angels: 3 IP, 8 ER, 10 H, 0 BB, 1 K
And his best starts in 2009:
June 23 vs. Mariners: 7 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 11 K
June 28 vs. Rangers: 8 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 9 K
July 8 vs. D'backs: 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 4 BB, 7 K
July 16 vs. Rockies: 5 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 4 BB, 8 K
Article comments
1 - Matthew T. Sussman
Here's another great start someone had against Texas this year: 6 1/3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
Now, Gaudin will probably start a few games, perhaps win one or two, but with the lead New York has in the AL East, I don't think a fifth starter is going to make or break their playoff chances. He was probably a nice acquisition, though. I don't understand why more teams try to pick up those kind of guys, rather than only swing for the Halladays and Sherrills of the league.
The pitcher who made that start? Dontrelle Willis.
2 - Tony
That Willis stat was a low blow. That was so flukey and you know it. Either way, his strikeout totals do indicate possible effectiveness and hes better than Mitre.
3 - Matthew T. Sussman
You know the rules. Willis goes down, everybody suffers.
Actually, I look at look at the six times the Rangers were shut out. Really, he didn't lose to worldbeaters, except for the obvious one:
Chad Gaudin
Zach Greinke
Dontrelle Willis
Gio Gonzalez
Brian Tallet
Aaron Laffey
Back to Gaudin, his 10th best K/9 rate in the country goes with the third worst BB/9 rate (among qualifiers), just ahead of Clayton Kershaw and Jonathan Sanchez. In all fairness, that does have fifth starter written all over it.
4 - Tony
You're right, he does have control problems and I think I touched on that quite a bit. My point was that he either looks like a superstar or a total bum (much like Sanchez and Kershaw) and that makes his stats look a little worse than they really are.
If I made Gaudin out to be some blockbuster move I didn't intend to. I just factored in the price and the potential and wanted to frame him as a possible great bargain for a team that didn't and doesn't need a lot.
5 - Ricky Rocker
Yanks suck. Plan for a pennant in 2050.