The Giants signed righty Doug Mathis yesterday, according to the Pacific Coast League's transactions page. He's already made a start for the Fresno Grizzlies. The 27-year-old had been released by the Indians last week.
Mathis posted a 5.66 ERA, 5.5 K/9, 3.1 BB/9, and 0.7 HR/9 in 89 Triple-A innings last year, mostly as a starter. He was worse with the Rangers in 22 1/3 relief innings, allowing seven home runs and 30 hits.
Why?
Perhaps the Giants’ system can turn him into a sub-3 ERA starter.
Let me rephrase this. 1) who cares
because their pitching at AAA is c@rp aside Edlefsen….
Matt Yourkin, Casey Daigle, Andrew Kown, Shane Loux, Mixon, Josh Banks, etc….
Why? Baseball’s rulebook requires that someone stand up on the pitching mound and throw the ball. The Giants minor league system is out of starting pitchers. If you look at the Grizzlie’s roster, you’ll see that all of their starters (except for one converted reliever) are minor league free agents. Don’t expect to see any of them on the Giants mound unless disaster strikes.
AAA is usually where two or three prospects play as well as a bunch of fill-ins. This guy is a fill-in.
The term is “organizational player” for guys like Mathis. As noted above, you need someone on the mound, heck, all nine positions on the field, while you provide the opportunities that your true prospects need to develop and improve.
The thing is, this is the spot the Giants were probably saving for Suppan should he have accepted a AAA position (ironically, he just accepted a AAA position with the Royals) with them, and once he declined to do so, they had to find a replacement.
And frankly, that is why they are pitching in AAA, they are mostly players who are not good enough to make the majors, some good enough to be called AAAA, but most not so much, but you can’t have a team unless you have enough players.
How’s his fielding?
With a 5.66 era he should STAY with the AAA Grizzlies until he shows some kind of hope to be consistent in the 2-3.0 era.
To bad they couldn’t get Joe Martinez back from Cleveland