The Cardinals claimed righty Bryan Augenstein off waivers from the Diamondbacks today, according to the team's Twitter feed. The 24-year-old spent most of the year at Triple-A, posting a 6.56 ERA, 7.5 K/9, 2.6 BB/9, and 0.9 HR/9 in 120.6 innings. He allowed a whopping 162 hits in that time.
Augenstein didn't improve his stock after Baseball America ranked him 11th among Diamondbacks prospects heading into the season. Even then, they wrote that in the best case he "profiles as a solid fourth or fifth starter in the Majors." He works with an 86-89 mph sinker.
Average Triple A pitcher at a team without Dave Duncan = Stellar pitcher in MLB with Dave Duncan!
First of many moves for the Cards this offseason! Whooo!
This will definitely fix our middle infield problems.
He actually has potential. If anything, the Cardinals have another relief pitcher with a long beard.
potential for what? they plainly said his ceiling is a #4 starter.
Better than Lohse.
not really. 6.56 era in AAA. ceiling is a #4/5 starter. Lohse is already that. it was a mistake the first time, i know. but these sort of guys almost never work out…
There is more to evaluating pitching than just ERA. Actually take a look at what he did in years past and then decide if he has potential. He’s a ground ball pitcher… Duncan’s specialty.
For six years on the cheap and for no cost? I think you’re undervaluing #4 starters, bud. Jake Westbrook is gonna break the bank this year as just that.
jake westbrook doesn’t have an era over 6.5…..
You know, considering we have a massive check we will have to pay to one Senor Albert, I would reconsider that belief.
Oops, wrong button. : P Ummm, I am aware of that, actually. Remember that part above where his ceiling (potential) is a #4 starter, as you explicitly stated? That does not qualify as “no potential,” which you again explicitly stated… Westbrook is simply a comparison.
Not really. He had an almost 20% LD rate. There’s a reason why he has a .385 BABIP, and it’s because hitters tee off on him.
Again, he has a beard
The Cards claimed Brian Austin Green?
At least he kept the ball down.
Wow what a great find guys. Great first move………………………………………………………………………….
Cue the obligatory “Oh I’m sure Dave Duncan can fix him. He’ll whip up a potion in his magic cauldron using the blood of orphans slain by Joel Pineiro’s sinker and Augenstein will be a perennial Cy Young candidate by 2008! That’s right, Duncan is SO good he’ll actually improve numbers that are already in the history books!” comments.
Hahah WOW you actually are happy about this cardinals fan? he had a 6.56 ERA.. in triple A. yeah goodluck with that.
I have no opinion one way or another. If he works out, great. If not, cut him. It’s as simple as that.
why the crap do they keep signing guys with absolutely no value to a baseball team? im sorry but if i was the GM,i wouldnt sign players just because they got nowhere else to go.
I’d like to see your minor league system if you were a GM. You can’t have stars and only stars. It doesn’t work that way. Rosters have to be filled out. In this case, if it works then everyone will praise it. If it doesn’t, who really cares.
People seriously need to lay off on taking these signings too seriously. Plenty of teams have 5 or more signings like this on guys who were previously highly ranked, and have fallen on hard luck or have flamed out. It’s not the end all of acquisitions. All you people crying about this need to get a grip and realize this costs absolutely nothing to see what he’s got to work with, and that this won’t be our only signing of the offseason.
As for the guy, anyone with a sinker will obviously have under a 4 ERA under Duncan Just kidding (But kinda not really). If the guy can be a solid 4-5th starter, that is millions of dollars we don’t have to spend on a Jake Westbrook 2-3 year deal or a lottery ticket signing like Harden.
I am a little iffy about this signing myself although I have seen this guy pitch in person and he is not all that bad his mechanics are solid. We are judging his AAA numbers and there was some guy named Bob Gibson that didn’t pitch very well in AAA either i remember hearing about him saying something about hitters teeing off on him as well in the Minors