The Dodgers, Pirates, Twins, and Rangers are interested in free agent righty Brandon Webb, tweets ESPN's Jerry Crasnick. He adds that we should not rule out the Nationals, Reds, and Cardinals.
MLBTR speculated on the Cards recently, though they just tied up decent money in Jake Westbrook. The Reds have an advantage in their proximity to Webb's Kentucky home. On Monday, Webb's agent Jonathan Maurer provided MLBTR with a detailed look at Webb's late season throwing sessions. Maurer said Webb is "ready to start 30 plus times in 2011" after shoulder surgery knocked him out for 2009 and '10.
Now he’s a finesse pitcher. Innings eater. Doubt he’ll be the same pitcher.
Never really topped 90, so I think if he’s out there he’ll be pretty good.
Kinda worried about these groundball pitchers that injure themselves, Wang comes to mind.
He always has been a finesse/sinkerball pitcher. His fastball’s averaged 88 throughout his career. He’s already throwing 83-85… give it some more work and I don’t see why he can’t get back up to 88.
The real question is probably his durability at this point.
so long webby, you will be missed…
ugh. the dodgers do not need to spend money on webb, unless he turned into a power hitting left fielder.
Obviouslay a high risk/high reward FA. If anyone signs him and he’s willing to accept a deal with a ton of incentives, this could be the bargain of the offseason.
Oh what a tangled Webb Brandon and his agent have woven.
Fail
I’m not sure how Webb is “washed up.” He’s been injured. It’s not like he’s went out there after winning a Cy Young award and stunk up Chase Field. He’s simply not been healthy. That doesn’t make him “washed up” in any logical sense. When he comes back and remains healthy, I’m sure he’ll return to his normal form.
Even if he’s not his normal (Cy Young) form, and he’s only 85% of his former self – that’s still a #1-2 guy in most any rotation out there.
Has he thrown a fastball over 83 yet?
I’m really surprised that the Cardinals are passing up on this guy. Moreso the RedSox, from what I know Dave Duncan loves to work with guys who feature a nice sinker(Joel Pineiro). In addition to this the RedSox, Theo Epstein loves to fish in the bargain basket for siginings like these. But with their “super rotation” of Lester, Beckett, Lackey, Buch, and Dice-K I don’t see much room for Webb in their rotation. Maybe Cashman can take a look at Webb, he couldn’t be any worse than Vazquez(shudders).
I also would have liked to see the Cardinals make a run at him. I guess they didn’t want the risk of another Brad Penney type situation. I can’t see them going after him now because they have so much money tied up in Lohse (worst contract since the one Milton Bradley signed with the cubs).
Penny was damaged goods, coming from the AL Beast, going to a much weaker NL West. He was a fair investment, but it just didn’t pan out. Webb was never a power pitcher and relied mostly on movement to get hitters out, which is why i feel every team should at least kick the tires on the guy.
On a different note, AJ Burnett’s contract begs to differ in terms of worst contract.
He would be perfect for the Twins and Rangers. Could very well be what both teams need in their rotation.
30+ starts projected by his agent? Not likely. But that said, he’s worth the risk, especially on an incentive-laden contract. For the Dodgers, with 4 of the rotation set with guys that are not injury prone, this is a great gamble at the right price.
I’d like to see the Bucs take a flier on him… Some veteran experience to the staff, and if he becomes his old self, well, one hell of a steal. Of course the other hand it’s the Bucs so he’ll probably end up like the Derek Bell or Pat Meares deals… Dreadful. Bonifay was just DREADFUL!
Definitely don’t count out the Reds on this. Signing Webb could be a nice avenue to trade pitching for a LF (Upton/Kemp?). Plus he wants to be close to home (Reds are closest) and his former pitching coach Bryan Price is already in Cincinnati.
Would love to see the Orioles make a play for him.
Lock him up buccos, we need him!
I’d love to see my Minnesota Twins sign Webb. I’d give him a 2 yr deal because I seriously think he comes back strong this year. Oh and if Bill Smith could swing a deal for a 22 year old superstar Justin Upton, that’d be great. I’d be willing to give up Bromberg, Slowey, Kubel, Plouffe, and Hicks to get Upton.
I do not think that the Twins need Upton but I do agree that they should trade Kubel and/or Slowey. I think that the Twins should try to get Webb, but if they cannot get him they should look to trade Kubel and Slowey to the A’s for one of their young starting ptchers.
I wouldn’t mind getting a young starter from the A’s, but Upton to me is a sure superstar. If we could get him we would have one of the best outfields in the MLB (Delmon Young, Span, Upton). Hicks looks like a wonderful prospect and he’s switch hitter but we need RH power and we need it immediately. I think our rotation is fine as it is for now and we have young arms that will be there in the future (Kyle Gibson in 2011/12 & Alex Wimmers in 2012/13). I personally would get Upton if I was Bill Smith though. You’re getting a 22 year old stud with great power, decent speed, hell of an arm, and he’s signed through 2015 relatively cheap for a star.
Good point but I do think that getting a Trevor Cahill who is only 22 years old and went 18-8 with a 2.97 ERA in 2010 or Gio Gonzalez who is 25 years old and was 15-9 with a 3.23 ERA in 2010, would get the Twins the good starting pitcher that they need. We do have pitchers that look good in the minors but how do we know that they will really do well in the majors and how can we expect them to come up and become our ace right away.
You’re right it would give our rotation the top starter we have been missing but I don’t think we’d be able to get Gio or Cahill unfortunately. If they were to part ways with a young pitcher of theirs it would be Anderson, who has major injury issues, OR Dallas Braden, who last year didn’t have an amazing season like Gio or Cahill. Our ace will be Liriano and I expect him to fully show that in 2011, but it’s the #2 & #3 spots that we need to be dynamic and I really believe Wimmers and Gibson are going to be really successful in the MLB. I watched them both in college and loved them and last year they both were tearing it up in the minors. When you get a chance, look at their numbers last year. If our future staff consists of Liriano, Wimmers, Gibson…then we will have one of the best 1/2/3 combos in baseball.