The Athletics, Astros, Diamondbacks, Brewers, Padres, Mariners, and Tigers are among the teams interested in free agent righty Brandon McCarthy, writes Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The Rangers acquired McCarthy four years ago mainly for John Danks and Nick Masset in what I described at the time as an offer Kenny Williams couldn't refuse. McCarthy's Rangers career was ruined by injuries, and he was outrighted and elected free agency earlier this month.
Morosi notes that McCarthy has thrown well in the Dominican Winter League, and teams have been scouting him heavily. McCarthy has a history of shoulder injuries, but Morosi says he's subject to a "buy-low frenzy." Since the 6'7" righty has less than five years of big league service time, he could be controlled by his new team through 2012 as an arbitration eligible player.
McCarthy, 27, posted a 3.36 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, and 1.3 HR/9 in 56 1/3 Triple-A innings this year. He tossed 119 innings between the Majors and minors in 2009.
I can see him having a good season on the Padres.
yeah, Chris Young would be a good comp for him. Extreme flyball pitchers and Arlington are not a good combo. If healthy, he’d be a very good gamble in a pitcher’s park.
He’d be a quality pick-up for teams with a shaky rotation, even with his injury history. Because of that, I wouldn’t rely on him to be a lynchpin of my rotation, but he’d be one hell of a #5 starter.
Makes a ton of sense for the Brewers to replace Dave Bush in the rotation. He’s still young enough to have some upside and he figures to be a relative bargain. It also wouldn’t preclude them trading for a more established top half of rotation starter.
Being a Ranger’s fan, I have nothing but fury for McCarthy. I understand the Ranger’s made the deal for him, but it still hurts. Thanks for nothing McCarthy, though I do hope you have a successful career from here on out.
As a fellow Rangers fan, I find it hard to summon fury towards McCarthy. I still save most of my venom for Chan Ho Park. The deal was a gamble by JD and he lost. It happens. For some reason, JD thought McCarthy was more ready than Danks. I console myself that McCarthy didn’t hurt the Rangers finances anymore than the stupid a-god and Chan Ho Park signings. Those are the all-time worst Ranger signings.
A Brandon McCarthy bidding war? Well there goes the rest of my day.
I can only hope that KW makes as good of a deal for someone like Gavin Floyd.
This would be a great move for the Mariners.
How so? Are you thinking long relief? I can’t see him breaking the starting rotation with the M’s. That is the ONLY bright spot on that team.
I was thinking 5th starter. That would allow them to move Pauley/French to the long relief role.
The only bright spot other than Ichiro, Gutierrez, Smoak, Ackley and a few bullpen guys. Yes, other than them the rotation is the only bright spot on the team.And if McCarthy, or Francis, or whomever can make Pauley go away, let’s do it.
I would agree with Ichiro and Gutierrez as bright spots, Smoak is on the cusp of being added to that list. So is Ackley, Pineda and Franklin (probably 2012 though). I would see the rotation next year as 1. Hernandez 2. Vargas 3. Pineda 4. Fister 5. ….
OK…Jayson, adding McCarthy to the mix would not be bad. It would definitely add competition into a 5th spot. That would through a battle of McCarthy, French, Bedard (maybe, who knows?), Pauley, RRS, etc. Those last two names made me throw up in my mouth.
I think Smoak should definitely be added to the list of bright spots. And I think that RRS should have a better year than last year considering it’s tough to get much worse. But if McCarthy is cheap, I think it would be a nice pick up.
I also hope we offer Bedard a contract, he’s bound to get healthy at some point.
Daniels has had some questionable trades to say the least. McCarthy for Danks/Massett and Eaton/Otsuka for Young/Gonzalez. There is especially no way to defend the Eaton trade, Young was better than Eaton at the time, cheaper, younger, controlled. They had worries about his ability to pitch deep into games but that was just a physical thing, Eaton couldn’t pitch deep into games because he wasn’t good enough. With as much trouble as the Rangers have had in the past with their pitching they should put most of the blame on themselves.
And since those trades, I’d say JD has done a heck of a job putting a team together. Wouldn’t you? I’m sure the Cubs would love to have held onto Josh Hamilton in the Rule 5 draft a few years ago. Only would have cost them $50k. But nobody’s perfect…you win some and you miss some
I didn’t support the McCarthy/Danks deal at the time, but McCarthy was widely regarded as a guy more ready to contribute immediately than Danks was. And since the Rangers were in a win now mode, they pulled the trigger. Stupid decision, but you see their train of thought at the time they made the trade
I remember a lot of fellow Sox fans going absolutely nuts with rage when Kenny traded him.
Danks is the man 🙂
This is exactly the type of move the Padres are known for.
McCarthy is fragile. Don’t expect him to be a reliable workhorse. Right now, I see him as a middle reliever and spot starter AT BEST. Some team like the Astros is sure to take a flyer on a minor league deal and an invite to spring training and hope for the best.
At the time of the trade the “great” Phil Rodgers of the Tribune called the trade despicable and McCarthy a proven workhorse. I wonder if he’d like to retract???
he’d be a nice long reliever for the pads. perhaps give him starts here and there just as they did with Stauffer.
Maybe Ned will bring him in to compete for the 5 spot?