I really hate this revisionist history that Jeff Weaver wasn't a good pitcher. He was huge. After being drafted, he put up 25 IP, 14 H, 1 HR, 1 BB, 35 K in 5 starts in A-ball, then had 30 games in the majors the next year, with very solid peripherals. He continued to improve over his next 3 seasons, finally looking like the ace that everyone expected him to be when he was traded to the Yankees, netting Bonderman, Pena, and German. Think Ben Sheets traded halfway through 2004. That was Jeff Weaver.

The whole Jeff Weaver is a league-average innings-eater thing is something that didn't start until he went to the Yankees. The Jeff Weaver sucks thing didn't start until this year, at least among those of us who saw peripherals intact in 2003 and a unlucky hit rate with a bunch of butchers in the field behind him. The Jeff Weaver of Detroit vintage was an exciting young pitcher, every bit as much as his brother, and had a reputation to match. I think he is an excellent comp. Maybe not the best, but still pretty good. Yes, I expect Jered Weaver in his age 30 season will have accomplished more than Jeff has. But then, I expected that Jeff Weaver would have too.

The younger Weaver outpitched his brother and virtually everyone else during the spring, yet was sent down to Salt Lake when camp broke.

I've been one of Jered's biggest supporters on this board but I think it would have been overly optimistic to have him break camp with the big club at the start of the season.

Still it was a big mistake to send him back to Triple-A and one the Angels will kick themselves over if they miss the post-season by a game.

I agree that it would have been a bit much to have Jered break camp on the big team, but otherwise I agree with everything Rich says here. Keith Law recently (maybe about a month or so ago) said something like "Weaver is overrated by people who have only seen his numbers," but my response to that is "He's underrated by people who haven't seen him pitch." He has good stuff and knows how to use it. When his command is on, he's unstoppable, and when it's off, he's still pretty good.

No more SHHH. They're HLAA now. It doesn't quite roll off the alveolar ridge like SHHH but, on the bright side, at least it uses phonemes that the membership can hear.

They're HLAA now.

Is that pronounced "holla"?

Keith Law's objectivity is to the Angels = Al Jazeera's objectivity is to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Keith Law's objectivity is to the Angels = Al Jazeera's objectivity is to the Israeli Defense Forces.

Lovely. I'm slandered in a thread that didn't actually have anything to do with me.

The quote in question was:

Jered Weaver may be overrated by a lot of people who just consider his stat line, but he is clearly major-league ready, with good control of average stuff and a pretty good idea of what he’s doing out there.

I'm not sure what the issue is; Weaver is overrated by those who just look at his minor league stats, but I never at any point said he wasn't a good pitcher and argued that he should never have been sent down in mid-June. LAWBH is correct in that Weaver has a good feel for pitching and generally has good command. I don't believe he has great stuff, but he has average stuff, good feel, good command, and good control. That's a good package.

Keith, I certainly didn't mean to infer that you had argued that he wasn't good, or to mischaracterize your position.

I do think his stuff qualifies as "very good" (not "great") as opposed to "average"; I would like to see him, at some point, add a two-seam fastball to his arsenal, just to give his fastball a different look from time to time. But I think his slider and change are both plus pitches.

Keith, I certainly didn't mean to infer that you had argued that he wasn't good, or to mischaracterize your position.

LAWBH, I actually was directing my ire at Halofan, who slandered me in post #6.

I think we're just differing in our evaluations of Weaver from a scouting perspective. It could just be a function of us seeing him on different nights.

LAWBH, I actually was directing my ire at Halofan, who slandered me in post #6.

You should totally challenge him to a fight while all of us watch.