BRANDON JARVIS SUCKS DICK

Err, *this* jarvis.

Oops.

About freaking time.

You know Jarvis sucks, I know Jarvis sucks, I'd guess most of the Cardinals front office knows Jarvis sucks. However the Cardinals needed another reliever and Jarvis pitched well enough in a month at Memphis that some fool probably won an argument. Hee Seop Choi made sure that victory was short-lived.

"If Leo Mazzone can’t do anything with you, who can?"

I bet Jason Marquis would know the answer to this question.

Kevin Jarvis gets a transaction but Scott Rolen doesn't?

I bet Jason Marquis would know the answer to this question.

No, not really. His defense-independant statistics with the Cards are almost exactly the same as the the ones with the Braves -- he's just been luckier, and with a better defense behind him.

No, not really. His G/F ratio was way up last year (which jives with the story that Duncan encouraged Marquis to throw his two-seamer and Mazzone discouraged it). His K/BB ratio was better last year as well.

Kevin Towers giving Jarvis a multi-year deal for a 12-11 season (with an ERA+ of 84) stands right up there with the dumbest decisions of this decade.

Kevin Towers didn't give him that deal. He was ordered to by the club president (Bob Vizas), who figured that they could backload the deal, get Jarvis cheaper for the first year than he'd get in arbitration. Then Towers would trade him and they'd never have to pay for the last two years. A stupid decision.

Towers has taken a ton of heat for this contract over the years; he never wanted to make that deal in the first place.

Part of my job is to prevent my boss from doing stupid things. Sounds like Towers spin to me.

Sounds like Towers spin to me.

Spin? He's never made any attempt to spin this move. It's to Towers' credit that he never passed the buck or made excuses on this one. He will say it was one of the worst moves he made.

Everybody else involved in the organization has said (not always publicly) that it was Vizas's decision; he went over Towers' head.

It's this move that led to the famous "sludge merchant" remark.

There are plenty of contracts to rip Towers for, and I'm not some Towers apologist. There's no need to "spin" this; I'm just telling the truth.

He will say it was one of the worst moves he made.

Except you're saying he really didn't make it.

Kevin Jarvis has fewer win shares than any other pitcher with at least 100 games started in MLB history.

Here are Marquis' NERC's adjusted for park and defense over the last 4 years, with ATL and then with STL:

2001 3.46 ATL
2002 5.27 ATL
2003 4.07 ATL
2004 4.61 STL

I don't see any "improvement" in performance with STL. In fact, his average NERC with ATL was 4.26. With STL, it is 4.61 in 2004 and 2.69 so far this year, for an average of 4.27, almost exactly the same.

As far as Jarvis, his NERC has not been all that bad. There are a lot worse.

2000 4.33 COL
2001 3.91 SD
2002 4.41 SD
2003 4.88 SD

Such a decline is not unexpected for a pitcher in his mid-30's. It is a myth that pitcher peak in their 30's...

SO IF MARQUIS DEFENSE INDEPENDENT STATISTICS ARE SIMILAR,

THEN STL. DEFENSE IS A RUN AND A HALF *BETTER* THAN THE ATL DEFENSE???!!!

I love how people use theories to "prove facts"


marquis in theory is worse, even though he has been in effect better....makes perfect sense. (btw from personal observation, marquis was a lucky last year, in that any time he got a man on he seemed to get more outs and strikeouts than situations where he had no man on) this year he seems to just be pitching better.

Except you're saying he really didn't make it.

Yes, exactly. You called it "Towers spin"; I'm not sure what you meant by that, but I took it that you meant that Towers spun the move so as to deflect the blame towards his boss. I was pointing out that that's clearly not the case. Anybody who has paid attention in San Diego the last few years knows that it's not the case.

If you meant that other people are spinning for Towers, well then it's just about everybody else in the organization and media, and I don't see why all those people would attempt that.

Kevin Jarvis has fewer win shares than any other pitcher with at least 100 games started in MLB history.

My friend Waz, a bitter Mariners fan, had a hilarious line on Jarvis:

"That Jarvis has made over $9 million in his career is one of the greatest pieces of evidence that life isn't fair."