Quote:
Originally Posted by Marco Polo
Admittedly I don’t know much about Gibson other than he is a band-aid at this point. Another 4 or 5 option like Lynn?
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Former Mizzou Tiger; I saw him pitch a bit in college and thought he might make the show someday but never saw a ton that amazed me.
Apart from that? Just a bullet catcher. A lower variance Lynn. Not likely to be as bad as Lynn could be but also doesn't have the potential to be as good as Lynn could be if he can fix the HR issues.
I wouldn't say he's a league average starting pitcher but he is major league caliber; back end of the rotation type who will absorb innings in a workmanlike and in no fashion impressive manner. I'd put my expectations for him as a little better than Lynn (4.8ish for Lynn; maybe a 4.6ish for Gibson) but their jobs is mostly going to be to pitch 350+ innings at a roughly big league level.
Look at it this way - you had Wainwright, Rom and Woodford give you 37 starts last year with an ERA of 7.2. That's not a misprint, fellas - 37 starts with an ERA north of 7. Lets add Dakota Hudson and Liberatore to it and now you're at 60 starts with an ERA of 6.5.
Lynn and Gibson last year combined for 65 starts and an ERA of about 5.2. Getting to a park in STL that suppresses power output a bit should help them both so I think you could sneak that down a little. In either event, you're talking about 40% of your starts being a full run to a run and a half better per game.
Getting to merely replacement level is such a MASSIVE step up from the shit they ran out there last year that it's sadly a significant difference.
Trading Mikolas for Gerrit Cole would have about the same impact as trading that pile of shit for the pile of lesser shit. THAT'S how bad the back of this rotation was. And really a hell of a statement as to the state of the St. Louis Cardinals.