The Dodgers spent wisely in signing Randy Wolf to a one year contract worth $5 million with another $3 million in incentives. Wolf, on the other hand, lost a bunch of money when he turned down a three year deal from the Astros right after the 2008 season ended.
Wolf is essentially a league average pitcher. His graph shows a few years below league average, a few years above but they all average out to...well, average. And that's not a bad thing for a rotation. Just throw the guy out there every fifth day and you know you'll have a chance at a win and the same chance for a loss. Many rotations in baseball would love to have that.
Wolf pitched with the Dodgers in 2007 and was 9-6 with them for the first half of the season. But he developed shoulder problems and had surgery. His health seems fine as he made 33 starts last year, going 12-12 overall with, yes, you guessed it, a league average ERA.
Wolf also will benefit from pitching in the ball park he will play in. His Home run to fly ball ratio was a career best in 2007, which means that more of his fly balls stayed in the park with the Dodgers than at any point in his career. He is tough on lefties with a pretty decent strikeout per nine innings rate. He is also a pretty good hitter (over the years, not so much recently).
The Dodgers made a good deal with little risk for a pitcher who should be solid, if not spectacular, as a rotation regular.
No comments:
Post a Comment