Originally Posted by
JCarbo76
In theory that is a good point, but there is hole or two in your analysis. Chuck James had pitched pretty well for the Braves through July, 2007, posting an ERA of about 3.7 in 22 starts through that point. In fact he had a very good July. However, in early August he was obviously injured, making only three starts for that month with an ERA of over 8, before missing the last two weeks of the month. He did come back in September and was so-so in 5 starts. HIs WAR of the season was 1.8, and was probably at a 2.0 or so, through July. So I guess had the Braves been clairvoyant and seen that he would go into the tank immediately after the Tex trade, I guess you have a point. The other two starters were pretty much ineffective in August and Septemebr, although Buddy Carlyle was semi-decent, and better certainly than Jo-Jo.
Was there a pitcher or two on the market who were available and who would have given us the net 3.0 WAR bump that Teixeira gave us over the last two months of 2007? I'm not sure of that. We did trade Kyle Davies and his 6+ERA and -0.9 WAR to the Royals for Octavio Dotel the same day as the Tex trade to shore up the staff, although Dotel gave us mixed results.