Who is Santos Rodriguez?

Written by Rue on December 3, 2008 – 7:27 pm

Question of the day: Who is Santos Rodriguez?

Santos Rodriguez is a 6’5″, 180 pound left-handed bean pole of a pitcher who will turn 21 in January.  In 2008, he played in the Gulf Coast League where he had a 2.79 ERA in 29 innings pitched.  He had 45 strikeouts, 13 walks, and led the team with 5 saves. He has an above-average pitching speed and consistently succeeded in his attempts to pitch around hitters.

More Rodriguez stats for you:

He appeared in 14 games, none of which he started, and went 1-2.  Hitters had 12 runs (9 earned), 16 hits, and zero homeruns.  What is the big deal about any of this? Well, Rodriguez’s stats aren’t nearly as impressive in the 2007 season. He had a 6.67 ERA in ’07 in 28.1 innings.  He had 35 strikeouts but 21 walks with 29 hits, 25 runs, and 21 earned runs.  Rodriguez is a big part of this deal because of his potential and significant improvement in the past year, not because of his current numbers. With his youth, high pitch velocities, and obvious improvement, Santos Rodriguez has what it takes to become a very dangerous LHP.

Rodriguez was traded to the White Sox yesterday in the deal that brought Vazquez to Atlanta.  It will be interesting to see how Santos develops over the upcoming years.  He has potential, but a lot of growing to do. 


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Vazquez: Good or Bad?

Written by Rue on December 3, 2008 – 12:34 am

Watch out, Braves fans, here comes another sub-standard, past-his-prime, DL-bound pitcher to the Braves lineup.  At first, I was excited when I was told about the Javier Vazquez news because I thought it meant we were getting rid of Jo-Jo Reyes once and for all and maybe getting a bit of a veteran. Then I read Vazquez’s stats for the past two seasons and found out that Jo-Jo was, in fact, staying (for now). To say the least, I am not excited – not even a little bit.

Maybe I’m just let down by Vazquez’s 12 and 16 (4.67 ERA) in 2008 and  15-8 (3.74 ERA) in 2007 with recent Peavy and Burnett talks, and the fact that he has been getting progressively worse (and older) over the past few years.  Some chalk it up to the White Sox’s hitter-friendly field, but that is not an acceptable excuse when the decline seems somewhat, well, linear.  Is Javier Vazquez worth Brent Lillibridge, Jon Gilmore, and Santos Rodriguez? Yes. Is he worth Jo-Jo? Heck, I’ll give you Jo-Jo for less than the Calgary Vipers accepted as a trade for John Odom. But here is my point: is Vazquez worth catching prospect Tyler Flowers? Nope, not with those numbers, and not with the past few years’ decrease in performance. I am not convinced that we have made a good decision on this one.

Peavy in Atlanta would raise some eyebrows and some hopes, but Cub’s pitcher Ryan Dempster trumps Peavy in my book and I wouldn’t mind seeing him step onto Turner Field time and time again.  Additionally, shelling out some money for C.C. Sabathia gives us a strong and consistent arm, including a pretty decent bat.  Heck, what about Brewer’s pitcher Ben Sheets? With Winter Meetings less than a week away, it’s time to get creative, optimistic, and make some good decisions for the club as a whole. Our needs are obvious, and it’s time for us to step up to the plate.


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