Brian Lawrence.

[metirish]

Signs with Mets,expected to make a few minor league starts,was pitching in the Rockies system,pitched good in spring training but when he was eligible to come off the disabled list in April, the Rockies didn't have a spot for him in the rotation.

Lawrence declined to stay on his rehab assignment any longer so the Rockies designated him for assignment to create a roster spot and eventually released him.


Career - 49-61 record with a 4.10 ERA.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lawrebr02.shtml

I would think he can contribute at some point.

[Benjamin Grimm]

This year's Dave Williams, it sounds like.

A good option to have, I guess. Hopefully they'll never need to turn to him.

It would be good if the Mets could get through the season without anybody other than the following pitchers getting any starts:

Glavine, Hernandez, Perez, Maine, Pelfrey, Sosa, Pedro.

[Theoldmole]

Give Humber a few.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Only if you ask nicely.

[nymr83]

I've always liked Lawrence, good pickup but I hope they told him not to expect a place in the rotation unless there is injury/ineffectiveness

[metirish]

You can never have enough arms,know what I mean?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Irish, I had no idea you were so articulate!

[Guest attgig]

Nymr83 wrote: I've always liked Lawrence, good pickup but I hope they told him not to expect a place in the rotation unless there is injury/ineffectiveness

me too. he was a pretty good workhorse in SD, he was consistently 200+innings ~4 era with 10-15 wins. hopefully pitcher's park in shea gets him back to that old form.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

metirish - "You can never have enough arms,know what I mean?"

That's what I would expect GSLC to say.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Do we have an official announcement on this yet?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Still not seeing anything on this being done.

You'd figure the Yankees would have more use of the guy than the Mets would. They've had ten starters already.

Though I'm gussing nobody expects Friar Lawrence to be ready right away. Is that right?

[metirish]

From what I can find it's pending a physical and should be announced Wednesday,he would start in AAA,apparently he was ready to pitch for the Rockies but they didn't have room for him.

[Guest iramets]

Browning reference!

[soupcan]

Today's NYTimes...

INSIDE PITCH

Carlos BeltrÁn (sore left quadriceps) and Moises Alou (left knee) returned to the lineup. Alou, out since Thursday, batted cleanup, moving Carlos Delgado to fifth. ... Omar Minaya said that Orlando HernÁndez was progressing well in his recovery from shoulder bursitis, but that Jorge Sosa would receive at least two more starts in Hernández’s place. ...The Mets are on the verge of adding to their minor league pitching depth by signing the right-hander Brian Lawrence. The 30-year-old Lawrence missed last season after shoulder surgery. When the contract is completed, Lawrence, who is 49-61 with a 4.10 earned run average in five major league seasons with San Diego, will report to Class AAA New Orleans.

[metirish]

Lawrence goes tonight for the Zephers.

http://www.minorleaguebaseball.com/index.jsp?sid=t588

[Guest Rotblatt]

] ]I've always liked Lawrence, good pickup but I hope they told him not to expect a place in the rotation unless there is injury/ineffectiveness me too. he was a pretty good workhorse in SD, he was consistently 200+innings ~4 era with 10-15 wins. hopefully pitcher's park in shea gets him back to that old form.

Ditto. This is a great low-risk/decent potential signing. He had solid peripherals (~2:1 K/BB ratio pretty much every year), and good command in the bigs, but did tend to give up the long ball. Pitching at Shea can only help . . . Dude's like a poor man's Trachsel, and at 31, he could be valuable for a couple more years, depending on how his shoulder holds up (he missed last year due to a shoulder injury).

According to Rotoworld, we signed him for $750K with a 2008 option, which sounds just about perfect to me.

As a side note, I would love it if he ends up pitching more and higher quality innings than Clemens. That would just make my year.

[nymr83]

i'd like it more i he was never needed to pitch any innings at all... (even though i like the guy)

[Benjamin Grimm]

"A poor man's Trachsel?"

Yikes. I remember when we had "a poor man's Greg Maddux."

We're really slipping, aren't we?

What's next? A poor man's Geremi Gonzalez?

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

We already have David Newhan -- "A poor man's Shawn Gilbert."

[Guest Rotblatt]

]Yikes. I remember when we had "a poor man's Greg Maddux." We're really slipping, aren't we? What's next? A poor man's Geremi Gonzalez?

Well, how about "a far less expensive and only slighly less effective version of Trachsel" then (doesn't really flow trippingly off the tongue, does it?)? They've actually been fairly similar in their careers, although Trachs got an earlier start than Lawrence and has had one great year--which is one more than Lawrence. Trachs strikes out a bit more, but Lawrence allows fewer baserunners. Their results by age are fairly similar.

26 YO
L: 210 IP, 149 K, 52 BB, 16 HR, 104 ERA+, 1.34 WHIP
T: 201.3 IP, 160 K, 69 BB, 32 HR, 95 ERA+, 1.46 WHIP

27 YO
210.7 IP, 116 K, 57 BB, 27 HR, 94 ERA+, 1.25 WHIP
208 IP, 149 K, 84 BB, 27 HR, 98 ERA+, 1.39 WHIP

28 YO
203 IP, 121 K, 55 BB, 26 HR, 97 ERA+, 1.38 WHIP
205.7 IP, 149 K, 64 BB, 32 HR, 87 ERA+, 1.41 WHIP

29 YO
195.7 IP, 109 K, 57 BB, 18 HR, 80 ERA+, 1.37 WHIP
200.7 IP, 110 K, 74 BB, 26 HR, 103 ERA+, 1.53 WHIP

Between his 31st and 33rd years, Trachs went on to post ERA+'s of 116, 112, 107, and IP of 173.7, 204.7, 202.7.

Of course, Trachs wasn't coming back from shoulder surgery, so . . .

PECOTA predicts that this will be his worst year: 63.3 IP, 5.49 ERA, 1.56 WHIP, and they think he will continue to suck until he retires from baseball at age 35. Seems awfully pessimistic to me, but then, I'm just a simple Mets fan, not a complicated mathematical algorythm . . .

[nymr83]

6 innings, 7 strikeouts, 1 run, 4 hits, 1 walk for Lawrence today in his debut.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

I would have preferred that been Jorge Sosa's line today.