John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

by David S. Cohen on Mar 20, 2008 3:59 PM EDT in News

The Washington Nationals have released John Patterson. Patterson has been limited by injury much of his career, but he's shown loads of talent when healthy. He had a 9-7 record and 3.15 ERA in 2005. He's had elbow and arm problems since then, but he reported to camp this year healthy.

However, it appears that his velocity has been down and the Nationals were no longer willing to take their time with him. On a team without much pitching, that's surprising. But, there's no reason the Phillies shouldn't scoop him up and try to fit him into their system immediately.

Yes, they have lots of peripheral fifth starters, but there's no harm in adding one more, especially one with an upside way beyond that of any of the other members of the motley crew.

A pitcher dropped by the Nationals in spring training isn't going to command a lot of money. Phillies, go get him.

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Re: John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

It's intriguing. I'm guessing we won't be able to stash him somewhere though (DL or minors). We'd have to put him on the 25 man.

by taco pal on Mar 20, 2008 4:18 PM EDT 0 recs

Re: John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

He was getting 850k this year for the nats. I guess it depends if the Phils think he has more upside this season than Benson. It seems Eaton is just keeping Benson's spot in the rotation warm until May right now.

by schrifty on Mar 21, 2008 11:55 AM EDT 0 recs

Re: John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

Only worth it to sign him to a minor league deal. His velocity has dropped though and that is pretty much the problem. Nats just got tired of paying a guy who was always hurt.

Defend and Repeat 2008.

by j42justin on Mar 22, 2008 9:50 PM EDT 0 recs

Re: John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

I had the same initial thought when I saw they'd cut him, but I think j42justin has it right: Patterson isn't the guy he was a few years ago. (If he was, he wouldn't have gotten released; it's not exactly like the Nationals are the 1993 Braves rotation-wise.)

Sadly, his days as a big-league power pitcher are probably done. His best-case scenario probably is to come back as a different kind of arm, and scratch out a career as in some reduced role.

by dajafi on Mar 23, 2008 10:19 PM EDT 0 recs

Re: John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

But he's the kind of high-upside guy you want on your team, especially when the fifth starter spot right now is being filled with the ultimate low-upside guy (according to the Inky, Eaton has the inside track after yesterday's performance). At his worst, can Patterson be any worse than Eaton. At his best, even his 2008 best, I'm sure he can be better.

by David S. Cohen on Mar 23, 2008 10:23 PM EDT up 0 recs

Re: John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

I dunno. I think about Patterson and the name that pops into my head is "Jaret Wright." Six or seven years ago, Wright was Patterson: a guy with obvious talent who simply couldn't stay healthy. Wright made 16 starts in 2000-2001; Patterson made 15 starts in 2006-2007. Except he's actually older than Wright was then; Patterson turned 30 in January. Like Wright in his injury years, Patterson has lost both stuff and command pitching at way less than 100 percent: 22 walks, 15 strikeouts last year.

Wright eventually came back to win 15 games with the Braves in 2004 (though, again, he was younger at the time than Patterson is now). Since then, he's been hurt, mediocre (albeit more Lohse-mediocre than Eaton-awful), hurt, and (as of today) a Pirate. That sort of path might be Patterson's best-case scenario.

At any rate, it sounds like Texas has snapped him up. It's a minor-league deal, and I would have been happy enough to see the Phils try him on one of those (though I'm not sure he merits taking starts away from a fairly interesting collection of triple-A Iron Pigs)... but the article notes that he's still throwing low 80s. Sometimes, probably most of the time, it just doesn't come back.

by dajafi on Mar 24, 2008 1:29 AM EDT up 0 recs

Re: John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

I don't think this is accurate. Patterson's upside may be better than Eaton's upside and his downside may be better than Eaton's downside (i.e. Eaton's 2007 performance), but there's a long leap between either of those statements and saying that Patterson's downside is better than Eaton's upside.

Eaton's upside is a pitcher who gives you 180-200 innings with an ERA in the low-to-mid 4s: that is to say, exactly what he did in 2003, 2004, and the first half of 2005. At his worst, Patterson can most certainly be worse than that. Even at his 2008 best, he might be worse than that.

by taco pal on Mar 24, 2008 11:34 AM EDT up 0 recs

Re: John Patterson Released: Scoop Him Up

I should note that I realize Petco played a role in those stats. On the other hand, Eaton's road ERAs during that 2.5-year period weren't bad either. It would probably be better to say "mid 4s" instead of "low-to-mid".

by taco pal on Mar 24, 2008 11:52 AM EDT up 0 recs