Save for the one brutal inning against the Yanks, Laffey has been one of the best at inducing outs; mostly on the ground. Gleeman writes,
In 11 starts with the Indians dating back to last season, Laffey has induced nearly 3.5 ground balls for every fly ball, allowing just two homers over 62 innings.
To put his 3.43-to-1 ground-to-fly ratio in some context, consider that only Derek Lowe (3.46), Brandon Webb (3.34), and Fausto Carmona (3.28) had a ratio above 3-to-1 among pitchers who qualified for the ERA title last season.
Brandon Webb? Fausto Carmona? You’re looking at a pair of guys that have been in the Cy Young talks over the past two years, with Webb cruising once again this year. Jake Westbrook is fresh off of a cortisone shot in his back, and will likely miss another two weeks. This should give Laffey about three more starts to see what he can do.
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Author: Scott
Scott is a co-founder/editor of Waiting For Next Year who resides in Cleveland, Ohio. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or email him at scott@waitingfornextyear.com.Scott has written 1701 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
It just goes to show that you can never have too much pitching depth. Though we don’t have any real flamethrowers in the back end…we got some pretty good guys who know how to pitch.
Ok, that being said, I’m ready to deal somebody for a bat finally…
Think Philly would trade Utley for Lee?