The difference between Curry and Bieber is Curry's peripherals are about a full run per 9 IP worse and that's when he is only going one time through the lineup for the most part.
So far the 2nd time through the lineup this year:
7.1 IP, 7 ER, 3 HR, 3 BB, 4 K's.
If you just look at the first time through the lineup his ERA is an unsustainable 2.08 ERA but he isn't getting shellacked at least.
I agree with you on Quantrill and Battenfield almost completely. I still think Quantrill can have it but damn it's not like his velo is really down significantly or anything, so it's hard to say what's even going on. It's easy to chalk things up to health but we didn't hear anything about his health until he was bad, and that's usually not a good sign. Sometimes I think IL trips are brought on about by a pitcher's struggles where they feel it's best to just get a breather and figure stuff out when they'd pitch through whatever minor ailments they have otherwise. Long term I feel fine enough about Quantrill but I'm not confident he'll figure stuff out quickly and maybe he was just the luckiest pitcher in the world for the longest time. Who knows... In that case he can get back to average I guess.
If Cantillo is striking out 11 batters per 9 in AAA and walking almost 6, what will that translate to in the MLB? I can't think of any successful pitcher who has close to that many walks, and he's not even against the good hitters of the MLB and he's doing it. Clearly he is more than a little rough around the edges and seems more like a 2024 kind of guy, IF lucky. Can't expect him to function even remotely close to a starter and I know you mentioned piggybacking but he really just seems on the pathway to the BP.
I'm fine with about 3 ideas now...
- Trade Bieber for prospects and sorta just give up the season and let guys like Battenfield and whoever scrap together the rest of the season
- Hold onto Bieber because you can't get anything back
- Trade Bieber and then add another pitcher
I don't know how well we can pull off #3 or even #1 just because of our track record and how Bieber has not looked very good this year so we probably are just stuck with #2. I don't like it a ton more than you do but I honestly think that there's a good chance he puts together a good offseason and contract year performance and can be traded for about as much next deadline as he would this one. So that is sort of what I'm banking on. This doesn't mean #1 or #3 shouldn't be attempted but just that it's likely going to be hard to pull the trigger on them given the market value of Bieber at the moment.
