Any Hope for Dontrelle Willis?

Dontrelle Willis is at it again. According to Dontrelle:

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“I guess you can only beat yourself down so much,” Willis said. “My mind-set was in the wrong place (last year). This is a backyard game. If you’re not having fun, then what’s the point? I think you’re going to see a different person this year.”

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That’s all fine and dandy, but I think we’ve heard this speech from Willis at least five times since he joined the Tigers. It’s the common rationale found by guys that over think their performance, and Willis just hasn’t been able to turn it around yet.

Here are Dontrelle’s numbers during his two years in a Tigers uniform:

• 15 G, 57.2 innings, 1-6 record, 8.27 ERA, 63 walks, 35 Ks, six wild pitches, $17 million in the bank.

Admittedly, not a great line. There is some room improvement there, and Willis has only one more season to turn it around. If he is unable to do so, he could go down as one of the greatest disappointments in franchise history.

Over at Fangraphs.com , they feature a few prediction tools to show how a player will perform in the upcoming season. Here are two predictions for Willis in 2010:

• CHONE: 19 G, 4-7 record, 5.58 ERA, 55 BB, 57 K
• Marcel: 4-6 record 5.42 ERA, 43 BB, 56 K

Hmm, improvements there, but nothing major.

Too bad there isn’t a salary cap in Major League Baseball. In the NBA, players with big, expiring contracts are quite valuable around the trade deadline. The Tigers have several highly paid players in the last years of their deals that could fetch some young talent if they were an NBA team. I think Dontrelle Willis is the Jerome James of MLB.