Hold 'Em or Fold 'Em: Daniel Cabrera

Is one start enough to know that a pitcher hasn’t changed?  Is one start enough to safely say that a change of scenario has not had one effect on a pitcher’s psyche?  Is one start enough to simply write someone off?

The truth of the matter is no, it really is not. A handful of innings just isn’t enough time to know if a pitcher is going to have a solid season or not. It’s just a glimpse. Just a tiny sampling of what could be.

When it comes to Daniel Cabrera, however, enough is enough already. I know there are some people who continually want to give him the benefit of the doubt. They’ve seen the allure of the strikeout potential and thirst for it.

They try to ignore the fact that his K/9 last season was a miserable 4.75, because the years prior were:

The control? The hope is it will finally come around. Of course, he was sporting a career BB/9 of 5.11 entering 2009. 

While he’s been below that the past two seasons (4.76 and 4.50), last season he posted the sixth-worst number in the league.

A change of scenery could help fix that though, right? Maybe a different voice in his ear? 

The same thing had been said when Leo Mazzone took over as the Orioles pitching coach. He had helped to mold that amazing pitching staff in Atlanta, helping John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, and Greg Maddux mature into the best in baseball.

All Cabrera did in the two seasons the two were together was post ERAs of 4.74 and 5.55.

The move to the NL brought hope. Hey, anything to help, right? 

It just couldn’t get any worse. He would get to face the pitcher and no longer had to face teams like the Rays, Red Sox and Yankees on a regular baseball.

While not many had given him the chance (he was owned in just 12 percent of CBS leagues), there were those that held out hope. He made his first start yesterday against the Florida Marlins and the results looked much of the same.

In six innings of work, he gave up five earned runs on seven hits and two walks, striking out four, against the Florida Marlins.

It’s like he’s still pitching for Baltimore. 

Sure, he walked just two, that’s an improvement, right? The strikeouts were up from last season as well, though it’s far from elite levels.

You could point to those as signs that things could be moving in the right direction, but the results were still hideous.

Trust me, no owners in your league are going to be scurrying to pick him up. You can safely cut bait now and get him back in two, three, maybe even four months if he finally shows signs of life.

I’m not holding my breath for that. Sooner or later the results need to take over. I certainly say Fold ‘Em in a big way.

What do you think? 

Are you someone that was still giving Cabrera the benefit of the doubt? Are you still willing to wait on Cabrera or is it finally time to move on? What does everyone else think of him?

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM