Jarred Washburn to Tigers

Jarred Washburn was having a much better year than I had realized, his best season since his one great season in 2002 when he went 18-6 and the Angels won the World Series beating you know who.  His record is only 8-6, but he has a 2.64 ERA and a strikeouts/walks rate of 2.4, the same rate as his 2002 best.

Washburn’s value is at a high, so it’s not a bad time for the Mariners to trade him.

The Mariners got 23 year old left-hander Luke French and 20 year old left-hander Mauricio Robles.  French is having the best year of his professional career this year.  In 2006 through 2008, he worked his way from the Class A Midwest league, to the Class A+  Florida State League and then the AA Eastern League.

Last year, French didn’t look particularly good in AA ball, recording only 88 Ks and 60 walks in 170 IP.  This year, though, he’s exploded.

In 13 starts at AAA Toledo, French posted a 2.98 ERA with 72 Ks and only 20 walks in 81.2 IP.  The Tigers then promoted  him, and in 29.1 IP he has a 3.38 ERA and 19 Ks and eleven walks.  The question with French is whether he’s really the pitcher he looks like this year, or he’s the pitcher he looked like from 2006-2008.

Mauricio Robles is a small Venezualan left-hander (he’s currently listed as 5′10″ and 160 lbs), who looks like he’s got  good stuff.  He’s currently 4-2 with a 3.60 ERA and good ratios in the Class A+ Florida State League.  He has 190 K’s in 182.2 minor league innings, which I’m sure the Mariners liked.  He’s promising, but he’s a long way from the Show.

The Mariners perhaps could have gotten more in return for Washburn, but of course the Tigers also picked up most, if not all, of the $3.8M owed to Washburn for the rest of the season.

Washburn, if the first four months of ‘09 were not a fluke, should really help the Tigers.  With a lot of hard throwers on the Tigers’ staff, a crafty soft-tosser who throws strikes and knows how to pitch might fit in really well.