Why the Mariners Should Not Sign Jarrod Washburn

My guess is that most of you already know all of this, as from what I’ve seen we have pretty intelligent readers here at SoDo Mojo, so feel free to disregard this message if it’s stuff you’re well aware of.

I’ve recently been disturbed to learn the fact that there are still Mariners fans out there, who are advocating the re-signing of Jarrod Washburn. If Jack Zduriencik has a brain in his head, and he’s made it pretty clear that he does, it’s not going to happen. Not only is Washburn an aging, mediocre, and in all likelihood, overpriced, back of the rotation starter – but he also now has a pretty severe knee injury to recover from.

I always learned in school, that when writing a persuasive essay, I should always look at the other end’s point of view – so let’s take a look. I’m seeing a lot of people citing his ERA and WHIP. At this point in my blogging career, I truly feel as though I shouldn’t have to explain why this is awful reasoning anymore. I’ve done it a hundred times, to a hundred different people. Alas, I’ll do it one more time. Both ERA and WHIP are bad statistics because there are too many factors that influence them, which they don’t take into account. Things like park factors, defensive range, and even luck influence them greatly – none of which are included in calculation. They don’t come close to telling the whole story, and that’s why they suck.

Jarrod Washburn’s 2009 season is a perfect example. His ERA was good. His WHIP was good. He wasn’t good. His numbers looked shiny because he had an excellent defense behind him, and he was pitching at Safeco Field. Some would argue that if he could benefit from those things in 2009, he could do it again in 2010. That’s a fair point, but there are a few differences. Jarrod Washburn was already under contract in 2009 – we had him, we had already paid for him, so we were stuck with him. That isn’t the case this year – he isn’t our problem anymore, and it would be foolish to spend money on him, when we have several of what are essentially younger versions of him.

To name only a few of our younger, cheaper, middle-back of the rotation starters: Ryan Rowland-Smith, Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Garrett Olson, Luke French. Put two out of those five behind either Felix, Snell, and Morrow, or Felix, Harden, and Snell, or any other potential top three you want to imagine, and you have yourself a decent rotation. We DO NOT need to go out and spend money on Jarrod Washburn.

He is 35 years old. He is below average. He has a bad knee injury. He is overpriced. We don’t need him.

Seriously, what else do you need to know?