Nats release Patterson

[triggercut1]

Wow. I guess they've decided his arm will never recover from the forearm/nerve damage done (he's been only able to top out in the high 80's this spring with a fastball that used to hit 96 routinely).

Never recovered from pitching 198 innings in 2005.

Makes me Wainwright squeamish a bit.

[moedrabowsky]

Wow. I guess they've decided his arm will never recover from the forearm/nerve damage done (he's been only able to top out in the high 80's this spring with a fastball that used to hit 96 routinely).

Never recovered from pitching 198 innings in 2005.

Makes me Wainwright squeamish a bit.

Sounds like a potential Duncan project.

Get 'em broken and on the cheap and let the coach fix 'em up.

[kah]

198 innings is too much now?

[triggercut1]

198 innings is too much now?

He'd had some minor arm ouchiness throughout his minor league career and had only averaged 100 innings or so a year until he ran out those 198 in 2005.

The good news in comparing him to Wainwright is that Wainwright hasn't had the history of minor arm pain, and was brought along at a consistent clip before he logged the innings he put in last year.

And no, I don't think he's a candidate for a "fixer-upper" project. Patterson's arm looks fried. There have always been questions about his pitching smarts, and if he's going to continue in the big leagues he's going to have to completely change his pitching style from trying to be Nolan Ryan to trying to be Jeff Suppan. I don't think that's in his bag of tricks.

[moedrabowsky]

And no, I don't think he's a candidate for a "fixer-upper" project. Patterson's arm looks fried.

I was joking, trig. If he's lost that much velocity, then he's shot out most likely.

[Ty Shula]

how similar to Todd Stottlemyre is he?

[triggercut1]

how similar to Todd Stottlemyre is he?

The injury history is a good comparison, but Stott always seemed to be able to figure out ways to get guys out. Stottlemyre was a smart pitcher who figured out what his limitations were and then worked around them.

Patterson was throwing belt-high four-seam fastballs at 88 mph this spring, and they were getting crushed. More problematic is that his curve--which used to have snap--looked like one of those Matt MoHRris rolling specials.

[SunuvaNun]

The injury history is a good comparison, but Stott always seemed to be able to figure out ways to get guys out. Stottlemyre was a smart pitcher who figured out what his limitations were and then worked around them.

Patterson was throwing belt-high four-seam fastballs at 88 mph this spring, and they were getting crushed. More problematic is that his curve--which used to have snap--looked like one of those Matt MoHRris rolling specials.

Well, the Cardinals are missing someone to take Marquis' spot...

[backstop]

He probably had the best career out of the four guys who loopholed out of the draft...