It’s no secret that Carlos Silva has been absolutely terrible since signing with the Mariners last year. He had a good first month, back in April of 2008, but since then he’s been worth somewhere around -1 wins.
I’d even go so far as to say that there’s a petty good chance the Carlos Silva signing will go down as one of the worst in Mariners history.
However, that isn’t to say we should completely give up on him—we can’t. There are really only three options—keep him, try to get him back to being a respectable back of the rotation starter; keep him, but reduce him to the mop up role in the bullpen for the rest of his tenure here, or release him, eating the remainder of his contract in the process.
Because of the fact that he has allegedly been battling various injuries during his time here, I’m inclined to say it’s at least worth giving option one a try.
He’s never been a great pitcher, and he’s never going to be, but we have to remember that just two short years ago, he posted a slightly above average tRA while being worth almost two wins in Minnesota.
Only Carlos Silva—and maybe not even him—knows whether the huge drop off in effectiveness has been due to injuries, and that’s obviously not something I can decide.
I do know one thing, and it’s that 30 year old “finesse” pitchers don’t usually just inexplicably become terrible.
Even if he’s healthy next season, is his return to being an average or slightly below average starting pitcher a sure thing?
No—far from it, but since we can’t get rid of him, it might be an experiment that is worth looking into.
The biggest noticeable differences between his terrible year(s) and his decent years, are the increase in walks, and the decrease in strike outs. Both of those things, especially the walks, stem back to command—something that pitcher’s like Silva, who don’t have overpowering stuff, are forced to rely on.
If his not-so-steady decline in command has a lot to do with health issues, than all hope may not be lost.
I guess we’ll have to see how the organization decides to handle it—as always, I’ll trust their judgment.
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