The Braves, Dodgers and Mets are believed to be among teams that have inquired about Rangers starting pitchers Kevin Millwood and Vicente Padilla. Both pitchers provide viable, reasonably cost-effective options in case those teams strike out on the free-agent market. Each has one year remaining on his current contract.
All three of those teams are chasing bigger names, but there's no guarantee they can sign them. The Braves are looking at A.J. Burnett and Derek Lowe (plus they inquired about a trade for Jake Peavy), the Mets are believed to have inquired about Lowe, Randy Wolf and Jon Garland and the Dodgers have recently joined the CC Sabathia sweepstakes.
Millwood, a member of the Braves from 1997-2002, was 9-10 with a 5.07 ERA last season and is 142-111 lifetime. Padilla was 14-8 last season with a 4.74 ERA (not too terrible in that hitters' park in Texas) and is 86-79 lifetime. The Braves might have a hard time outbidding teams from the Northeast for their two free-agent targets, so Millwood or Padilla could make sense for them.
Melissa Haro
Brooklyn Decker
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Manny Being Manny
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I find it somewhat laughable that these teams are pursuing two of the pitchers the Phillies shed in the last 5 years in building their World Series team. Millwood had one relatively decent year in Philly but no batters truly feared him. Padilla was inconsistent at best; last year was the first year he posted 14 wins in his MLB career. With both of these pitchers any prospective team is going to have to be loaded with hitters who can consistently produce 5-7 runs per game because these two pitchers are going to give up lots of runs. If you're going to go after a lower budget pitcher then Randy Wolf would be a better bet. Either way none of these pitchers will cost you as much as any of the more recognizeable names such as Sabathia, Burnett, and Lowe but who wants to mortgage the teams future with a bunch of overpaid free agents...does anyone remember Freddy Garcia?
M_91988
Total Comments (1)
i say kevin millwood Mets and goes 11-11 era 4.44 and Padilla to the braves and goes 9-12 era 4.58
mike1196
Staten Island , NY
Total Comments (60)
It is incorrect to say Vicente Padilla had a "not too terrible in that hitters' park in Texas" with a 4.74 ERA. His home/away splits were 4.80/4.69, which means he was just as bad on the road as he was at home. The reason? His BAbip home/away splits were .284/.320.
Also, Padilla's OBP splits were .338/.360, indicating he was actually worse on the road!
SyedAshrafulla
Los Angeles , CA
Total Comments (10)
You people are missing the point. These guys are starting pitching still under contract for more than one more season each...so...you get these guys to fill holes in the 3-5 slots and if they give you a .500 record...well, it is better than nothing and they won't cost your team big bucks since if they could afford a decent free agent, they'd be offering them contracts instead of trading with the Rangers.
Meanwhile, the Rangers could use the money from both guys to get someone younger and perhaps better to fill one of the two vacancies Millwood and Padilla would leave if they left. Since the Rangers have young pitching to plug in from the minors and off this past season's DL, then they will go with what they can for now.
madhatter
Total Comments (1128)
Great for Texas....Get rid of 2 overpriced pitchers and get something decent in return. A few good prospects for later. No great pitcher will come to Texas with it being such a hitters park. Resign Bradley and just roll with what you have and will probably get from maybe a Boston for Saltamacchia or Laird.
Dbrown086
Grand Prairie , TX
Total Comments (18)
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