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Five MLB pitchers who need to be rescued from their teams
Chicago White Sox Chris Sale his having a season that deserves a contender, like the Toronto Blue Jays. Jon Durr/Getty Images

Five MLB pitchers who need to be rescued from their teams

Earlier this week I was given an opportunity to play GM for the entire MLB and save five position players from their awful teams and plug them in on contenders where they deserve to be given their skill set. Today, I am doing the same with five pitchers.

I am a big believer that solid pitching throughout the rotation is the best way to win games (blame the San Francisco Giants, Curt Young, and Billy Beane for creating that belief), so you can bet the Blue Jays will be getting at least one of these pitchers. Sorry, Jose Bautista isn’t going to be able to put up nine runs by himself, even if he is the best bad guy baseball has had in a long while.

Danny Duffy (Kansas City Royals, SP): Danny Duffy has come on strong this year and been an outstanding addition to the Royals starting rotation. 12 wins and an 3.18 ERA in the AL; yeah, I’ll take that any day of the week. The Royals won their World Series, they're set for a few decades, so Duffy is going to head out and be set up to win his second ring.

Duffy is going to join Rick Porcello and David Price in Boston this September. Their team ERA sits at 10th overall, and while that is nothing to be ashamed of, they could use another starter to go deep into games against some solid lineups. They have control of the AL East and did so without Duffy, but the rich get richer.

Chris Sale (Chicago White Sox, SP): Sale is toiling away in Chicago and unfortunately he’s playing for the South Siders. He has had 190+ strikeouts for five consecutive years, his highest ERA in that time frame is 3.41, and his WHIP is something to admire at just over 1.05 for his career.  

Sale is now going to be a Toronto Blue Jay. He will walk into that locker room and immediately be the best pitcher on the staff. He won’t have the lead in wins in the clubhouse (good work, J.A. Happ), but he will immediately make that rotation one of the more respectable rotations in the majors. Solid pitching wins championships and keeps teams in games and Sale will provide an instantaneous boost to a ball club that could use another top level pitcher.

Ervin Santana (Minnesota Twins, SP): Santana has been in the majors for a long while and has bounced around a bit since he left the Angels rotation, but he is having one helluva season. Consistent with his second best statistical season, Santana is one of the bright spots on a miserable Twins team. Looking past the win/loss totals and into his actual stats, he has an ERA that puts him in the top 25 starting pitchers in the league and a wins above replacement (WAR) of 3.7.  

Santana is going to find his way to the Detroit Tigers. Worst to almost first isn’t a bad way to be, but the Tigers are going to need some help if they are going to find any lasting success this postseason. Jordan Zimmerman seems to be struggling to find his footing in the AL and is not what the Tigers were hoping for, his sporadic starts won’t do well in the playoffs. Santana might not be enough to push the Tigers over the top, but he would force opposing teams to take that rotation just a little more seriously.

Jose Fernandez (Miami Marlins, SP): Fernandez might be on a team on an uptick, but given the current state of the Marlins, he’s going to be moved anyways. You never know what Marlins owner, Jeffrey Loria is going to do – just ask Jose Reyes. Fernandez is the brightest spot on that team in terms of pitchers (sorry, Giancarlo is the best and brightest and there’s no debate) and while the Marlins would not want to lose a SP with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.12 WHIP, Fernandez can’t waste away on that roster any longer. He’s too valuable, too exciting, and deserves so much more than what Miami can offer him.

Fernandez was going to head to the nation’s capital, but I’m not over the Expos being ripped away from Montreal, so he’s going to take his talents from South Beach to Cleveland, just like LeBron. Now, here’s the thing, he’s not going to Cleveland because that fit the South Beach quote and James’ actions so perfectly, nope, he’s going to Cleveland because he will be the best or second best pitcher on that team and Cleveland deserve to get off the skid in baseball too. Cleveland needs some solid pitching and while their pitching staff is solid, an arm like Fernandez will help immensely. We’re talking about a top-10 pitcher who can be moved to a different team because his has no chance of making the playoffs yet again, so yeah, he’s going to go somewhere he can make a big difference.

Masahiro Tanaka (New York Yankees, SP): The 27-year-old righty is having a pretty impactful season in the Bronx. Eating up 200 innings with an ERA just a tick over 3.00 in that bandbox the Yankees call a stadium is beyond impressive. Tanaka has thrown a full slate of games for the first time in his Yankee career and his numbers haven't suffered at all. It's not that he has just been excellent on his team, he is far and away the best pitcher on his team and he is top 10 in the majors in ERA, 12th in WHIP, and 6th in WAR.

Masahiro is going to find himself playing down in Arlington, TX with the Rangers. A.J. Griffin started the year well, but wasn't able to produce at that same clip throughout the season. Yu Darvish still has a fresh arm, but the inconsistency from him over his past few starts is cause for concern. Slide Tanaka in and pair him at the top of the rotation with Cole Hamels and all of a sudden that rotation looks like it could do some serious damage in the postseason. Hamels, Tanaka and Darvish when Darvish is right? That's a top three that will keep hitters up at night.

Honorable mention

Ginny Baker (San Diego Padres, SP): If you didn’t get a chance to watch Fox’s debut of the show "Pitch," I highly recommend it. Ginny Baker spent her share of days in the minors and knows exactly what she is getting herself into by getting called up to the big leagues. While she struggled in her first start, it didn’t negatively impact her innings limit for the season (she only threw ten pitches and had zero outs before she pulled herself), but this woman is going to be something special.  

All that said, she can't spend another day pitching in Petco. She's going to be sent up I-5 to northern California and pitch for the Giants. A pitcher's haven, she will have no problem finding support from the fans and her teammates in one of the most liberal and accepting areas in the country. She is going to produce, she has at every level in her career, so there is no concern there. Giants fans can be picky and demanding of of their players (you would be too if you had won three World Series in five years), but they wore the Band of Misfits nickname with a certain amount of pride and Ginny would fit in very well in that clubhouse.

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