Good news for Dodgers and most other NL West fans. The defending 2011 NL West Champion Arizona Diamondbacks have signed a bad pitcher. Joe Saunders signed a one year deal worth $6M. Saunders is barely a replacement level pitcher. His strikeout totals underwhelm. And by underwhelm, I mean they are really really bad. Over the past two years, Saunders has a K/9 of 4.81. Well, maybe he has a really low walk rate to partially make up for it. Hmmmm... his BB/9 over that same period of time is 2.84 which is hardly anything to write home about. Well, maybe he is incredibly talented at forcing hitters to hit the ball on the ground. A quick look shows a GB/FB of 1.23 over that same time period, also nothing special. Those are some pretty bad peripherals. Perhaps not Scott Kazmir bad, but when your top peripheral comparisons are the likes of Brad Bergesen, Mike Pelfrey and Livan Hernandez you are in pretty low territory. This looks like a panic move, the Diamondbacks would've been better off letting their herd of minor league aces fight for the last spot with a couple of low cost NRIs. Don't block them with Joe Saunders who doesn't miss too many starts. Here is the rest of the list (Top 25) of Joe Saunders comparables based on the K/9, BB/9 and GB/FB stats for starters over the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
| Rank | Name | K/9 | BB/9 | GB/FB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Saunders | 4.81 | 2.84 | 1.23 | |
| 1 | Brad Bergesen | 4.56 | 2.79 | 1.2 |
| 2 | Mike Pelfrey | 4.95 | 3 | 1.4 |
| 3 | Livan Hernandez | 4.95 | 2.56 | 1.07 |
| 4 | Dustin Moseley | 4.74 | 3.05 | 1.51 |
| 5 | Zach Duke | 5.23 | 2.66 | 1.5 |
| 6 | Rodrigo Lopez | 5.13 | 2.5 | 0.97 |
| 7 | Paul Maholm | 5.15 | 2.9 | 1.72 |
| 8 | Kyle Lohse | 5.3 | 2.47 | 1.13 |
| 9 | Bronson Arroyo | 4.97 | 2.26 | 0.99 |
| 10 | Jeremy Guthrie | 5.34 | 2.48 | 0.99 |
| 11 | Kyle Kendrick | 4.42 | 2.24 | 1.17 |
| 12 | Freddy Garcia | 5.47 | 2.65 | 0.98 |
| 13 | Brad Penny | 4.13 | 2.69 | 1.58 |
| 14 | Rick Porcello | 4.91 | 2.19 | 1.65 |
| 15 | Tim Wakefield | 5.49 | 2.75 | 0.82 |
| 16 | Joel Pineiro | 4.69 | 2.17 | 1.71 |
| 17 | Armando Galarraga | 4.95 | 3.54 | 0.8 |
| 18 | Fausto Carmona | 5.26 | 2.98 | 1.92 |
| 19 | Dave Bush | 5.4 | 3.36 | 0.94 |
| 20 | Mark Buehrle | 4.5 | 2.04 | 1.23 |
| 21 | Nick Blackburn | 4.17 | 2.76 | 1.8 |
| 22 | Tommy Hunter | 4.69 | 1.98 | 1.01 |
| 23 | Jeff Francis | 4.95 | 1.96 | 1.38 |
| 24 | Wade Davis | 5.57 | 3.2 | 0.87 |
| 25 | Ivan Nova | 5.45 | 3.17 | 1.82 |
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