Jeff Weaver, SP, St. Louis Cardinals

July 13, 2006 @ 16:00:00

By Matthew Scott Carr
Edited by Ryan Dodson

Starting pitcher Jeff Weaver is trying to find somewhere that will garner consistent success. He was a first-round draft pick by the Detroit Tigers in 1998 and played with them until 2002, when he was traded to the New York Yankees. In New York, Weaver earned unwanted notoriety by giving up a walk-off home run to Florida Marlins shortstop Alex Gonzalez in the 12th inning of Game 4 of the 2003 World Series. Needless to say, Weaver was shuffled quickly out of the Big Apple.

He's gaining the status of "journeyman" and at the beginning of the 2006 season, he signed a one-year, $8.3 million dollar deal with the Los Angeles Angels, hoping to build on a career best 14-win season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2005. But after going 6-10 with a 6.29 ERA in 16 starts, including allowing six earned runs in under two innings pitched in his last start, he was designated for assignment.

Ironically, Weaver was made expendable in Los Angeles after his younger brother Jered filled in for the Angels' injured ace Bartolo Colon, and went 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA. Controversy brewed for the Angels when Colon came off the DL, and it was young Jered, not Jeff, that was sent back to the minors. When their fortunes reversed and the Angels realized their mistake, Jeff was designated for assignment and Jered was recalled to replace him in the starting rotation. Since then, Jered has gone 2-0, allowing just one run, while striking out 14 in 14 innings pitched.

The Angels won't miss the elder Weaver because they now have a very potent rotation with Jered Weaver, John Lackey and Ervin Santana behind their struggling ace Colon, not to mention setup man Scot Shields and closer Francisco Rodriguez. Santana leads the team in wins, with 10, while Lackey leads the team in strikeouts with 97 and a 2.88 ERA. Kelvim Escobar rounds out the five and has been adequate for the Angels, going 6-9 this season with a 3.88 ERA and 79 strikeouts. Currently the team is fourth in the league in ERA at 4.07, sixth in strikeouts with 622, and third in WHIP at 1.27 and is trying to make a post All-Star push in the extremely tight American League West.

When taking all that into consideration, there was obviously no room in Los Angeles for Weaver (Jeff), and he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, who were looking for an immediate insertion into their rotation, for minor league outfielder Terry Evans. Weaver is a career 4.55 ERA pitcher, but this season he has really been unable to fool hitters, as opponents are batting .309 against him and he has already given up 18 home runs.

Lucky for him, those numbers make Weaver look like a stud in St. Louis, except when compared to Chris Carpenter. Beyond him, the Cardinals have survived almost solely on over-powering their opponents. Starting pitcher Jason Marquis is tied for the National League lead in wins with 11, even though he is sporting a blinding 5.55 ERA on the season and has given up 20 home runs in 18 starts. The Cardinals have been able to counterbalance Marquis' sloppiness by averaging 5.39 runs per game in support, including seven games in which they scored eight or more runs.

The remainder of the Cards rotation is less than dominant, with the team ranking 16th in the league in ERA at 4.63. Jeff Suppan has gone 6-5 this season with an ERA of 5.83 and giving up 14 home runs while striking out just 49 in 95 innings pitched. Second-year player Anthony Reyes has faired better, sporting an ERA of 3.86, but has a record of 1-3, and suffered a heartbreaking, one-hitter loss to the Chicago White Sox. Reyes is receiving just three runs per outing in support.

Weaver will be replacing starting pitcher Sidney Ponson who was trying to resurrect his career after displaying himself as a drunken mess with the Baltimore Orioles. Ponson was off to a good start in his first six games, recording three wins and three no decisions with an ERA of 2.81. Then a sore elbow limited his play on May 7, and after that, things went downhill, and he was designated for assignment with a record of 4-4 and an ERA of 5.24.

St. Louis is in dire need of some stability on the mound. They've had 26 games this season in which their starting pitchers have allowed five earned runs or more, Marquis accounting for eight of them, and are 5-21 in those games.

Good news for the Cardinals is that Weaver is more successful after the All-Star game. Over the last three years he has gone 18-24 in 54 starts with a 4.61 ERA pre-All-Star break, but is 16-9 in 38 starts with a 4.60 ERA after the All-Star break. And Weaver is probably wishing every month was August because he has gone 11-1 with a 4.12 ERA in 16 starts in the month over the last three seasons. Throw on top of that, that 13 of Weaver's 81 career wins have come against the NL Central, not counting the Cardinals, and he has a career 3.41 ERA against the division. Over the past three seasons, Weaver has gone 7-7 against the division with a 3.35 ERA and 86 strikeouts in 106 innings pitched. His next three starts will be against the Atlanta Braves, the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs, teams that he is sporting a record of 4-0 with a 3.98 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 38 innings pitched over the last three years.

Cardinals manager Walt Jocketty has said that he believes that Weaver has been relying too heavily on his breaking ball, and not using his fastball enough, which is fair, reaching the low 90s. Manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan think they can retool Weaver's approach and ensure his continued historic success through the second half of the season.

In all, Weaver should perform okay in St. Louis, especially with a strong offense behind him. The Cardinals are sitting atop the NL Central with a four-game lead, and even better for Weaver's win totals is that the rest of the division has arguably some of the worst bullpens in the major leagues. Obviously the NL Central is not without its stars like Carlos Zambrano, Bronson Arroyo, Roger Clemens, Ben Sheets and Chris Capuano. But overall it's one of MLB's bottom-feeding with the Cincinnati Reds, the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Milwaukee Brewers ranking 22nd or worst in the league in ERA, the Reds and Pirates leading the league in hits allowed, and the Brewers, Pirates and Cubs in the wrong half of the league in batters walked.

And only one team in the division, the St. Louis Cardinals, ranks in the top 12 in the league in batting average, hits and runs scored.

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Matthew Scott Carr

Matthew Scott Carr has been an avid football follower and fan for as long as he can remember. He became involved in fantasy sports in 1999, which transformed an already fanatical sports worship into a full-fledged psycho. Carr joined the KFFL team in 2004.

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