Yet another twist to the epic Royals-Mariners rivalry.
The Royals have designated Jesse Chavez for assignment and claimed LHP Aaron Laffey. Let us be the first or the second Royals blog to welcome Laffey to the organization with open arms. Overall, this is an incredibly minor move that it is hard to generate strong feelings about. I guess we have depth and in some hideous Would You Rather scenario, I'd rather have Laffey than Chavez.
Laffey was once a starter of some note, and as you can see below, he essentially posted a league average ERA for three seasons (2007-09). He's utterly hittable however and his numbers as a reliever haven't really improved. However, for those looking for a Jimmy Gobble fix, he might satisfy.
| Year | Age | Tm | W | L | G | GS | IP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 22 | CLE | 4 | 2 | 4.56 | 9 | 9 | 49.1 | 100 | 1.338 | 9.9 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 4.6 | 2.08 |
| 2008 | 23 | CLE | 5 | 7 | 4.23 | 16 | 16 | 93.2 | 101 | 1.431 | 9.9 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 4.1 | 1.39 |
| 2009 | 24 | CLE | 7 | 9 | 4.44 | 25 | 19 | 121.2 | 96 | 1.619 | 10.4 | 0.7 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 1.04 |
| 2010 | 25 | CLE | 2 | 3 | 4.53 | 29 | 5 | 55.2 | 88 | 1.617 | 10.0 | 0.2 | 4.5 | 4.5 | 1.00 |
| 2011 | 26 | TOT | 3 | 2 | 3.88 | 47 | 0 | 53.1 | 103 | 1.650 | 11.3 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 1.43 |
| 2011 | 26 | SEA | 1 | 1 | 4.01 | 36 | 0 | 42.2 | 97 | 1.641 | 11.4 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 5.1 | 1.50 |
| 2011 | 26 | NYY | 2 | 1 | 3.38 | 11 | 0 | 10.2 | 135 | 1.688 | 11.0 | 0.0 | 4.2 | 5.1 | 1.20 |
| 5 Seasons | 21 | 23 | 4.34 | 126 | 49 | 373.2 | 97 | 1.539 | 10.3 | 0.7 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 1.24 | ||
The interesting question remains how Laffey was ever effective at all. It's not like he was hit lucky - he wasn't. He gave up a zillion baserunners, was fairly homer prone, and still kinda survived. Just luck with sequencing?
Finally, I wonder who will come up with the more puntastic headline for his move, the Star or the team website? (I ask not disparagingly, merely in acknowledgement of the widespread and rather pointless predilection for puns in sports headlines.)