Thursday, 11 December 2008

Meet the newest Jay, Matt Clement

After years of trying to sign Clement, JP finally got him to agree to play for the Jays. It's only a minor league deal, which is good because there's no way in hell Clement should be guaranteed any money.

Clement hasn't pitched in the majors since 2006, where he went 5-5 with a 6.61 ERA for the Red Sox. He had some sort of shoulder surgery in 07, and tried to rebound with the Cards last year. He was pretty good in A ball, but he got worse as he jumped from AA to AAA.

Marcel projects Clement to pitch 60 innings next year with a 4.61 FIP. I think that's a little optimistic, but given his injury history I'd say that's a best case scenario.

Clement relies on an 89 MPH four seem fastball while mixing in a slider and a cutter. He has a change up, but uses it about as often as Burnett did.

This move won't make the Jays playoff contenders, but given the uncertainty in the rotation it can't hurt to give Clement a shot. At worst, he'll be injured and the Jays relive the days of Ohka, Thomson and Zambrano. At his best, Clement will eat some innings and let Cecil stay in the minors to gain some valuable experience in AAA.

Twitchy.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

1.How about trading Overbay (pick up a little of his $) and a few "above average" prospects to Seattle 4 Bedard?

2.Sign Giambi, Burrell, or Milton Bradley

The Southpaw said...

1) It wouldn't be a bad idea, although I have no idea how Bedard is doing health wise. The problem is, I don't think their GM can move Bedard unless he gets a similar package to the one Bravasi gave up, because it'd be a PR nightmare if he did.

How would you feel if JP gave up Cecil, Snider, Jackson and Eiland for Barry Zito, only to get Ian Kennedy and Nick Swisher in return a year later? That's how I see it from Seattle's point of view.

It's good thinking, but I'd have to know how healthy Bedard was before I moved any prospects.

2) I'd be all for signing any of those guys. Dunn would be the perfect fit, but he'd never sign with us as long as JP is in charge. Giambi is probably the best option for right now, as Overbay and Lind are the only left handed bats we have (assuming Snider is in AAA). I really like Burrell though.

Twitchy.