Josh Towers has signed with Colorado. Your reaction?
| In the NL, he'll win 18 and take the Rox back to the Series. |  9 (3.69%) |
| Solid move for the Rox. Sorry to see him leave Toronto. | 38 (15.57%) |
| Meh. Fifth starter, long man, nothing special either way. | 118 (48.36%) |
| Disaster -- what's the highest single-season ERA ever? | 36 (14.75%) |
| He won't make the major league team. | 35 (14.34%) |
| Other (what?) | 8 (3.28%) |
244 votes | 20 featured comments
Of all the places to end up in the NL, he had to choose Coors? Is he forgetting he has given up 35 HRs over his last 170ip at the Skydome?!
Seriously though, count me as a Towers supporter. The price is right and he can provide you with innings. For a 5th starter, a 6.00 ERA isn't all that bad - 4 runs over 6 innings, give your team a chance to win each time out. With the $ the Jays apparently have to waste on things like a 200k raise for Reed Johnson (huh?!), having someone like Towers around wouldn't have been all that bad. The Jays are entering the 2008 season with virtually zero starting pitching depth and have very little in the minors ready to help out if there are injuries. Having someone like Towers around would have been nice.
Seriously though, count me as a Towers supporter. The price is right and he can provide you with innings. For a 5th starter, a 6.00 ERA isn't all that bad - 4 runs over 6 innings, give your team a chance to win each time out. With the $ the Jays apparently have to waste on things like a 200k raise for Reed Johnson (huh?!), having someone like Towers around wouldn't have been all that bad. The Jays are entering the 2008 season with virtually zero starting pitching depth and have very little in the minors ready to help out if there are injuries. Having someone like Towers around would have been nice.
Door #2. Towers will be fine. Sure Coors won't help - Towers was definitely not meant to pitch there - but the fact that he never has to face the Rockies will. He'll rack up wins, which is the only stat by which pitchers should be judged.
Voted other: What we're about to see is the greatest show in baseball history.
I like Towers, but there's no room for him on the Jays anymore, and I agree that Colorado's a bad fit.
He'll rack up wins, which is the only stat by which pitchers should be judged.
Are you being serious or sarcastic?
Are you being serious or sarcastic?
Sorry to see him go but the Jays really didn't have a spot for him. He didn't necessarily have the most talent but he always competed with what he did have. Two fond memories... the pitch that nailed Arod's calf and him calling the Jays out in early August which I think was justified even though it sealed his fate with the team. Bonne chance, Josh, but learn to throw an offspeed pitch down and away.
...In other news Andruw Jones will be holding a press conference on Monday at 2PM EST to thank the Rockies for giving him a late Christmas present.
If I was Josh Towers, I'd take a few hundred K less in another city and perhaps trick people into giving me a big deal after I perform well next year. This just has disaster written all over it. Weren't the Pads interested in him?
Wow, we never see this on Da Box -- through 57 votes, the results of this poll are a nearly perfect Bell Curve,
I guess here in Toronto, that'd be a "George Bell Curve," huh?
I guess here in Toronto, that'd be a "George Bell Curve," huh?
Are you being serious or sarcastic?
Dude. Wrong answer.
Dude. Wrong answer.
"If I was Josh Towers, I'd take a few hundred K less in another city and perhaps trick people into giving me a big deal after I perform well next year."
If you were Josh Towers you probably don't actually realize that you are mediocre and don't possess an out pitch and therefore you actually believe you can succeed in Coors Field. You also know that guys like Tracy Ringolsby and Richard Griffin are in love with W-L records and the Rockies happen to be the defending NL champions.
If you were Josh Towers you probably don't actually realize that you are mediocre and don't possess an out pitch and therefore you actually believe you can succeed in Coors Field. You also know that guys like Tracy Ringolsby and Richard Griffin are in love with W-L records and the Rockies happen to be the defending NL champions.
I took door #6, which may explain why I am having trouble winning at The Price is Right.
I like Towers. The Coors effect is cancelled by the NL effect (pitchers, league differences). I expect an ERA of 5.25 if they give him the 5th starter role. Now, if he can start throwing some groundballs for Tulowitzki to chew up...
I like Towers. The Coors effect is cancelled by the NL effect (pitchers, league differences). I expect an ERA of 5.25 if they give him the 5th starter role. Now, if he can start throwing some groundballs for Tulowitzki to chew up...
I'm a huge Josh Towers fan....there aren't too many. It's ridiculously fun to watch him pitch because he's like a tightrope walker and when things are going his way...wow!
I think the Coors effect has been reduced significantly by the new humidor refrigeration of the baseballs. That combined with the fact that it is the NL(ie. a pitcher bats every 9, weaker hitters generally...) will help Josh.
The Rockies have alot of starters auditioning for jobs behind Jimenez, Cook and Francis so it won't be easy but Towers has alwyas done well enough in spring trainings of past to secure a shot atleast.
In his magical season in '05, many people attribute his success to the fact that he faced weaker teams and feasted on them. 11 of his 33 starts came against KC,BAL, TBAY(6 against TB alone). I think that's indicative of the success he could have in the NL!
I'm rootin' for you Josh!
I think the Coors effect has been reduced significantly by the new humidor refrigeration of the baseballs. That combined with the fact that it is the NL(ie. a pitcher bats every 9, weaker hitters generally...) will help Josh.
The Rockies have alot of starters auditioning for jobs behind Jimenez, Cook and Francis so it won't be easy but Towers has alwyas done well enough in spring trainings of past to secure a shot atleast.
In his magical season in '05, many people attribute his success to the fact that he faced weaker teams and feasted on them. 11 of his 33 starts came against KC,BAL, TBAY(6 against TB alone). I think that's indicative of the success he could have in the NL!
I'm rootin' for you Josh!
I voted #2. I think Sheldon's covered my take on Josh Towers.
As for wins being the measure of a pitcher, I think this page pretty much sums it up:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/W_career.shtml
Unless you're Sandy Koufax or Dennis Eckersley (or, inexplicably Luis Tiant or Dennis Martinez) 235 lifetime wins in the modern era is the cutoff for the Hall of Fame.
As for wins being the measure of a pitcher, I think this page pretty much sums it up:
http://www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/W_career.shtml
Unless you're Sandy Koufax or Dennis Eckersley (or, inexplicably Luis Tiant or Dennis Martinez) 235 lifetime wins in the modern era is the cutoff for the Hall of Fame.
Not sure you can put El Tiante and El Presidente in the same sentence. Tiant won 158 of his 229 games before 1976, which was when Martinez won the first of his 245; he won 92 of his games in the 1990s, while Tiant won just 12 of his as late as the 1980s.
Different eras!
This looks to me like a depth move, nothing more.
As a fan of the Rockies in the NL, it would seem that they have a good 1-4 in Francis, Cook, Jimenez and Hirsh. Add Morales in at number 5, and that's my guess on the opening day starting rotation. Which is pretty good - young, but good.
Towers moving to Coors won't help his numbers like moving to Petco could have, but I agree that the humidor effect has taken some of the sting out of Coors. And that's probably good for all pitchers, but especially Josh.
As a fan of the Rockies in the NL, it would seem that they have a good 1-4 in Francis, Cook, Jimenez and Hirsh. Add Morales in at number 5, and that's my guess on the opening day starting rotation. Which is pretty good - young, but good.
Towers moving to Coors won't help his numbers like moving to Petco could have, but I agree that the humidor effect has taken some of the sting out of Coors. And that's probably good for all pitchers, but especially Josh.
"Not sure you can put El Tiante and El Presidente in the same sentence."
That's really my point. Other than wins HOF pitchers of different eras don't have much else in common.
That's really my point. Other than wins HOF pitchers of different eras don't have much else in common.
...and of course these are the two pitchers of the past fifty years to pass 235 wins and NOT be in the hall.
As to 245 as a lifetime win mark lock for the HOF don't forget Tommy John, who is far from the HOF still at 288 wins, Blyleven who is getting closer with his 287, Jim Kaat at 283 got no love. Jack Morris at 254 is on the outside for a few more years it looks like, and I suspect Mike Mussina will also be left outside despite 250 wins and a 122 ERA+ lifetime (3.70 ERA sounds high [voters are terrible for era adjustments], no 20 win seasons, 7-8 in the postseason, top 3 in Cy Young voting just once, just scores 14 for black ink). David Wells is at 239 and won't get in either, nor will Jamie Moyer at 230 but I suspect Schilling (216) and Pedro Martinez (209) would pass the bus test today (ie: if they were hit by a bus today they'd still get in).