Why is Mike Bacsik still on this team?

[sportsfan882]

He is GREAT... at filling the void left by Speigner as an automatic loss in the starting rotation.  His mentality to just throw strikes is garbage.  Throwing pitches out of the zone is much better than lobbing meat down the middle of the plate.  Throwing quality strikes is much more important.  Why not call up O'Connor, Hanrahan, Fruto or anyone else?  They can't be any worse than this career minor leaguer.   

[The Chief]

I wouldn't say he was as bad as speigner but he does seem a bit outdone at the major league level.  I thought O'Connor was still rehabbing?

[sportsfan882]

I wouldn't say he was as bad as speigner but he does seem a bit outdone at the major league level.  I thought O'Connor was still rehabbing?

He pitched yesterday in Harrisburg again: 7 IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 1 BB 1 SO 1 HR
He has made 4 starts in AA since coming back from his injury: 18.2 IP 17 H 7 R 7 ER 5 HR 11 SO .239 opp avg.  (3.38 ERA)

[spidernat]

As of now we don't seem to have any viable options. The problem with Bacsik is that his stuff is garbage and does not belong at the MLB level. He's out of his league but we don't have anyone else to fill up his spot in the rotation. It seems like our team is filled with guys like this.

[Evolution33]

As of now we don't seem to have any viable options. The problem with Bacsik is that his stuff is garbage and does not belong at the MLB level. He's out of his league but we don't have anyone else to fill up his spot in the rotation. It seems like our team is filled with guys like this.

Hanrahan has done great at AAA with good stuff. He has a 2.something ERA and deserves a shot. He is only 26 and could be good for us. Also with the off day I would expect Bacsik to be skipped while Lannan has his second AAA start. If all goes as well as his first we could see him. So those are a couple of Viable options for us.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Not that I am a Bacsik fan but something told me I would wake up to a thread like this this morning.

[tomterp]

I'd like to see Joel Hanrahan get a call up, to replace Bacsik in the rotation. 

[joker]

we need someone, since that cincy game he has not pitched too well

[mikehughes]

Ok I hate to admit it, but I guess I was wrong about Bacsik. He was making me sound like a genius in his first couple starts when he had that 1 ERA but lately its gotten ugly. I still think that sometime in the future he will wind up with a spot in a rotation and be a good player, just probaly not here anymore. Anyways whens my other fav Mike O Connor getting the call?

[natsdad]

Why the venom on Bacsik?  There are three starters with over 5 era's.  Look are the total "work of art".  In baseball you are defined by your stats.  As the presumed number five pitcher he is no better or no worse than the at least two other starters.  W's & L's are team numbers.  If the team is making mistakes (physical & mental) in the field or on the bases and it's not hitting, the pitcher pays the price.  Look at the whole picture before you lay the blame on one player or even one pitch.

[spidernat]

Why the venom on Bacsik?  There are three starters with over 5 era's.  Look are the total "work of art".  In baseball you are defined by your stats.  As the presumed number five pitcher he is no better or no worse than the at least two other starters.  W's & L's are team numbers.  If the team is making mistakes (physical & mental) in the field or on the bases and it's not hitting, the pitcher pays the price.  Look at the whole picture before you lay the blame on one player or even one pitch.

He's not better than Chico, Bergmann, Simontacchi or Bowie. I'll give you that currently he is better than Speigner though but Speigner is no longer on the roster..

[natsdad]

You are half right. Check the era's. Then get back.

[spidernat]

You are half right. Check the era's. Then get back.

Get back to what? Although I was a bit reluctant to place Simontacchi in the list I gave him the nod over Bacsik because he has shown the ability to pitch deeper into games than has Bacsik. Bacsik and Chico's ERA may be identical but Chico has pitched in twice as many games (I can imagine what Bacsik's ERA would be after another 8 starts) and Chico has shown ability that Bascik has not demonstrated. Sorry to disappoint you Mr Bacsik.

[Kenz aFan]

You are half right. Check the era's. Then get back.

Take away BacSICK's first start and he's left with a 5.87 ERA, which tells me that spidernat is 100% right on in his statement.

Bad outings: Chico (4 of 16, or 25%, with the Nats winning 10 of his starts), Simontacchi (3 of 10, or 30%, with the Nats winning half his starts), Bergmann (2 o 9, or 22%, with the Nats only winning 3 of his starts) and Bowie (1 of 7, or 14%, plus the Nats have won ALL of Bowie's starts). Our pal Bacsik is had 5 out of 8 in bad starts (62%), and the Nats have won only once in those eight starts.

What I see is a guy who has no business starting, and the only reason he is, is because the Nats don't have anyone else ready yet.... I repeat, yet

[nats2playoffs]

Player Compare 2007 Year to Date MLB Standard Stats
         Player                        INN   GS   QS CG W   L   S   BS   K   BBI   HA   ERA   WHIP   K/9 IP
Bowie, Micah RP WAS          52.0   7   2   0   4   2   0   1   40   22   41   3.635   1.212   6.92
Chico, Matt SP WAS           83.3   16   5   0   3   5   0   0   45   37   93   5.076   1.560   4.86
Bergmann, Jason RP WAS     53.0   9    6   0   1   4   0   0   46   21   32   2.717   1.000   7.81
Simontacchi, Jason RP WAS   57.3  10   3   0   5   5   0   0   33   17   71   5.808   1.535   5.18
Bacsik, Mike SP WAS            44.3   8   3   0   1   5   0   0   15   13   56   5.075   1.556   3.05

The main difference between Bacsik and these other pitchers is that Bacsik has a dramatically lower strikeout rate per 9 innings pitched.  Bacsik's is not even of major league caliber.  Your opponent cannot score on a strikeout.  If two other AAA starters had not been on the DL, they would have likely been brought up instead of Bacsik.  He gave us 3 quality starts and won a game.

Bowie is the biggest surprise to me, with no MLB starts since 1999.  But he only has 2 quality starts in 7 games started: not good.  I'd rather have better pitchers on the roster than our rookie Chico, Simontacchi, or Bowie.  Chico should be in AAA and Bowie should be a reliever.  We cannot get to the World Series with these guys starting.  The Nationals are not even mentioned as one of the many teams pursuing Behrle from the White Sox.  Will we go after Zambrano? 

[Dave B]

Why the venom on Bacsik?  There are three starters with over 5 era's.  Look are the total "work of art".  In baseball you are defined by your stats.  As the presumed number five pitcher he is no better or no worse than the at least two other starters.  W's & L's are team numbers.  If the team is making mistakes (physical & mental) in the field or on the bases and it's not hitting, the pitcher pays the price.  Look at the whole picture before you lay the blame on one player or even one pitch.

You also need to look at the trends.  Bacsik started well and has pitched poorly recently in a downward trend.  Chico started poorly had a lot of good outings, sprinkled in one or two bad ones and most recetly had a good one. He's been trending upwards. Simontacchi has generally been good except when he got beat up by the tigers.

Bacsik has had a steady progression of getting worse

[shoeshineboy]

You also need to look at the trends.  Bacsik started well and has pitched poorly recently in a downward trend.  Chico started poorly had a lot of good outings, sprinkled in one or two bad ones and most recetly had a good one. He's been trending upwards. Simontacchi has generally been good except when he got beat up by the tigers.

Bacsik has had a steady progression of getting worse

Also, Bowie started off as a lefty reliever who was actually only acceptably effective against righties, and pretty much hit a wall at 5 innings. Since getting tapped as an interim/emergency starter, he has reactivated some of his other pitches that had been dormant during his years as a typical reliever with a two-pitch arsenal, and he has stretched himself from 60 some odd pitches to 90+. Consequently, he has made steady improvement over the course of his starts.

[tomterp]

  The Nationals are not even mentioned as one of the many teams pursuing Behrle from the White Sox.  Will we go after Zambrano? 
(Image removed from quote.)

Sox have pulled Behrle off the market to attempt to negotiate a long term deal with him.  Besides, what they would want is what we don't want to give up - our top prospects or young up and coming players.  There's no fit for a trade here that I can detect.  By all means, try to sign Zambrano but I doubt the Nats will want to spend $20 x 7 years. 

[natsdad]

Point is it took Chico 8 games to get down to a 6.00 era at the beginning of the season. I remember people calling for his head at the beginnig of the season.
Bacsik has a 5.08 era after 4 starts. It seems to me expectations for this team have been elevated on this forum.  That is a good thing for the team, but tough on the players.

[ronnynat]

Point is it took Chico 8 games to get down to a 6.00 era at the beginning of the season. I remember people calling for his head at the beginnig of the season.
Bacsik has a 5.08 era after 4 starts. It seems to me expectations for this team have been elevated on this forum.  That is a good thing for the team, but tough on the players.

I agree. This forum definitely expects too much out of some of these guys. I like O'Connor, but he's not really an upgrade for Bacsik, unfortunately. They're actually quite similar in their approach: throw strikes and pray that you hit your spots.

Just look at O'Connor's July last year: http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/players/player/gamelogs/2006/1108837

I'm sure people here were calling for HIS head as well. The only advantage there is that O'Connor's like 2 and half years younger. Regardless, NEITHER should be here. We need some younger lefties being called up. Maybe we get one in that trade for Van Buren. 

[PANatsFan]

Player Compare 2007 Year to Date MLB Standard Stats
         Player                        INN   GS   QS CG W   L   S   BS   K   BBI   HA   ERA   WHIP   K/9 IP
Bowie, Micah RP WAS          52.0   7   2   0   4   2   0   1   40   22   41   3.635   1.212   6.92
Chico, Matt SP WAS           83.3   16   5   0   3   5   0   0   45   37   93   5.076   1.560   4.86
Bergmann, Jason RP WAS     53.0   9    6   0   1   4   0   0   46   21   32   2.717   1.000   7.81
Simontacchi, Jason RP WAS   57.3  10   3   0   5   5   0   0   33   17   71   5.808   1.535   5.18
Bacsik, Mike SP WAS            44.3   8   3   0   1   5   0   0   15   13   56   5.075   1.556   3.05

The main difference between Bacsik and these other pitchers is that Bacsik has a dramatically lower strikeout rate per 9 innings pitched.  Bacsik's is not even of major league caliber.  Your opponent cannot score on a strikeout.  If two other AAA starters had not been on the DL, they would have likely been brought up instead of Bacsik.  He gave us 3 quality starts and won a game.

Bowie is the biggest surprise to me, with no MLB starts since 1999.  But he only has 2 quality starts in 7 games started: not good.  I'd rather have better pitchers on the roster than our rookie Chico, Simontacchi, or Bowie.  Chico should be in AAA and Bowie should be a reliever.  We cannot get to the World Series with these guys starting.  The Nationals are not even mentioned as one of the many teams pursuing Behrle from the White Sox.  Will we go after Zambrano? 
(Image removed from quote.)

Bowie's a strikeout machine! Hugely surprising.

[PANatsFan]

I agree. This forum definitely expects too much out of some of these guys. I like O'Connor, but he's not really an upgrade for Bacsik, unfortunately. They're actually quite similar in their approach: throw strikes and pray that you hit your spots.

Just look at O'Connor's July last year: http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/players/player/gamelogs/2006/1108837

I'm sure people here were calling for HIS head as well. The only advantage there is that O'Connor's like 2 and half years younger. Regardless, NEITHER should be here. We need some younger lefties being called up. Maybe we get one in that trade for Van Buren. 

O'Connor had garbage run support last year. He's a local product with nice upside.

[shoeshineboy]

Point is it took Chico 8 games to get down to a 6.00 era at the beginning of the season. I remember people calling for his head at the beginnig of the season.
Bacsik has a 5.08 era after 4 starts. It seems to me expectations for this team have been elevated on this forum.  That is a good thing for the team, but tough on the players.

Bacsik wasn't even on the radar screen as much more than a minor league guy who could fill in or work relief. As an emergency starter, he has been serviceable (which means giving up 4 runs over 5 innings of work shouldn't be surprising or viewed as a complete disaster. The offense should be able to keep things closer. All he can do is given them a halfway decent shot and preserve the bullpen.)

I would agree that expectations for him have to limited as they should be for most of this stop gap rotation. Bacsik has had some decent moments, but of the guys who have been going out there every five days, he is certainly a guy who has shown what he can do and it ain't much. So giving a shot at someone like Hanrahan makes sense at this stage. (Even Redding has allegedly been getting his act together.)

When we started the season, I had resigned myself to the idea that every Chico start would be penciled in as a loss. He's now the stalwart of the staff, so it isn't like we should be looking for ace stuff from anyone else we have thrown out there. Bowie has built himself up and has been a real surprise bonus, and now Bergmann's back. Bacsik is certainly not anyone worth preserving in the rotation, but I wouldn't mind having him around for relief.

[PANatsFan]

Good thing we cut Colby Lewis. That guy is stinking it up for the A's. Hope we didn't trade Van Buren for him!

[tomterp]

Just look at O'Connor's July last year: http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/players/player/gamelogs/2006/1108837

I agree that O'Connor has similarities to Bacsik, but you can't look at his '06 numbers unless you consider the injury that he tried to pitch through. His last four outings ending in July, he was hurt, but tried to do it anyway.  He went on the DL, and was better (except for one bad outing) upon his return.  Of course, he did end up needing surgery.  Prior to the sore arm, he was good enough to hold down say a number 5 spot.  His big shortcoming was that he had a hard time making it 6 innings, definitely not an innings eater.

So no, he's not the salvation of the rotation (Bergmann and Hill would be that) but he is good enough to give another real shot at it, probably this season.