Is Greg Smith for real?
Greg Smith has been absolutely awesome this spring. He came over in the Haren trade.One of the many candidates for the 5th SP spot with Braden/Gio/Meyer/Saarloos/Eveland etc He's been complimentd on his savvy and deception so far this spring. Very athletic and has actually hit well for a pitcher, sort of a lefty Micah Owings type. He seemingly has dominated the opposition with ease and has all but locked up the fifth starter spot. The only question that remains is to determine whether he is in a spring hot streak or he is the real deal and could be a potential #3 Sp type or fall into the category of back rotation filler? i was thinking maybe a similar type SP to noah lowry (healthy and better control) What do you guys think?
Ken Rosenthal wrote this about Smith a couple days ago:
Left-hander Greg Smith, part of the A's six-player return for Haren, is drawing raves for his deception and savvy.
interview with Farhan Zaidi (which is Scout Premium content):
Greg Smith, to me, has been one of the most impressive players in camp. From his first bullpen, you could tell that this is a guy who has a plan and is not throwing for the [speed] guns at all. It is easy to lump him in with a lot of the other finesse lefties that you see coming up through the minors and having a lot of success. Some of those guys are trick-pitch guys; some of those guys are just doing it with their savvy. But he's really a mix of all of those things. He can get it up to 90-91 when he wants to, but he is probably more comfortable working in the mid- to high-80s. That is when he can spot his fastball the best.
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Obviously, he is not on the roster yet. He's definitely a candidate to be the fifth starter, but it isn't something that will definitely happen at the start of the season.
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as an a's fan
there are so many players who burst out like this year after year
still need some minor league experience
plus hes not a lock for the 5th spot in the rotation
eveland has had an awesome spring as well
by manny59 on Mar 15, 2008 2:56 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs
no idea what you're talking about
-Spring stats are meaningless
-Small sample size of 9 innings in spring are especially meaningless
-If you want to take spring stats seriously, Eveland's are arguably a bit better (10/2 K/BB ratio vs Smith's 6/2) or a bit worse (1.80 ERA vs Smith's 1.00) but in any case there's no significant difference.
-Eveland has a better minor league track record and is significantly more experienced at higher levels.
Eveland seems to have the inside track on the 5th spot, though I suppose if Gaudin starts the season on the DL there's some chance both will start the season in the rotation.
by track record and stats, I'd say Smith will end up as a back of the rotation guy.
by scooter on Mar 15, 2008 9:18 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

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