by Grant Brisbee from McCovey Chronicles
“Spot starters are spot starters because they aren’t as good as the real starters, with some notable exceptions. And that’s doubly true for players like [Albert] Suarez, whom any team could have had this offseason with a guaranteed major league contract at the minimum salary. He could have been just another faceless placeholder, overextended against a major league lineup.
“Instead: competence. Strikes. Missed bats. Limited drama. If Suarez were to sustain his start with the Giants over a couple dozen starts, teams would pay $80 million for him . . . roughly what they were expecting from Mike Leake last year. What a gift. And if it had completely blown up — four starts where he couldn’t get out of the fourth inning, say — absolutely no one would have been surprised.
“That didn’t happen, and the Giants got some value where they desperately needed it. Remember that before anything else. The Giants were able to win a 5-4 game in extra innings only because Albert Suarez can perform a reasonable impression of a major-league starter.”
(The Giants are on a pace to win over 100 games this year. Yeehaw! Fer all you Brits and other furriners, the Giants won the World (yes, World) Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. Can y’all say “even year”?)
Sharp and Pointed 