Silva: Not just bad, but horrible

So this is what $12 million gets you in the majors these days. Seven hits, seven runs, two outs. My trepidation about having Silva face the Tigers was justified, but I had no idea he was going to contribute a stinkeroo on such an epic scale.

Still, I’m not going to wring my hands about just how lousy Silva is as a member of the M’s starting rotation. In fact, I’m going to point out the positive contributions he brings. I mean, think about. In some pitching staffs, after one pitcher tosses a brilliant game, there is an unspoken challenge raised to the other starters to try and step up and either match or top the performance. Silva, in all his selfless credit, must have decided to to put Bedard’s dominant two-hit outing from Wednesday in the most positive light possible by tossing batting practice pitches to the Tigers’ formidable line-up. If such outings earns a $12 million per year paycheck, Bedard could be justified demanding Johann Santana-type money. If Bedard sees such an up tick in his value, he would have Silva to thank.

Despite Silva’s selflessness, it must be discouraging for the offense to be blown out of the game before they even get a chance to step up to the plate. To the credit of the M’s batters, they battled back against Detroit starter Nate Robertson, scratching across four runs on four hits- including two solo home runs by Adrian Beltre- as Robertson was unable to pitch through the sixth inning. And with R.A. Dickey pitching 5.1 scoreless innings in long relief, the M’s were actually able to make a game out of it. By keeping the Tigers from scoring for the rest of the game, the ten-run blowout was avoided. But still, as yesterday’s Win Probability graph indicates, the M’s were out of this one from the get go, probably wishing they could have a “do-over” as Rick Rizzs mused on-air. A negative .400 Win Probability from your starting pitcher equals to a long night for both the team and its fans…

I have no clue what the Mariners should do with Carlos Silva. It’s not as if Silva hasn’t stunk before, as his disastrous 2006 season (11-15 record, 5.94 ERA in 180 innings) resulted in a WARP (Win Above Replacement Pitcher) of just 1.4. Considering that Erik Bedard averages a WARP of 7.3 the last two seasons- and could conceivably sniff a 9.0 WARP by pitching half of his starts at Safeco- the result is Silva constantly canceling out any gains Bedard offers to the pitching staff.

The Mariners have certainly made their own bed by signing the long-term contract with Silva, and now they have a mes on their hands. If they continue to trot him out every fifth day, that means they pretty much are out of one-fifth of their remaining games for the rest of the year, if not for the next three years. For any degree of success, Silva would best be off pitching in as few high-leverage situations as possible. But $12 million per year is far too much to be paying for a garbage time pitcher.

Another option is to bust Silva back down to the minors and led him rebuild his confidence. But again, the heft of Silva’s contract prevents that option from being realized. And that is typically something you do with talented yet under performing prospects (see Roy Hallday and Edinson Volquez) not 29-year olds with seven years at the major league level.

The best course of action would be for SIlva to be banished to the bullpen Barry Zito-style. (Always in the need for perspective, just be glad that the M’s aren’t on the hook for that contract.) The question is, who would replace Silva in the rotation for a start or two, allowing Carlos to re-learn how to get people out in low-leverage situations? Management has all ready decided to not move Brandon Morrow into the starting rotation, at least not this year, preferring to allow Morrow to build arm strength and continue to improving his control. (That’s actually all right in my book, as I’ve read Morrow likened to be a poor man’s Joba Chamberlain.)

Despite Ryan Feierabend’s hot start at Triple-A Tacoma, the numbers posted by right handers against Ryan at the major league level last year (.366-.421-.640) actually makes for the argument to keep Silva in the rotation. Instead, the only member of the bullpen who has starting experience and could fill in for Silva for a start or two would be DIckey, who made a case for himself with his five effective innings last night and was quietly impressive in his only start so far this season, allowing just three first inning runs against the Angels as opposed to seven.

As I write this, the second game of the series has gotten underway, with the Tigers having two runners reach in the first against Felix Hernandez, who responded by striking out the side. With a match-up pitting Felix against Justin Verlander, today’s game could be decided in the late innings, in which case the M’s might- might, I say- have a chance.

Here’s a piece of weird news: With his two home runs last night, Adrian Beltre and his twelve home runs combines with Richie Sexson’s nine homers to tie David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez for the second most home runs hit by team mates with 21, second behind the 24 slugged by the White Sox’ Carlos Quentin, with his league-leading 14, and Jim Thome, who has ten homers on the year. And this comes with Richie batting and even .200 while missing time due to a five-game suspension and being benched in favor of Miguel Cairo, who may provide more contact but certainly offers no sense of a power threat.

One last bit of weird news: The Kansas City Royals are currently on a twelve-game losing streak, and still have a better record than the Mariners. Yes, it’s been that much of a lousy season for the M’s so far…

Three singles and a walk in the bottom of the first have led to a 2-0 lead over the Tigers’ Verlander. Woot!