***World Champion Red Sox Offseason Thread***

[Scary_Tiger]

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i have been refusing to jump on the santana bandwagon because he has thrown a lot lot lot of innings and he seemed to decline last year for no particular reason.

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I certainly think it's mostly variance. The guy is just sick, he had a higher ERA this year, but there's no indication that it wasn't variance.

2004 228 IP 156 H 24 HR 54 BB 265 SO
2005 232 IP 180 H 22 HR 45 BB 238 SO
2006 234 IP 186 H 24 HR 47 BB 245 SO
2007 219 IP 183 H 33 HR 52 BB 235 SO

The guy is a great hit preventer, won the gold glove in 2007 so is probably a decent fielder, averaged 225 innings a year, 9.7 K/9 and 4.9 K/BB are really sick. He gives up some homeruns, but a 1 HR/9 is respectable and his HR numbers only look a little high because he throws so many innings. For an idea of what HR/9 looks like, 2006 Josh Beckett was a 1.6 whereas 2007 Josh Beckett was a .77. Santana has also averaged 33.5 starts since he became a starter.