Cards trade for Mike Maroth

Hey Look! A timely post! WOW!

Just saw the story on ESPN. Viva El Birdos has also commented on it, as well as supplied a link to the SB nation Tigers page.

Maroth was a member of my fantasy team this year. I took him immediately after we completed our draft mostly because I did a crappy job of drafting pitching, but he actually was a solid guy for me. He had 3 wins when my other 8 pitchers combined had 3 wins. I eventually released him because his ERA was over 5.00 and I had obtained some better pitching (CC Sabathia, Fausto Carmona) to replace him.

Maroth is a gamer. He pitched in a Sunday night game on ESPN against Carmona and went 8, giving up 5 ER. This was after he gave up 4 of those runs in the first before he got the second out. Maroth righted himself and pitched very well against the potent Indian lineup. This start was especially noteworthy because the Tiger bullpen had been mauled over the previous 2 games and Leyland really needed his starter to get deep into the game. Maroth did. I like that kind of toughness in my pitchers.

Mike's a stop gap for a rotation in disarray. He's a lefty coming off arm surgery, his fastball tops out at 81 MPH, and he nibbles now (which is why his walks per 9 inn is up this year). That said, he's CERTAINLY a better option in the rotation than F-in Wells. Or Tomo Ohka. And I'd expect he'll get a shot to stick in the rotation as Mulder and (hopefully) Carpenter come back off the DL.

So, Welcome Mike Maroth. Good luck, and keep the ball down.