Shoeless Joe League East division rivals Washington and Philadelphia both added veteran starting pitchers to their rotations in the past few days, and opinions on the wisdom of these moves are varied.
In Aaron McNally the Washington Night Train signed a sure future Hall of Famer. But the last truly great season the 35-year old right-hander had was back in 1979, in his last season with his original club, Brooklyn. Since then he's had a few above average seasons (particularly 1981, his second season with Detroit) but also some pretty forgettable seasons- or seasons he would like to forget. In his one season this past year with Philly, McNally went 8-17 with a 4.90 ERA. Very un-Aaron McNally like numbers. On the other hand, he still has some skills even though his stuff is pretty average at this stage of his career. His movement remains elite, his control above average, his 4-pitch mix doesn't have any total dud offerings in it and his forkball is still plus plus. His stamina is good and he hasn't shown any significant injury-proneness. Washington is clearly hoping he can capture just a bit of his previous magic before his illustrious career comes to an end.
Replacing McNally in the Philly rotation is 30-year old Matt Jenkins. While Jenkins isn't anything like Hall of Fame caliber, he has had some impressive seasons, including going 21-8 with a 2.98 ERA just two seasons ago in Portland. Ironically, Jenkins pitched for Washington last season, so basically he and McNally just swapped places. Jenkins wasn't horrible for the Night Train, going 14-9 with a 4.08 ERA but he does profile as injury prone. And he has a reputation for dogging it, having a poor work ethic. Nothing about the left-handers pitching profile really stands out but with six pitches in his repertoire (two of them- a circle change and a traditional changeup- pretty elite) if he can stay healthy he should at least have a chance to usually keep his team in games. He slots in tied with Justin Banks in the top 10 in salary for next season and the likelihood of him still being worth over a million dollars a season at the end of this contract aren't good. But it might end up being a good deal for Philly for at least a few seasons. (McNally's 3-year deal in Washington is much more modest, especially for a guy who was once the highest paid player in the game.)
