Wait, news?

Yes, indeed! Something is rumored to be shaking down in Dbacksville, and though it may be a little late for the Christmas season, looks like they’re finally going to be putting up some Garland.

Yes, rumor has it that, pending a physical, the Diamondbacks have signed Jon Garland to a one year contract. You most likely recall Garland from when the White Sox won the World Series, an- No, I’m serious. The White Sox actually won the World Series. In 2005. You don’t remember that? Okay, I hardly do, either, and I’ve got a DVD about it. Unless it’s a fake. No, Wikipedia says it happened. Huh.

Anyway, last year Garland pitched for the Angels, putting up a 14-8 record with a 4.90 ERA. Okay, the win-loss is good, but that ERA is kind of wince-inducing. Hopefully we’ll see that drop a bit when he’s facing a league that doesn’t have the DH, and batters who haven’t ever faced him before. One of his key advantages, really, is that he pitched 196.2 innings last season. With Garland aboard, the Diamondbacks now have three of the top forty pitchers, by innings pitched, from last season. Toss in Doug Davis’s usual performance, when he isn’t taking time off to deal with cancer, and it looks like we’ll have a starting rotation that’s going to eat a lot of innings. With the uncertainty with the bullpen last year, that’ll be a bit of a relief, and that will also help us give Max Scherzer a little more cushion as he makes his way to the starting rotation.

Now, according to Jon Heyman, Garland is going to be making $6.25 million this year, with a mutual option for next year. Now, $6.25 million? For a starting pitcher? Okay, that’s fine and all, if he can perform an- wait a minute, how much did we offer Randy Johnson for a contract? And his ERA last year was a whole point better than Garland’s? That seems a little questionable to me. Of course, Garland is 29 years old, so there’s less worry about him missing games with injury, but I still sort of wish we had Randy on the roster. Especially if we’re going to be competing with the Giants next year. Really, they look like they’re going to be a factor.

One thing interesting about Garland is that he made $12 million last year, and declined arbitration. A lot of players who turned down offers of arbitration are probably going to be signing for a lot less than they would have made if they’d accepted this year, and I’m sure that a lot of front offices are breathing a deep sigh of relief over that fact…

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