There’s seem to be a lot of blogubation (is that a word?) recently over one Ervin Santana. Matt Hurst from the PE unleashes a personal attack, the infamous bat boy responds with a strawman rejoinder discussing Ervin and how nice he is to other bat boys so obviously not everyone “hates” him, and even the esteemed proprietor of this blog has chimed in.
But what I find interesting is, most of these articles focus on Ervin the person, and not really Ervin the ballplayer. Who is the real Ervin Santana? The pitcher who stepped in during Game 5 of the 05 series vs. the Yanks when Colon went down? The pitcher who threw a masterful complete game shutout during his second big league start after getting shelled on his debut in Cleveland? The pitcher who dominated the Red Sox just a few short weeks ago? Or, is it the seeming head case who gives up 5 runs in a 1/3 of an inning in his biggest start of the year, or can’t appear to pitch on the road?
Truthfully, I don’t know that answer, nobody does. For every alarming stat (like his career road numbers) you also have the fact that he won 16 games as a 23 yr. old and at 24 is still just a relative pup with an amazing repertoire.
Regardless, the time to discuss Ervin is during the offseason (and yes, I’m aware of the irony in me stating this…in a post dedicated to Ervin). His 07 campaign is pretty much done with the exception of some possible mop up work or maybe a meaningless start in September when the AL West title is beyond doubt. The Angels have some hard decisions to make regarding Ervin. Do they sell low during the offseason? Do they send him off to winterball to get his head back together, bringing him to spring training with the hope he can take up a rotation spot and start to live up to his potential, risking he continues to regress in 08?
These are all tough questions, and questions that will be addressed when the 07 campaign is over. I’m sure without Erstad to kick around anymore GA, Ervin, and TRAAAAAAADES will rate 1-2-3 in the beaten horse countdown during the offseason. Any discussion that occurs now, when the reality is he’s lost his job and won’t be counted on for any significant role the remainder of the year, is really nothing more than blogubation.
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