Just about 1/8 of the way through the season and the Padres are sitting in third place, 3 games under .500 and 6.5 games out of first. The slow start isn't helped by the Diamondbacks tear through the first 20 games, picking up 15 wins along the way.
Meanwhile, the Padres bullpen has been failing to live up to expectations. The bullpen ERA for the Pads this year is 5.54, a far cry from previous years. Leading the charge for bad innings is Joe Thatcher. In 9.2 innings he has given up 15 hits, 5 BB, and 11 runs, resulting in a whopping 10.24 ERA.
Following last years trade of the Padres setup man, and the guy everyone expected to follow up as the closer when/if Trevor ever hung up his cleats, most Padre fans couldn't believe that we had gotten so little for a guy that had been a pretty steady pitcher. Joe Thatcher was the closest of the three minor leaguers to making the big show, along with Steve Garrison and Wil Inman.
Then Thatcher came out and threw some great innings at the end of the year and looked like another diamond in the rough that Kevin Towers had dug up. Maybe these other two guys would bolster our lineup some day too. KT has built so many amazing bullpens through no less than amazing scouting.
This one doesn't look to be shaping up too well. My question for you, is this: Was this a bad trade or is Thatcher just having a slow start?
After giving up 5 runs in his first 2 innings of work on the year, he settled down and allowed only 1 run in his next 6. That is what most of us expected from him. After last night, his second bad outing a row, he is starting to look less like a slow starter and more like an inconsistent reliever.
The last two outings, at least, were against very hot teams. The Dbacks and Astros have both been hitting the ball well.
Last year he finished his first stint in the majors with a 1.29 ERA in 22 outings. He inherited 20 runners and allowed a meager 4 to score. He held opponents to a .167 average and allowed only one HR in 21 innings. This means he has a high ceiling and it is far from time to give up on him, but lets hope hitters haven't figured him out and that his best is yet to come.
