After tonight’s 13-1 drubbing by the Diamondbacks, the Giants have to be giving some serious consideration to dumping either Todd Wellemeyer or Brandon Medders. Both got blasted tonight.
Wellemeyer now has a 5.71 ERA, due mostly to his inability to throw strikes. He’s allowed 27 walks in 41 innings pitched.
Brandon Medders had a 3.86 ERA coming into tonight’s game and leaves it with a 7.20 ERA. The thing is he really hadn’t pitched as well as his pregame ERA indicated. His line is now 15 IP, 26 hits, three HRs, and six walks allowed and only eight Ks.
The obvious candidates to replace these two if the Giants decide to make a move are AAA right-handed pitchers Eric Hacker and Steve Edlefsen. Hacker is 27 and has been great as a starter for Fresno. After eight starts, he’s 7-1 with a 2.20 ERA and a line of 45 IP, 37 hits, zero HRs, and 12 walks allowed and 38 Ks. The walks rate really jumps out at you compared to Wellemeyer.
Edlefsen is 25 and now has a 1.57 ERA after 23 relief innings pitched with good ratios. He had a fine year last year as he shot through the Giants system, posting a 1.95 ERA in 49 appearances and 69.1 IP, pitching across three levels (A+, AA, and AAA).
Unfortunately, neither Edlefson nor Hacker is on the Giants’ 40-man roster, which means someone has to be taken off and potentially passed through waivers to free up space. My guess is that this means that Wellemeyer gets another couple of starts and Medders gets another couple of weeks before the Giants give up on them.
That will also give Hacker and Edlefsen a couple more weeks to show whether or not they’re really ready to be major league pitchers.
In the long term, Edlefsen is the better bet. Aside from being two years younger, he’s now 18-6 in his minor league career with a 2.50 ERA and good ratios. As you might have guessed from his last name, he’s originally from Minnesota.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com