Oh, Ed. Just when we thought you were going to sit on your hands and do nothing during the early days of the hot stove season, you make a savvy, depth-conscious signing by bringing former San Francisco Giant Ryan Sadowski into the fold.
You may remember Sadowski from such games as the July 3rd, 13-0 beatdown where Sadowski pitched seven shutout innings against our boys. So I guess, if you can beat them....join...them? We'll assume that's what went through Sadowski's head this morning.
After being drafted by the Giants in 2003, "The Big Sadowski" (and yes, that nickname will stick around these parts) hung around in the minors for six seasons before getting called up last season to take the place of injured starter Jonathan Sanchez. Sadowski had mixed results in his six big league starts, finishing the season with a 4.45 ERA and a 17/17 K/BB ratio.
Without having a ton of information to go off of, the knocks against Sadowski appear to be a lack of control, and a mediocre repertoire of pitches. CHONE recently released their 2010 pitcher projections, and their outlook for Mr. Sadowski is as a reliever, but is fairly optimistic:
| IP | R | BB | K | ERA |
| 53 | 28 | 26 | 44 | 4.42 |
Not going to wow you, but could be a useful arm to have around come spring training. With Wesley Wright, Felipe Paulino and Wilton Lopez expected to compete for the fifth starter's slot, Sadowksi should have an opportunity as well. If he can't beat one of them out, it's not as if the starting rotation in Round Rock is overflowing with talent, so he will be ready if and when he is needed.
Not quite the big move we were hoping for at this point in the offseason, but this is the sort of under the radar acquisition that may end up paying fairly large dividends in the upcoming season.