Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

[Trot Nixon]

I'm talking about Daniel Cabrera, this guy has the stuff to be a superstar but can't throw the ball over the plate to save his life. He's been somewhat impressive in his last 2 games since coming off the DL...

11 innings, 8 hits, 0 er, 14k's and 11 bb!!!!!

Not bad at all but one stat sticks out like a sore thumb and thats his walks! Do you guys think that there is any hope with this kid finding the strike zone this year, I mean he only had an average of 89 bb's the last two years in about 150 innings pitched (not great but better than this year), but he has almost reached that total this year in only limited innings.

Is this year's wildness a sign of things to come or somewhat of a fluke?

[J.C.Fighter]

he's like a poor man's Carlos Zambrano

[Half Massed]

My guess is that Mazzone is trying some new things with him and he's having trouble adjusting. If he can adjust, he could be very good, but if he can't...

[acsguitar]

I think the kid is pretty new to baseball all in all. Give him 5 years and he could be really dominant

[Iconoclastic]

he's like a skinny man's Carlos Zambrano

[GotowarMissAgnes]

I think the kid is pretty new to baseball all in all. Give him 5 years and he could be really dominant

...or he could be washed up 30 year old.

As an O's fan I want nothing more than for Cabrera to turn into an ace. But, let's be realistic. He's 25 years old. He's pitched close to 700 professional innings. Here's a list of pitchers 25 and younger already in the majors: Papelbon, JJohnson, Liriano, Reyes, Zumaya, CZambrano, Verlander, Kazmir, Myers, Jannssen, Francis, Harden, Duke, Bonderman, Santana, Willis, FHernandez, Peavy. Would Cabrera even be among the top 15 in that list? Add in the guys in the minors, and I think you can make a good case that Cabrera doesn't crack the top 25 pitchers in professional baseball under age 25.

Look at his comps. He's got about a 10 percent chance of turning into an ace. He's got about a 25 percent of turning into a decent 2-4 guy. And he's got about a 60-70 percent of continuing to be more likely to hit the mascot than the catcher's mitt.

There are plenty of better bets than Cabrera.

[tomdoyle3]

Yea he'll get lucky once in a while (with men on base) and turn in a good outing despite the walks. But until he lowers the walks (i've given up on this year) I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole.

[rlee]

I don't remember specifics, but Sandy Koufax was like Cabrera his first sveral years with the Dodgers. Then all of a sudden, something clicked and as Paul Harvey would say, the rest is history.

So, yes there is a chance.

[GotowarMissAgnes]

Like I said...there's a 10 percent chance he could do that, though the Koufax comparison is a stretch. By age 25 Koufax was in his 7th MLB season (this is Cabrera's third) and 4 of Koufax's first 6 seasons he had an ERA below league average adjusted for park (Cabrera's never had one below league average).

Randy Johnson's probably the closest thing I've seen to Cabrera in terms of talent/wildness in my lifetime. But what we forget in making those comparisons to Koufax or RJ are the dozens of other guys that never harnessed that wildness and ended up a washed up 30 year old.

[tomdoyle3]

It's almost impossible to tell what he'll end up being a few years from now. A lot of it has to do with his mental makeup, and how much desire he has to manage his control.

Atleast he has one of the best pitching coaches ever on his side.