Felix Doubront Is Not The Veteran Oakland Athletics’ Need In Their Rotation
Currently, the majority of the Oakland Athletics’ starting rotation is on the disabled list. However, as the team looks toward the 2016 season, it seems as though their rotation is going to be full of young arms including pitchers like Chris Bassitt, Kendall Graveman, and Jesse Hahn. With so many inexperienced pitchers taking the mound, many have been wondering if it would be a good idea for the Athletics to add a veteran starter to the mix in order to help mentor all of these young pitchers.
Just like how Barry Zito provided advice and help with some of the Minor League starters this season, a starting pitcher with numerous years under his belt would be beneficial for the A’s rotation in 2016. However, Oakland is not going to be able to acquire a big name pitcher because they do not have the payroll to support that type of contract and they are not very willing to trade anyone from their now quite deep and successful farm system. The Athletics will likely have to look for a diamond in the rough or a relatively unknown yet consistent starter to join their ranks.
Could Oakland solve this problem easily by re-signing Felix Doubront for next year? Doubront was traded to the Athletics 30 minutes because the July 31 deadline hit this season. He came from the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately, this would not be a viable option.
Doubront may have been successful in the past and won a World Series Championship with the Boston Red Sox in 2013, but his performances over the past few years have been lackluster. Even when he did pitch in the postseason for the Red Sox, it was as a reliever since Boston did not consider him their strongest starter. Doubront was never a No. 1 or No. 2 starter anyways. He always was a back end of the rotation kind of guy and has struggled with consistency for the majority of his career.
This season was not much different from last couple of years for Doubront. While with the Athletics, Doubront has accumulated a 5.81 ERA over 52.2 innings pitched. He has allowed nine home runs in that time and has walked 21 players. Even though the A’s have given him much more of an opportunity than the Blue Jays did this season, he has still not shown any promise of future potential.
Doubront is currently only signed to a Minor League contract that will expire after this season. The Oakland Athletics should not look to re-sign him unless they feel as though they need a backup starter in case the rest of the rotation is not quite healthy yet. Doubront is just not the veteran starting pitcher the A’s need in their rotation for next season.
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