John Patterson used to be considered the ace of the Nationals' staff. He really emerged in 2005, when the Nationals finished at .500, when he pitched 198.1 innings, posting an ERA of 3.13. Then he had injury plagued years in 2006 and 2007 where he pitched 40.2 and 31.1 Innings Pitched respectively. The Nationals released him for not performing as well as they hoped. He got 9 innings in and let up 7 runs so far this Spring, and they said they have other pitchers that are performing better this Spring.
That means that Patterson, former Ace, is without a home and I have a good feeling that there are some teams that might be looking at him for either a fifth spot in the rotation or someone in the minors to work his way back up to the majors. In my opinion, Patterson needs some time in the minors to get his reps in, to pitch a lot, and build up his stamina back and then go back to the majors.
He can put up good numbers such as:
0.94 WHIP vs the Mets last year.
3.00 ERA vs the Phils over 27 innings in 2005
1.84 ERA vs the Braves over 14.2 innings in 2005
The problem with looking at his stats is that they are from 2005 because his 06 and 07 campaigns were tainted. It should be very interesting to see what happens with Patterson over the next several days, I am sure someone over the next few days will look at him and possibly by the start of the season offer him a minor league deal.
To sum, his two main issues are his velocity and how his injuries hold up. Over at mlbtraderumors.com, there is a great entry that goes over all of his nerve injuries and normal pitcher injuries. He has had two nerve injuries over the past two seasons. The velocity is also an issue, which could be worked on with some minor league time.
