Jerad Eickhoff, considered a future back-end pitcher in the Rangers organization, almost immediately took his game to a new level and ended up being the Phillies best pitcher last year.  That is to say, he provided more value to the Phillies in the second half than Cole Hamels did in the first half.  Yikes.  Of course, Nick Martinez was in Cy Young discussions for the first half of 2015 for maintaining an ERA closer to .5 than 1.00.  Then the rest of the year happened, and he finished his season struggling at AAA Round Rock.

And today, Justin Klugh explorers the Matt Harrison question.  Harry was one of the good guys for the Rangers; a legitimate left-handed starter with some decent upside.  A guy who, in his best year, was something like what the Rangers keep hoping Derek Holland and Martin Perez will be.  Then we found out his back was made of papier-mache, and he missed two years.  He did pitch three games this past year, before being sat for rest and subsequently traded for salary relief.  He went on  the Disabled List as soon as the trade was completed; the diagnosis was back tightness.  Philadelphia has encouraged Harrison, and recently put him on the 40-man roster, but other moves made by the club seem to indicate no room for the 30-year old in 2016.

The big question with Harrison is whether he'll ever actually be able to pitch regularly again.  The second biggest question is whether he'll ever be able to pitch at a level that would keep him on a major league roster again.  His three performances after coming off of the DL were not terribly promising.  Texas allegedly explored asking Harrison to extend his rehab program in the minor leagues, but it's not clear if Texas, Harrison, the Players Union or Harrison's agent nixed the deal.  He probably needs a full season of healthy pitching at AA or AAA before returning to a roster, but as long as he has a big league contract (through 2017 with a buyout in 2018 ) I can't see that happening.

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