Jason Simontacchi

2013

There was no outlook written for Jason Simontacchi.

2005

The Cardinals released Simontacchi after the 2004 season mostly because he couldn't repeat his deceptive 2002 season, when he allowed fewer hits than innings pitched for only the second time in his career. Simontacchi does throw strikes and walked just 19 batters between Triple-A and the majors in 2004. But his strikes are not difficult to hit, evidenced by his 118 hits allowed in 96-plus innings. Low strikeout totals aside, Simontacchi will get more chances to pitch in the majors, but to take advantage of them, he's got to find a pitch or two that hitters miss once in a while.

2004

A great data point in the argument against judging pitchers by wins, Simontacchi is 20-10 lifetime despite a 4.75 ERA and lousy peripherals. He'll last a while as staff filler; you can use jelly instead and be better off for it.

2003

A former minor-league journeyman, Simontacchi came on as a 28-year old rookie last season and was a huge factor in the Cardinals surviving the loss of Daryl Kile and injuries to Woody Williams and Garrett Stephenson. Simontacchi doesn’t walk a ton of guys (54 in 143 1/3 IP) but he doesn’t strike out very many (72), either. Between Simontacchi’s 54 walks and 134 hits allowed, he put up a fairly respectable WHIP of 1.31, which is roughly commensurate with his 4.02 ERA. Could he repeat his 11 wins and decent ratios? Maybe. But given the uncertain nature of pitching, and Simontacchi’s less than overwhelming stuff, we’d probably let someone else take that chance.