(Shairon Martis got two pies to the face following his first MLB win in September '08. Screengrab via MASNSports.com)
Shairon Martis DFA'd to make room for Hairston.
A little trip down memory lane seems to be in order, don't you think?
Here's a link to video of Martis' postgame interview with MASN's Debbie Taylor after his first win on September 24, 2008: Martis got double shaving cream pies to the face courtesy of Wil Nieves and Collin Balester.
Here's a quote from old friend Jim Bowden who traded away elderly Mike Stanton in July 2006 to the Giants for a then 19-year-old Martis:
"I think it's safe to say that any time we have an opportunity to improve our chances of winning in the long haul for Washington, we'll probably go forward on those type of deals, especially when it comes to pitching. Anything that we think is going to help us in the long term, we're going to go in that direction."
(Jim Bowden, via Washington Times, 7/29/2006)
And here's a quote from then-interim GM Mike Rizzo about Martis around the time the Nats broke camp in 2009 with Martis winning the #4 slot in the starting rotation after a surprising spring:
"He doesn't knock your eyes out with the radar gun. He's a sinker-slider pitcher. He's a command guy. And he's a poise guy beyond his years. And he's a 22-year-old pitcher that doesn't throw 95 mph. He gets you out by commanding four quadrants of the plate with three pitches, and those aren't the guys who really are the sexy type of prospect. So I think that's the reason why he was under the radar."
(Mike Rizzo, via Washington Post, 3/28/2009)
For a little while there in 2009, Bowden looked pretty smart for the '06 deal. On May 13, 2009, Martis ran his record to 5-0 (!?) on the same day Ryan Zimmerman's hitting streak ended at 30 games. But then the wheels came off the Shairon Martis express. Seven or eight bad starts later, Martis was banished to Syracuse for good.
So, Nats need to clear 2 more spaces on the 40-man roster to make room for Gorzelanny and Coffey. So who's next?
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