The Oakland Athletics have re-signed starting pitcher Justin Duchscherer to a one-year, $2M deal with incentives that could bring the total up to $5.5M for 2010. Duchscherer is a 7-year major league veteran who has been with the A’s since 2003. He missed all of the 2009 season recovering from shoulder and back injuries and battling clinical depression.
During his time with Oakland Duchscherer has proved to be effective both as a starter and as a reliever. From 2004-2006 he was among the best setup men in the game before becoming a full-time starting pitcher in 2008. He won 10 games that season and posted a 2.54 ERA in 22 starts, numbers the A’s hoped would carry over into 2009 as they searched for a leader in their young rotation.
Duchscherer would instead miss all of 2009 with injuries and eventually a professionally diagnosed case of clinical depression. He decided to make this diagnosis public in an attempt to aid his recovery and serve as an example to other professional athletes suffering from depression. Duchscherer may have felt some loyalty to the A’s for allowing him the time he needed to recover, because I think he may have been able to get a bit more from another team.
This is a gamble, for both the A’s and for Duchscherer. The A’s are gambling that they’ll get a pitcher capable of staying healthy and leading their staff of young starters. Duchscherer is gambling that he will remain both physically and mentally healthy enough to get a longer term deal next offseason.
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