The backstory is known, and my concerns about his efficiency have been beaten to death, but let's quickly look simply at what BP's PECOTA says for Niemann.

• PECOTA doesn't seem to expect too much success from Niemann this year, or any year really. Think ERAs in the upper-4 range at best.
  
• Some of the notable comparables: John Patterson, Jeff Juden, Todd Van Poppel and on the opposite side Chris Carpenter, Chris Young, and Brett Myers.
• He's better against righties than the average right handed pitcher.