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October 11, 2011

LCS thoughts & theories 10/11

Bullpen battle taken by Texas

After Texas starter Derek Holland was pulled with two outs in the third inning of Monday's ALCS game two, Rangers manager Ron Washington had to put his bullpen into action way earlier than he ever would have anticipated. Then the game went into extra innings, and the Rangers relief corps remained nearly perfect.

Texas' bullpen threw 8.1 scoreless innings, and they were rewarded by Nelson Cruz's 11th-inning grand slam that gave the Rangers a 7-3 win over Detroit and a 2-0 series lead going back to the Motor City. The Tigers' bullpen was perfect before Ryan Perry imploded in the 11th, but the battle of the bullpens has been a huge reason why Texas has taken the first two games at home in Arlington.

 
	         IP	Record   ERA	WHIP	 K/9	   
Texas Bullpen	12.2	  2-0   0.00	0.65	11.8	   
Detroit Bullpen	 8.0	  0-1   4.50	1.00	 4.5	 

With the next games shifting over to Comerica Park, the Rangers relievers have a lot to live up to if they want to remain as close to flawless as possible. For the Tigers, the margin of error is close to none, which was proven with one swing of the bat Monday night.

Brewers starters unstable sans Gallardo

Milwaukee survived the NLDS against Arizona by winning all three of its home games, but the Cardinals offense has proven not as kind to the Brewers at Miller Park as the Diamondback hitters were.

Shaun Marcum allowed five runs in four innings in the Brewers' 12-3 loss to St. Louis in Game Two of the NLCS and continued the trend of Milwaukee starters not named Yovani Gallardo stumbling and faltering in the postseason. Zack Greinke struggled in the team's Game One win, and Randy Wolf was abysmal in the Division Series in Phoenix. Let's see how extreme the splits are between Gallardo and the rest of the Brewers rotation.

	                 IP	Record   ERA	WHIP	 K/9	   
Yovani Gallardo	        14.0	  1-0   1.29	0.92	9.00	   
MIL SP w/o Gallardo	18.2	  1-2   9.53	2.07	7.54	 

Gallardo can only pitch two more games in this League Championship Series, so Ron Roenicke will need at least one of his other starters to perform up to team standards and fulfill this team's rightfully lofty expectations.
Posted by: Shlomo Sprung

October 05, 2011

Verlander unavailable?

Detroit Tigers mananger Jim Leyland has made either the dumbest declaration ever or is completely full of it.

According to this story, "Leyland said Verlander won't even be available out of the 'pen" for ALDS Game Five in New York Thursday night.

This is absurd. Yes, Verlander threw 120 pitches on Monday, so he might be gassed right now. But this is a playoff elimination game. Every rule, every guideline—heck, every sense of rationality—has to be tossed aside if the game is on the line and Verlander can help.

Did Leyland watch Game Seven of the 2001 World Series, the game in which Randy Johnson came out of the bullpen the day after starting Game Six and got the save? Is Leyland plotting his rotation for an ALCS that his team might not reach? If so, he should be fired—now—and replaced with someone who will do whatever it takes to win Game Five.

The other, more palatable, option is that Leyland is blowing smoke and trying to get some small pyschological advantage. If so, he's wasting his time. Joe Girardi will have CC Sabathia ready just in case, so he's undoubtedly expecting Leyland to prep his own ace for the possibility of being pressed into duty.

Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill. But Leyland is, too, and for no good reason.
Posted by: Greg Simons

September 16, 2011

Revisiting the Napoli-Wells three-way trade

After Rangers catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli collected two more hits to raise his average to .312, it brought me back to what turned out to be a relatively lopsided three-way trade.

The original purpose of the deal was for Toronto to get rid of Vernon Wells' contract, sending him to the Angels for Napoli and Juan Rivera, who was later designated for assignment and shipped to the Dodgers. With J.P. Arencibia seen as their future at catcher, the Blue Jays sent Napoli to the Rangers for Frank Francisco, who turned out to be the Jays' closer for a decent stretch this season.

I thought it would be a good idea to revisit the players in this trade, which was really two separate deals, with a nifty comparison graphic.

 
	                PA	 Slash Line	HR	RBI	 R	 WAR	   
Mike Napoli, Rangers	392	.312/.411/.613	26	67	67	 5.0	   
Vernon Wells, Angels	478	.218/.251/.399	21	56	56	-0.3	   
Juan Rivera, TOR/LAD	473	.260/.321/.381	9	62	40	 0.7	 

 
                              Innings 	Record/ERA/SV   WHIP    K/9	WAR	   
Frank Francisco, Blue Jays	47.2	1-4, 3.78, 15	1.36	9.44	0.7		 

Despite Wells having $86 million left on his contract at the time of the trade and Anaheim being left to start a light-hitting, defensive-minded catcher in Jeff Mathis, the Angels decided it would be best to acquire Wells and deal the power-hitting Napoli, coming off a 26-home run season, to the Blue Jays. Having led baseball in team home runs the season before, it was understandable that Toronto would trade Napoli to Texas for some relief help.

But the clear, obvious winners in the trade were the Rangers. Napoli has given them yet another power-hitting addition to their scary-potent offense, while Wells has proven that he will be a past-his-prime toxic contract for the Angels for years to come. Who would have thought that trading Napoli to Toronto would have drastically changed the landscape of the AL West race?
Posted by: Shlomo Sprung

July 30, 2011

Surging Sergio

Don't look now, but San Francisco reliever Sergio Romo is putting together one of those relief-specialist seasons that just blow one's mind. Let's put it this way: Romo's going to have one hellacious Strat-o-Matic card this year.

As of this morning, Romo is sporting a 1.78 ERA, but that isn't his best stat. Not by a long shot. In 35.1 innings, Romo has allowed 19 hits. And four walks. And he has 51 strikeouts.

Yes, you read that right.
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Posted by: Steve Treder

September 09, 2010

Trevor Hoffman versus Arthur Rhodes

On Sept. 7, Trevor Hoffman closed out the St. Louis Cardinals for his 600th career save. Some feel the achievement makes Hoffman a lock for the Hall of Fame and sets a mark for career saves that will fall only when the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera, makes an appearance sometime in early 2012 for his 601st.

We shouldn't fault Hoffman if he finds himself second to Rivera in a few years, because Rivera is easily in the Hall and Hoffman would still be at least 122 saves ahead of Lee Smith, who has his own Hall of Fame supporters.

While Hoffman's achievement is truly notable, the save itself is of increasing importance in baseball. Saves were initially conceived as a way to recognize good relievers, but I'd argue that they've gone on to have a tremendous impact on fantasy baseball. Saves are a roto category filled with players who contribute little else statistically and are reliant on their real team leading lots of games by three runs or fewer going into the ninth inning, just to provide opportunities to post the one stat that helps your fantasy team.

But that's just fantasy baseball. Smarter people with an eye for the bigger picture, like Joe Posnanski, argue convincingly that the save statistic has changed how managers manage the game on the field. The save has also changed how general managers pay relievers. Those with a history of piling up saves make far more money than other relievers with similar skills, simply by occupying a certain role in the bullpen.

Hoffman's historic endgame total had me wondering about another controversial reliever statistic. What about the hold? Are there any looming landmark totals possible with that one? As it turns out, there is one on the horizon.
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Posted by: David Wade


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