Manager Scorecard Post Script

Dave Martindale sent an e-mail in response to my last article, in which I wondered why Ken Macha issues so many intentional walks, given his great pitching staff. Dave replied:

The answer is because while Macha’s starters are very good, his bullpen is a joke. Through Sunday June 6, A’s starters had issued a combined 8 IBBs, with the “Big Three” issuing only 3 (Zito 2, Hudson 1, Mulder 0). The bullpen has issued 13.

Which is a great point. And it also made me curious about all major league managers, and whether they’re more likely to intentionally walk a batter with their starters or relievers on the mound. So here’s a table of all 30 major league teams, with the number of intentional walks per 100 innings pitched for their starters (100% of games are games started), relievers (no games started) and swingmen (have both started and relieved):

Team            Starter  Relievers Swingmen  Total
Colorado            6.8      7.9     12.5     7.5
Arizona             3.1     14.7      3.6     7.2
Pittsburgh          4.6      7.8       -      5.8
Philadelphia        4.3      6.5       -      5.1
Montreal            3.1      7.2     13.1     5.0
Atlanta             3.9      5.6       -      4.4
Florida             5.1      5.0      0.0     4.3
Cleveland           0.8      9.6      5.2     4.3
Houston             1.0     10.1      3.8     4.2
Toronto             1.5     10.4      0.0     4.2
New York Mets       3.0      5.7      4.0     4.0
Cincinnati          3.2      5.7      3.2     4.0
Oakland             1.9      9.2       -      3.9
Chicago Cubs        2.2      6.3      2.6     3.4
Baltimore           1.3      7.2      0.0     3.2
Detroit             1.8      5.8      1.8     3.0
Tampa Bay           0.7      7.2      0.6     3.0
New York Yankees    0.0      9.5      0.0     2.9
Kansas City         3.0      4.9      1.3     2.8
San Diego           1.6      4.3      2.6     2.6
St Louis            1.4      5.4       -      2.5
San Francisco       1.9      3.4      5.2     2.5
Los Angeles         1.5      4.4      2.4     2.5
Minnesota           1.8      3.3      2.2     2.3
Milwaukee           1.1      3.2      2.5     2.2
Anaheim             1.5      2.7      3.4     2.2
Boston              0.4      5.2      1.7     2.2
Seattle             0.3      5.4      0.0     2.0
Chicago White Sox   0.6      4.8      0.0     1.6
Texas               0.0      2.1      0.0     0.6

Total               2.2      6.4      2.4     3.5

In all, relievers are three times more likely than starters to have issued intentional walks, which makes a lot of sense. And Ken Macha does display a big differential between the two (1.9/9.2), but not the biggest. The Yankees, Houston, Toronto and Cleveland all have bigger differentials.

On the other hand, Clint Hurdle and Jack McKeon show no real difference between starters and relievers. They just like to walk batters!

Walt Davis sent an e-mail, suggesting that I include pitching changes in the chart. Which is another great idea. So here’s a repeat of Monday’s table, with number of pitching changes per game added to the total number of moves.

Here’s the American League:

Team    Manager      SBA  SacA   IBB  PChngs Total  Games  Ratio
CLE     Wedge         49    15    21     149   234     51   4.59
BAL     Mazilli       64    15    14     136   229     50   4.58
DET     Trammell      55    21    15     148   239     53   4.51
MIN     Gardenhire    55    12    11     156   234     53   4.42
TBD     Piniella      67     9    13     131   220     52   4.23
KC      Pena          36    13    13     144   206     51   4.04
SEA     Melvin        40    15    10     144   209     52   4.02
TOR     Tosca         26    12    19     156   213     54   3.94
CHW     Guillen       46    22     7     124   199     51   3.90
ANA     Scioscia      58    17     9     116   200     53   3.77
NYY     Torre         33    12    13     137   195     52   3.75
TEX     Showalter     40    11     2     137   190     51   3.73
BOS     Francona      33     4    11     140   188     53   3.55
OAK     Macha         25     6    20     119   170     52   3.27

AL      Average       45    13    13     138   209     52   4.02

Like stolen bases, pitching changes may be dictated more by the quality of the players than the manager’s inherent tendencies. But it is interesting to see the spread between Macha and Scioscia on the bottom, and Gardenhire and Tosca on the top.

And the National …

Team    Manager     SBA   SacA   IBB  PChngs  Total   Games   Ratio
PIT     McClendon    42     33    27     157    259      50    5.18
COL     Hurdle       28     29    31     164    252      52    4.85
STL     LaRussa      60     27    13     155    255      53    4.81
SFG     Alou         20     28    11     191    250      53    4.72
HOU     Williams     28     41    20     155    244      52    4.69
ARI     Brenly       33     20    32     168    253      54    4.69
MIL     Yost         52     22    11     149    234      51    4.59
NYM     Howe         38     22    20     161    241      53    4.55
MON     Robinson     45     30    23     131    229      52    4.40
FLO     McKeon       50     23    22     142    237      54    4.39
LAD     Tracy        45     20    12     146    223      51    4.37
CIN     Miley        30     20    19     157    226      53    4.26
PHI     Bowa         39     22    25     135    221      52    4.25
CHC     Baker        25     27    17     149    218      52    4.19
ATL     Cox          30     23    22     139    214      53    4.04
SDP     Bochy        29     19    11     150    209      53    3.94

NL      Average      37     25    20     153    235      52    4.49

Wow. Felipe Alou has gone to his bullpen an awful lot. The Giants’ bullpen has the second-worst ERA among all National League teams, too. On the other hand, Frank Robinson, who seems to take an active stance in many categories, has stuck with his starters the most. Makes sense, given the relative quality of his starters and bullpen.

That’s the lastest on major league managers. We’ll revisit these stats later in the year.