Random stuff
I think I need to post before Derek completely takes over and we have to rename this thing U.S.S. Zumsteg. So, here’s a collection of random Mariner-related statistical quirks.
In the past 36 games, Ichiro has 73 hits. Dan Wilson has 66 hits all year.
Speaking of Dan Wilson:
Wilson, since the all-star break: .162/.234/.191
National League pitchers in 2004: .146/.160/.189
The only difference between Dan Wilson at the plate and the average pitcher is Wilson occasionally gets walked.
While we’re talking about catchers, Miguel Olivo is hitting .227/.288/.445 and has 40 strikeouts in 128 at-bats since coming over in the Garcia trade. Justin Leone hit .216/.298/.441 and had 32 strikeouts in 102 at-bats before he broke his wrist. You never hear anyone say that Olivo is a 4-A hitter, do you?
Let’s drive one final nail into the “Willie Bloomquist will hit better with regular playing time” myth, shall we? Before the all-star break, as a utility player, he hit .250/.288/.316. Since the break, as a semi-regular, he’s hit .232/.269/.313.
For as much as we talk about Ichiro being a streak hitter, how about Randy Winn? His OPS by month this year: .603, .676, .863, .971, .788, .648. This isn’t a new thing, either. Last year: .664, .829, .479(!), .957, .770, .871.
Last offseason, four corner outfielders signed the exact same contract, 2 years for $6 million; Jose Cruz Jr, Reggie Sanders, Rondell White, and Jose Guillen. They all signed after Raul Ibanez “set the market” with his deal. Using VORP rather than raw stats to give Ibanez the bump for hitting in Safeco, here are the five side by side:
Guillen: 39.1
White: 23.4
Sanders: 21.6
Cruz: 15.4
Ibanez: 14.1
Hmm, I should find a positive one to wrap this up on. Okay, here we go. Bobby Madritsch has allowed 3 HR in his first 60 major league innings, which would put him on pace to allow 10 homers in a full 200 inning season. That’s just an absurd rate of keeping the ball in the park. If we look at it by home runs allowed per batter faced, Madritsch’s performance so far is about as good as it gets. He’s allowing 1 HR every 80 batters he faced. How good is that? Here’s a list of the best starting pitchers at keeping the ball in the park this year (minimum 100 innings).
1. Tim Hudson: 1 HR every 159.8 batters
2. Kris Benson: 1 HR every 80.6 batters
3. Jaret Wright: 1 HR every 77.0 batters
4. Carlos Zambrano: 1 HR every 62.1 batters
5. Carl Pavano: 1 HR every 59.0 batters
If Madritsch qualified, he’d rank third in the majors by this metric. And this list is dominated by awesome pitchers. Obviously, the above five are all having terrific years. The top 20 includes names like Roy Oswalt, Freddy Garcia, Jake Peavy, Tom Glavine, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Brad Penny, and A.J. Burnett. There’s a few headscratchers (Jeff Fassero, one every 55.1 while pitching in Coors? Seriously?), but by in large, if you keep the ball in the park at the rate that Madritsch is, you’re probably pitching like an all-star. Also, Tim Hudson’s performance this year has been other worldly. He’s giving up half as many homers as the next best guy.
Oh, and if you want a comparison to the rest of the M’s staff, it’s not quite as pretty.
Moyer: 1 HR every 19.4 battters (worst in majors)
Franklin: 1 HR every 25.2 batters
Meche: 1 HR every 26.4 batters
Pineiro: 1 HR every 28.4 batters
Madritsch only gave up 3 HR’s in 62 innings for Tacoma, so this has the makings of more than a good run. If he can keep the ball in the park consistently, he’s going to have a great deal of success.
Comments
18 Responses to “Random stuff”
What’s scary is Madritsch could end up being the pitcher with the most wins for the M’s if Jamie doesn’t win one before the end of the year.
How scary is having a 5-man staff that makes 162 starts in 2003…and doesn’t have anyone win 7 games as a Mariner in 2004?
First comment on here, love the site…
It is really scary to think about how bad the pitching has looked in the entire organization. Blackley and Nageotte didn’t show anything and they were the guys management seemed to be banking on. It’s pretty bad when the guys to get excited about are an independent signing, a converted catcher throwing a knuckleball and a 19 year-old. Not that Felix Hernandez isn’t an interesting pitcher, it just looks like his chance may come too early, something that seems to have been devastating for some of these guys.
By the way, I love watching Bobby Madritsch. I worked for the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings when we signed him giving him his first shot since being out for over a year. You could see even then that he was a special pitcher. Of course I thought he was special in a maybe get signed and pitch in Double-A and get released and come back to dominate in our league kind of way.
I keep having this recurring dream that bobby madritsch is 23 years old. Its not fair.
seeing bobby play so well and kick our rotations butt makes me think
we need two starting pitchers.
So without signings, next year our rotation looks like:
Moyer
Pineiro
Madritsch
Franklin?
Meche/Nageotte/Blackley?
Neither Nageotte or Blackley are likely to get a serious look at a major league job in spring training. There is still a very real chance that Blackley will have surgery and miss all of the 2005 season.
The Mariners will sign a starting pitcher this offseason. If I had to speculate, based on conversations I’ve had with folks in the front office, I’d say the M’s will win the Matt Clement sweepstakes unless someone decides to offer him 5 years. Despite the M’s reputation for being unwilling to offer big contracts, the M’s were the highest bidder on Jason Schmidt in 2002, offering a 4 year, $34 million deal that Schmidt eventually turned down because he loved San Francisco. I’d expect the M’s to be willing to be the highest bidder on Clement for up to a 4 year deal.
As long as the soccer moms don’t resort to wearing fake goatees, then I won’t have a problem with the M’s signing Matt Clement.
I’m just mild about Clement [no, that wasn’t a type]. an average [#2-3 starter type. I like Radke more, but he’s getting a little long in the tooth. Pavano is better, but his injury history and him probably being targeted by the Yankees this winter make him less desirable.
Now they put sherrill dowm for the year give randy williams a shot ???WHY NOT HE EARNED IT!!!!
god…… you are a loser…
matt clement has the biggest upside.Have you seen his stuff he is real
good.He seems he is on the brink of stardom.I wouldnt mind having
radke either,but at his age and his contract I wouldnt over pay to sign him.Pavano has too much hype we would have to spend 9 million
at least to get him.If I had a choice how these three guys would get the longest looks.
Matt clement
odalis perez
brad radke
Radke? LOL!!!!!!!!
Yeah, why Radke over Clement? Radke’s ERA is better, all things considered, but Clement is likely the better longterm deal based on his K/9 rates.
BTW, the Mariners have NEVER HAD a season before this won where no-one won 10 games (except for the strike year in 1981, Floyd Bannister won 9)…and it would seem unlikely that Moyer will win 3 of his last starts, so it looks like the 2004 team will own the record outright. Yeeesh.
I wouldn’t be all that surprised if the M’s go out and get a couple of starters next year. In my opinion, I don’t think Franklin’s a very good starter. He seems to pitch the first couple of innings fine, and then has to be taken out. He’ll have the occasional great game, but the rest of the time he’s not even average.
That said, I know I couldn’t pitch any better.
Hey — there’s an article on Foxsports.com that’s really pissing me off. This sportswriter named Perry is making the case that Ichiro is overrated. I don’t have the URL, but it should be easy to find if you go to Foxsports.com
because clement has got the stuff he is more exciting and he is going
to only get better.Radke is getting older,but I wouldnt mind having him.As much as I love moyer He doesnt have it anymore.There is no
way to rid him so we probably only caan get one starter.But in
2006 we are probably going to have the best staff in all of baseball.
Franklin never was a very good pitcher. The M’s should have traded him a few years ago when his value was at it’s peak. Moyer may bounce back or we may have sen his last good year. He’s in uncharted territory. I’m not giving up on Meche, I still think he could be something special if it clicks upstairs. The amazing thing about Madrich is every time I see him he appears to be an extreme flyball pitcher, lots of balls hit to the deep outfield but lazy enough that even Raul can get to them. His stats show my observation to be untrue though. He’s got a 1.18 G/F ratio which isn’t that extreme, It’s right around Piniero and better than Franklin, Meche and Moyer (who’s turned into the game equivalent of a BP pitcher).
Bobby reminds me a lot of Jeff Fassero before 1999. Franklin reminds me of Dave Fleming. In any case it’s quite apparent the story of the “pitching rich” M’s is a myth. I thought that the M’s could save money by filling the bullpen and 3/5’s of the rotation with good young pitching from the farm and spend their wealth of cash on everyday players. It’s pretty clear that in order to contend they are going to need to backfill pitching as well. I don’t see the ability to rebuild this roster with $60 million in free cash, given the current management.
Anna, we wrote about that the the other day.
Moyer looked washed up in 2000.
He may have just lost the feel this year.