The pitching staff

[JD10367]

Okay, let's take a look at what we've got here...

Guys whose names I know and hope will be key contributors:

Josh Beckett
Manny Delcarmen
Brendan Donnelly
Craig Hansen
Jon Lester
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Jonathan Papelbon
Curt Schilling
Kyle Snyder
Mike Timlin
Tim Wakefield

Guys who I know nothing about who could be wild cards:

Craig Breslow
Nick Debarr
Kason Gabbard
Devern Hansack
Kyle Jackson
Javier Lopez
Edgar Martinez
Hideki Okajima
David Pauley
Joel Pineiro
J.C. Romero

Guys who I think are pretty useless:

Matt Clement
Julian Tavarez

Does anyone have any info on that middle group? Gabbard and Hansack seem to have promise, right? I know nothing about Breslow, Debarr, Jackson, Lopez, Okajima, Pineiro, or Romero. I think I saw Pauley last season and it was unimpressive. I take it that Lopez, Pineiro, and Romero are vets who can contribute, and Okajima was another Japan pickup, right? Do any of these guys have a chance of contributing, or are they the next Tavarez and Seanez?

[oldskool138]

Okay, let's take a look at what we've got here...

Guys whose names I know and hope will be key contributors:

Josh Beckett
Manny Delcarmen
Brendan Donnelly
Craig Hansen
Jon Lester
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Jonathan Papelbon
Curt Schilling
Kyle Snyder
Mike Timlin
Tim Wakefield

Guys who I know nothing about who could be wild cards:

Craig Breslow
Nick Debarr
Kason Gabbard
Devern Hansack
Kyle Jackson
Javier Lopez
Edgar Martinez
Hideki Okajima
David Pauley
Joel Pineiro
J.C. Romero

Guys who I think are pretty useless:

Matt Clement
Julian Tavarez

Does anyone have any info on that middle group? Gabbard and Hansack seem to have promise, right? I know nothing about Breslow, Debarr, Jackson, Lopez, Okajima, Pineiro, or Romero. I think I saw Pauley last season and it was unimpressive. I take it that Lopez, Pineiro, and Romero are vets who can contribute, and Okajima was another Japan pickup, right? Do any of these guys have a chance of contributing, or are they the next Tavarez and Seanez?

You think Tavarez is in the same boat as Clement? I know he got lumped in with Rudy Seanez last year but towards the end of the season, he did rather well. He is entertaining if nothing else. Remember in a game in Sept. last year, he noticed the runner on second wasn't on base. He charged off the mound and dove to tag the bag only to find out that time had in fact been called. Plus his great effort in that 19 inning game vs the ChiSox. I don't know. I'd like to think that Jullian had an off year last year.

I expect Okajima to be a big contributor in the 'pen. He's a lefty that is very effective against righties. J.C. Romero can be the specialist. Out of the lesser known Wild Cards, I'd say that Hansack would be the one who will make signifigant contributions due to his age and experience.

Sure, there are question marks...but what team doesn't have them? I think the Sox have a better picting staff than the Yanks do (on paper) with the exception of closer.

[PatsDVD]

Heard good things on WEEI this morning about Piniero. He might be a wild card for the closer's position.

[Fully Tilted]

Without getting into the list, there will only be 25 total roster spots for players available for a game (AKA the 25 man roster). Also, there is a 40 man roster which includes 15 spots for minor leaguers and players put on the 15-day disabled list.

That being said, teams generally only carry between 11 and 13 pitchers on the 25 man. I'll dig deeper on stats and stuff later on the list of players but guys like Pauley, Breslow, Martinez, Jackson etc will more than likley end up in Pawtucket or below, possibly on the 40 man roster to start the season.

[JD10367]

I'll dig deeper on stats and stuff later on the list of players but guys like Pauley, Breslow, Martinez, Jackson etc will more than likley end up in Pawtucket or below, possibly on the 40 man roster to start the season.

Hey, that works for me. I plan on catching a few PawSox games this season. :)

[Izzo=great]

Becket was starting to piss me off last year. I live in Pittsburgh so i dont get to watch to many sox games. The ones that i do were usally the ones Becket pitched in and it seemed like he gave up way to many home runs!!!

[Fully Tilted]

Becket was starting to piss me off last year. I live in Pittsburgh so i dont get to watch to many sox games. The ones that i do were usally the ones Becket pitched in and it seemed like he gave up way to many home runs!!!

Maybe so, but for the foreseable future he's a fixture in our 5-man rotation. Also, try giving him the benefit of the doubt for this upcoming season. He has no pressure to succeed now that the attention's on Matsuzaka. He was faced with learning a new league and new ballpark etc.

He could very well have had a bad year from outlying factors like those and could bounce right back. The guy throws a plus-plus fastball and a plus curve when he locates it. Not only could he bounce back, he could straight up dominate.

[Patriots4ever]

Hey, that works for me. I plan on catching a few PawSox games this season. :)

My buddy's bachelor party found us at a Pawtucket game one time. We had so much fun, and I couldn't believe how cheep the beer was. We found ourselves heckling the opposing bullpen pitchers by the 6th inning. Like I said, we were at a bachelor party. :D

I can't wait to go back there, but I'm not so sure if they'll be glad to see us though. :icon_madu :lol:

[oldskool138]

My buddy's bachelor party found us at a Pawtucket game one time. We had so much fun, and I couldn't believe how cheep the beer was. We found ourselves heckling the opposing bullpen pitchers by the 6th inning. Like I said, we were at a bachelor party. :D

I can't wait to go back there, but I'm not so sure if they'll be glad to see us though. :icon_madu :lol:

I always have a great time at McCoy. I've been going since I was a little kid. I met Mo Vaughn when he was coming up. I saw Clemens and Boggs when they were on rehab...Nixon too. What I always loved was that Brian Daubach would always get a huge round of applause every time he came to bat. Rhode Island is home to some very cool and knowledgeable baseball fans.

Every Sox fan should catch a couple of games down there. It's waaay cheaper than Fenway and, with all the hot prospects coming up, you'll see the future today. :)

[JD10367]

You can get a general admission grandstand ticket for six bucks. The lower, "reserved seat" sections are a whopping $10.

[Fully Tilted]

I'll look into stats and scouting reports on our staff tonight fellas. I passed out early last night.....like "before Bauer came on" early. Luckily I have Tivo :icon_supe

[Fully Tilted]

Ok, I offered that I would post some stats and any info I could dig up on some of the guys that I thought would help us all get at least a snapshot of some of these guys going into the season. I'll post last year's totals, 3-year totals as well as 3-year averages and try my best to post other important stats when evaluating pitchers. For rookies, minor-leaguers and MLB veterans with less than 3-years, I should be able to dig up AA or AAA stats where pertinent and for Matsuzaka and Okajima, I'll do my best on the Japanese League stats. I know I have seen them, finding them will be a different story.

My hope is that we can all use the stats and info for discussion about the pitching for the Red Sox this year. Please correct any incorrect info I post and add anything you'd like. Hopefully we can update some of this info as the year progresses for 2007 stats as well. I think this will be something where the format itself will take better shape after a few player's breakdowns.

All of the info I'll be posting will more than likely come from one of two different sources for statistics: ESPN.com and BaseballReference.com. If there's an article or any other newsworthy items that I post, I'll post the link. Hope you enjoy. :)

This will be a multi-part series series. Tonight I'll start with one of the new acquisitions, J.C. Romero

J.C. Romero

Juan Carlos Romero
Born: June 4, 1976 in Rio Piedras Puerto Rico
Height: 5-11
Weight: 203 lbs.
Throws: Left


2006 Totals (All with LAA)

48 1/3 IP 57 H 40 R 36 ER 3 HR 28 BB 31 K 6.70 ERA 1.75 WHIP

2004-2006 Totals (2004-2005 with Minn/2006 with LAA)

180 2/3 IP 168 H 98 R 87 ER 13 HR 105 BB 148 K 4.36 ERA 1.51 WHIP

2004-2006 Averages (Above divided by 3)

60 IP 56 H 32.6 R 29 ER 4.3 HR 35 BB 49.3 K 4.36 ERA 1.51 WHIP


Misc. Stats and Split Stats

2006

Pitches/PA (Avg.) 3.81

Pitches/IP (Avg.) 16.9

K/9 5.77

K/BB 1.55

G/F 2.24 (94 groundballs to 42 flyballs)

.202/.298/.601 Vs. Left-handed hitter's (Batting Avg/OBP/OPS against in 89 AB's)

.382/.451/1.029 Vs. Right-handed hitter's (102 AB's)

2004-2006 Totals

Pitches/PA (Avg.) 3.95

Pitches/IP (Avg.) 17.9

K/9 7.23

K/BB 1.386

G/F 2.04

.223/.314/.623 Vs. Left-handed hitter's (301 AB's)

.269/.381/.789 Vs. Right-handed hitter's (375 AB's)

Ok, that's all I got in me for tonight. I think I'll aim for one player a night. This is a little shorter than I was aiming for. I'd like to throw in an article or two, salary information, home and away splits, career numbers at Fenway and thoughts on the stats which I'll do for Romero tomorrow.

Until then, as always- GO SOX!

[JD10367]

His era looks a bit high compared to his WHIP.

48 innings, 57 hits? That's almost 1.2 hits per inning... For a reliever, that's probably a decent number, but considering his ERA I can only surmise that he gives up those 1.2 hits immediately (i.e. he comes in with men on base and lets them get home). Not exactly a great thing for a reliever, if that's the case.

[oldskool138]

His era looks a bit high compared to his WHIP.

48 innings, 57 hits? That's almost 1.2 hits per inning... For a reliever, that's probably a decent number, but considering his ERA I can only surmise that he gives up those 1.2 hits immediately (i.e. he comes in with men on base and lets them get home). Not exactly a great thing for a reliever, if that's the case.

Well, the rock of our bullpen is Timlin (when healthy). He's been in the league forever but his big problem is inherited runners. It sounds like J.C. has a similar problem. If you're going to use him as a one or two batter speciallist, you better do it with the bases empty.

[Fully Tilted]

Thanks for the feedback/analysis. My hope is to generate conversatrion.

Re: Inhertied runners and ERA

An inherited runner does not affect a new pitcher's ERA. If J.C. Romero comes in with runners on that he inherits, should they score, those runs count against the pitcher's ERA that he relieved. A pitcher becomes responsible for a run as soon as he pitches to him.

[oldskool138]

Thanks for the feedback/analysis. My hope is to generate conversatrion.

Re: Inhertied runners and ERA

An inherited runner does not affect a new pitcher's ERA. If J.C. Romero comes in with runners on that he inherits, should they score, those runs count against the pitcher's ERA that he relieved. A pitcher becomes responsible for a run as soon as he pitches to him.

Noted...but isn't there a stat for inherited runners scoring or is that something that we have to extrapolate from the data?

[JD10367]

Thanks for the feedback/analysis. My hope is to generate conversatrion.

Re: Inhertied runners and ERA

An inherited runner does not affect a new pitcher's ERA. If J.C. Romero comes in with runners on that he inherits, should they score, those runs count against the pitcher's ERA that he relieved. A pitcher becomes responsible for a run as soon as he pitches to him.

Duh. :::smacking forehead::: I knew that. That's the "earned" part of the equation, LOL. So that makes his ERA look even worse, then, since those are all his.

Do they make a distinction, say, if there's a guy on 1st base and the reliever gives up a triple? Or is it simply, "Anyone on base counts for the pitcher who just left the game?"

[Fully Tilted]

Noted...but isn't there a stat for inherited runners scoring or is that something that we have to extrapolate from the data?

No, there's no way to really tell from the stats above. You can take a look at his lefty/righty splits and the second number is his "OBP against" to get an idea of how many baserunners he allows. To clarify, if his OBP against is .400, it's just like a hitter's OBP. That's saying that a hitter has a 40% chance of reaching base when facing him on average.

I'll look into it tonight to see if I can't find an 'inherited runners allowed to score' stat. I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

[Fully Tilted]

Duh. :::smacking forehead::: I knew that. That's the "earned" part of the equation, LOL. So that makes his ERA look even worse, then, since those are all his.

Do they make a distinction, say, if there's a guy on 1st base and the reliever gives up a triple? Or is it simply, "Anyone on base counts for the pitcher who just left the game?"

At least brainfarts don't have an odor right? :D

To answer your question, anyone who is on base when a pitcher enters a game, belongs to the exiting pitcher. Even in the case you noted, the run would count against the previous pitcher's ERA. If the guy hit's a HR, the runner on 1st would count against the previous pitcher's ERA but the batter's run scored would count against the new pitcher.

Rule of thumb to note: Anytime a pitcher finishes an AB against a hitter, he is responsible for that hitter. I say "finishes" because there is the rare occurence when a Manager pulls a pitcher in the middle of an AB.

Make a little more sense?

As far as his ERA looking worse, it does. But keep in mind, that could also be a result of his runners being inherited by a new pitcher and that pitcher allowing the runs to score.

Great stuff from you and Oldskool--it helps to give me an idea of stats we want to see. I'll see what I can't find tonight on it.

Re: His WHIP

It's not good. Here's a ranking of pitcher's based on WHIP from 2006. Not surprisingly, Johan Santana leads the way with a jaw-dropping 1.00 WHIP for 2006.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/pitching?split=0&league=mlb&season=2006&seasonType=2&sort=WHIP&type=pitch3&ageMin=17&ageMax=51&state=0&college=0&country=0&hand=a&pos=all