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COLORADO ROCKIES Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
In the thin air of the Rockies, this off-season will be all about pitching–most of Colorado’s free agents and potential arbitration cases involve hurlers.
Free Agents Age IP VORP RA+ K/9 Salary Byung-Hyun Kim 26 148.0 8.9 1.01 6.99 6.6MM Mike DeJean 34 62.3 5.1 1.01 7.51 1.2MM Dan Micelli 34 18.3 -0.8 0.86 9.33 300K Jamey Wright 30 171.3 -12.4 0.81 5.31 550K Age PA VORP EqA Salary Dustan Mohr 29 293 1.8 .240 950K Todd Greene 34 134 5.0 .244 650K Arb Eligibles Age IP VORP RA+ K/9 Salary Brian Fuentes 29 74.3 20.5 1.68 11.02 328K Aaron Cook 26 83.3 13.9 1.24 2.59 326K Jamie Cerda 26 19.0 -1.8 0.71 8.53 342K Zach Day 27 47.3 -10.7 0.59 4.37 358K Age PA VORP EqA Salary Larry Bigbie 28 304 -3.4 .235 380K
Mike DeJean and Byung-Hyun Kim might both be keepers for the Rockies, despite being relatively expensive. Kim improved once he joined the rotation for good in July (5.46 ERA pre-All Star Break, 4.41 ERA post). The club has already bid its adieus to Dustan Mohr and Todd Greene, declining options on their .240 EqAs. Pitchers Dan Miceli and Jamey Wright should be members of the Non-Roster Invitee, Half Million and Under Club.
Larry Bigbie, Jaime Cerda, and Zach Day are all on the “not much to be excited about” list–however, their poor performances in 2005 should amount to reasonable arbitration requests or rewards in 2006, so the club might want to take a flyer on one or all of them.
As BP’s Jonah Keri noted in September, Aaron Cook is a keeper, as well as a great story after surviving a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. Nonetheless, that absurdly low 2.59 strikeout rate has to be a concern, even for a power sinkerballer like Cook. Those concerns are not likely to impact Cook’s standing in arbitration.
The most interesting arbitration case could belong to Brian Fuentes, who led the NL in WXRL, one of the reliever evaluation tools that tells us how many expected wins a reliever added over the course of the season. That mark was the best in the Rockies’ short history. In terms of the stats they actually talk about in arb proceedings, Fuentes saved 31 games in 34 opportunities, with a crisp 2.91 ERA.
One of the many peculiarities about Colorado’s franchise is that the Rockies’ most successful pitchers are most frequently their relievers. Strolling over to BP’s sortable stats database, let’s look at the top pitchers in Rockies’ history, by VORP:
Name Year GS IP VORP Gabe White 2000 0 83.0 37.6 Joe Kennedy 2004 27 162.3 36.0 Marvin Freeman 1994 18 112.7 32.5 Steve Reed 1995 0 84.0 28.6 Curt Leskanic 1995 0 98.0 23.4 Brian Fuentes 2003 0 75.3 23.0 Jose Jimenez 2000 0 70.7 22.9 Brian Bohanon 2000 26 177.0 22.8 Mike Myers 2000 0 45.3 22.0 Dave Veres 1998 0 76.3 21.4 Brian Fuentes 2005 0 74.3 20.5 Chuck McElroy 1998 0 68.3 19.5
Out of the top 12 pitching performances in Rockies’ history, nine belong to relievers, and two belong to Fuentes. Strangely, none of the starters on this list made a full season’s worth of starts; of the 15 times in Rockies’ history pitchers have started 32 or more games in a season, only three of those performances resulted in a VORP over 10: Pedro Astacio in 1999 (19.4) and 2000 (18.2), and Jason Jennings in 2002 (11.3).
It’s possible that this reliever effect is a sample size illusion due to the Rockies’ short history. However, comparing the Rockies to the other post-1992 expansion teams, none of the others show this pattern. Of the top performances (by VORP) for each of the other expansion teams, only two full-time relievers made their teams’ top 12–those being Jim Mecir‘s 1998 season, and Roberto Hernandez‘s 1999, both for the Devil Rays.
Despite the school of thought that declares that you should rarely pay top dollar for relief pitching, given the market for lefthanded relievers, it is likely that any one year deal the Rockies can reach with Fuentes would be a good–or at least a moveable–contract. For the moment, the stark gap between the Rockies’ starters and relievers will be yet another mystery of baseball at altitude.
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WASHINGTON NATIONALS Team Audit | Team DT Cards | Team Articles | Team Statistics |
Year One of Washington Nationals baseball is in the books. The Nats outplayed their interleague archrivals to the north, enjoyed a 51-day stint atop the NL East, re-opened the dormant RFK Stadium and seated 2,731,993 fans and politicians. But the reasonably strong vital signs couldn’t avoid a second-half crash landing of 29-45, turning the final standings upside down:
W L Pct GB Atlanta 90 72 .556 - Philadelphia 88 74 .543 2 Florida 83 79 .512 7 New York 83 79 .512 7 Washington 81 81 .500 9
The East wasn’t an easy playground, and the Nationals finished 34-41 against division foes. But even if the Expos had moved to Portland or Las Vegas, where any old band of slop-hackers can hang with the pack, adjusting for their tough schedule still would have left them at 75-87, just short of the Padres in the Third-Order standings.
Everyone knows by now that the offense (3.94 runs per game, worst in MLB) was DC’s big handicap. Nationals GM Jim Bowden may or may not be around to try and clean up his own mess, but somebody’s got to do it. Let’s take a peek at each position in the lineup, and the situation facing the front office this winter.
Catcher: Each year, increasingly more of Brian Schneider‘s value is rooted in his bat, but his forte is clearly Gold Glove-caliber defense (he’s caught 44 percent of base thieves in his career). Facing arbitration, he’s in line for a modest raise. Free agent Gary Bennett is very replaceable; they just need someone to spot Schneider versus lefties.
First base: In a lineup where a .256 OBP can score you major playing time, Nick Johnson is a very important man. Coming off a big season in both health and production, he’s also arbitration-eligible and due for a healthy raise.
Second base: Jose Vidro is owed $23 million over the next three years, and two straight years of waning offense and weakening legs make that contract appear doomed. He is currently rehabbing his knee to avoid surgery. Chances are good that Vidro’s prime hitting days are over, but the Nationals desperately need him healthy, if for no other reason than to keep Junior Spivey and Jamey Carroll far away from full-time duties. (Side note: though Rick Short is coming off shoulder surgery, should we really count him out?)
Third base: In the three months following the June amateur draft, fourth overall pick Ryan Zimmerman tore through the minors and landed in the Capitol, displacing Vinny Castilla and hitting .397/.419/.569 as a September call-up. (At all professional levels, he hit .347/.383/.565 in 308 at-bats.) Bowden says the Kid will play every day next year–it’s being reported Castilla will be shopped this winter–and given how he’s aced every test put before him, the only question might be if his long-term future is at the hot corner or…
Shortstop: So Cristian Guzman hits like Juan Guzman. That’s old news. He’s still owed a huge chunk of change, and it sounds like the Nationals will stick with Guzman next season, hoping the deal isn’t a completely sunk cost. Zimmerman is a defensive whiz and played a bit of shortstop in college and in Double-A Harrisburg this summer. If 2005 means anything, the team would be better off keeping Castilla (14.2 VORP and +20 Fielding Runs Above Replacement; one year, $3.1 million due) and instead cutting bait on Guzman (-9.7 VORP and +9 FRAR; three years, $12.6 million left). Letting Zimmerman step in at shortstop instead of third is likely the optimal move offensively and defensively, but the Nationals will probably let him get his feet wet in the Majors at a less demanding position.
Left field: Ryan Church is the early favorite after a solid rookie year that featured a .286 EqA and sound defense at all three outfield spots, but he’ll have to stay healthy. He wasn’t given much of a chance against southpaws, and even though he thrashed them in 30 at-bats, Marlon Byrd is a good bet to stick as Church’s platoon mate.
Center field: Preston Wilson is a free agent, and isn’t expected to return. The versatile Brad Wilkerson will play here when everyone is healthy, but those days were all too rare this season. His own injuries, mostly hand and forearm problems, robbed him of his power. If he regains that strength this winter, he’s a huge asset as one of the team’s best hitters playing league-average defense at a key position.
Right field: If we estimate that every marginal win is worth $2 million, it’s a no-brainer for the Nats to exercise the $4 million option for Jose Guillen, who’s been worth five wins above replacement level for each of the past two years. Guillen still hasn’t conquered his poor plate discipline, but he’s emerged as a right-handed, slightly more strikeout-prone version of Garret Anderson.
In summary, to put their best foot forward, the Nationals need full campaigns from Johnson, Vidro, Church and Wilkerson. That’s not very likely, but if that happens–and if the GM-to-be-named-later properly leverages Zimmerman’s defense–the lineup is in position to rebound.
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