Even though I don’t like AL baseball, as yall know, I wanted to see how Da Rajah and his leg/butt/groin would hold up, remembering how poorly they help up 2 years ago in the Series in freezing windy Chi-town.
His performance was eerily similar – 2.1 IP, 4 H, 1 HR, 3 ER. Only he was lucky in that his teammates hit the darn ball and bailed him out. In case anyone doesn’t remember, 2 years ago, Wandy went in, pitched 4 innings, giving up only one more run, which was, unfortunately, the game loser. Ah well…
Amazing that both the White Sox and the Astros have fallen so far, so fast. This year, they ended the year 72-90 and we ended the year 73-89. Did everyone know that our bullpen blew 25 saves??? Or that we had only 5 come from behind victories?
Well, according to Lee Sinins at www.baseball-encyclopedia.com, we had the second worst pitching in the NL, according to his RSAA (runs saved above average) – partly because we had 2 of the 10 worst pitchers in the NL as starters, Woody Williams and Jason Jennings.
Take a look at these:
TEAM TOTALS
1††† Cubs††††††††††††††††††††††† 118††
2††† Diamondbacks†††††††††††††††† 88††
3††† Rockies††††††††††††††††††††† 78††
4††† Dodgers††††††††††††††††††††† 59††
5††† Giants†††††††††††††††††††††† 33††
6††† Padres†††††††††††††††††††††† 28††
7††† Braves†††††††††††††††††††††† 25††
8††† Brewers†††††††††††††††††††††† 3††
9††† Mets†††††††††††††††††††††††† -6††
10†† Phillies††††††††††††††††††† -43††
11†† Reds††††††††††††††††††††††† -52††
12†† Cardinals†††††††††††††††††† -55††
13†† Marlins†††††††††††††††††††† -60††
14†† Nationals†††††††††††††††††† -65††
15†† Astros††††††††††††††††††††† -79††
16†† Pirates†††††††††††††††††††† -99†
ASTROS
Roy Oswalt†††††††††† 24
Chad Qualls††††††††† 11
Brad Lidge††††††††††† 6
Dennis Sarfate††††††† 3
Brandon Backe†††††††† 1
Mark McLemore†††††††† 1
Brian Moehler†††††††† 1
Troy Patton†††††††††† 1
Travis Driscoll†††††† 0
Trever Miller††††††† -3
Juan Gutierrez†††††† -4
Chris Sampson††††††† -5
Dan Wheeler††††††††† -5
Felipe Paulino†††††† -6
David Borkowski††††† -7
Wandy Rodriguez††††† -7
Rick White††††††††† -11
Stephen Randolph††† -12
Matt Albers†††††††† -20
Woody Williams††††† -22
Jason Jennings††††† -25
Anyone besides me wonder what on earth happened to Dan Wheeler, why he suddenly lost it at the end of June? And, in case anyone is curious, just guess who led the Cardinals in RSAA? Yep, you got it – Russ Springer, with 16. I don’t know whether or not the decision to get rid of Springer, who WANTED to stay was Phil Garner’s decision that Timmy merely agreed to, or whether he also believed that Springer shouldn’t stay, but as Springer had pitched very well in 2006 and showed no sign of weakening, AND as at the time there wasn’t anyone better to replace him (Moehler and White were signed during ST) this has to go as one of Purpura’s stupidest moves.
As for the offensive part? Again, according to Lee Sinins’ RCAA (runs created above average) the Astros were tied for 8th in the NL, with zero.
TEAM TOTALS
1††† Phillies††††††††††††††††††† 139††
2††† Mets†††††††††††††††††††††††† 95††
3††† Braves†††††††††††††††††††††† 79††
4††† Brewers††††††††††††††††††††† 48††
5††† Rockies††††††††††††††††††††† 41††
6††† Marlins††††††††††††††††††††† 36††
7††† Padres†††††††††††††††††††††† 29††
T8†† Astros††††††††††††††††††††††† 0††
T8†† Reds††††††††††††††††††††††††† 0††
10†† Pirates†††††††††††††††††††† -39††
T11† Dodgers†††††††††††††††††††† -45††
T11† Nationals†††††††††††††††††† -45††
13†† Cardinals†††††††††††††††††† -48††
14†† Cubs††††††††††††††††††††††† -58††
15†† Giants††††††††††††††††††††† -96††
16†† Diamondbacks†††††††††††††† -102†
Anyone else surprised that the Cubs hitting was so poor?
Anyway, Carlos Lee is CERTAINLY not the team MVP – even in hitting alone (remember all those GIDP???)
ASTROS
Lance Berkman††††††† 35
Hunter Pence†††††††† 24
Carlos Lee†††††††††† 19
Luke Scott†††††††††† 13
Mike Lamb††††††††††† 10
Josh Anderson†††††††† 4
J.R. Towles†††††††††† 4
Cody Ransom†††††††††† 1
Ty Wigginton††††††††† 1
Humberto Quintero††† -4
Orlando Palmeiro†††† -5
Eric Bruntlett†††††† -6
Morgan Ensberg†††††† -6
Eric Munson††††††††† -7
Mark Loretta†††††††† -9
Adam Everett††††††† -12
Jason Lane††††††††† -12
Chris Burke†††††††† -15
Brad Ausmus†††††††† -16
Craig Biggio††††††† -19
Luke Scott, with only 369 AB, created 13 RCAA to Carlos’s 19 RCAA over 627 AB. And Luke had virtually the same OPS against rightys vs leftys – .856 : .850 AND 28 of those ABs came as a pinch hitter, a job at which Luke frankly sucks.
Luke also only GIDP 8 of 425 PA, as opposed to Carlos, who GIDP 27 of 697 PA. They both had 53 BB, but take a look at the rate. Luke also saw 3.98 pitches/PA as opposed to Carlos’ 3.56. And do I need to mention that Carlos was the second worst LF in the NL, ahead of only Pat Burrell – yes, worse than Adam Dunn, and that Luke was the third best RF in the NL?
Somebody needs to explain to me why this Organization hates Luke Scott. And somebody also needs to explain to me why this Organization greatly prefers Ty Wigginton to Mike Lamb. It isn’t hitting (see above) and as far as fielding, well, we all know Mike Lamb has a lead glove, but his lifetime ZR at third is .730 and his RF is 2.83 whereas Wiggy’s is .710 and 2.62. Lamb, who WANTED to stay with the Astros, made 2.7 mill this year, his last arb year. Wiggy, who is in his 4th year, made exactly the same salary. Who thinks that 2 years of Lamb would be significantly more than 2 years of Wiggy? Lamb was 32 in August. Wiggy will be 30 next week. Not exactly a big difference in age and there is a BIG difference in ability.
Other than all this, there is no Astros news, except that a contract has been offered to Brad Ausmus, which is leading me to believe that Brad will catch one pitcher and J.R. Towles will catch the other 4, which means that Munson will either be offered another minor league contract or will not be offered any contract. He is arb eligible, but if offered arb, would most likely command a salary significantly greater than his 2007 salary of 425 K, so I would bet that he will be with some other club next year.
And oh yeah, third base coach Mansolino has been fired (surprise, surprise) and replaced with Ed Romero, who Cecil Cooper knew from Milwaukee, who has not coached third in the majors before.
Tags: MLB
They don’t like Scott because of his batting average, they say he is streaky and I think his cowboy hat fits him funny.
Those numbers are really surprising. The cubs pitching number 1!?! Brewers just down the middle?!!?
I would have expected Wandy to be better.
I thought the Rockies had a better offense than the Brewers.
The Cubs is a bit surprising but not really. At the beginning of the year I thought they were going to be a strong offensive club but they really never have been. I still wouldn’t have ranked them that bad.
I have to read more about how this RCAA and RSAA stuff works because it really looks like it produces some weird results.
I really think the one area that can be improved is the bullpen. (with what is available in the market) Springer would be a good addition, don’t know if he’d comeback. The issue with his kid may make him adverse to moving again. Good thing is Wade has said repeatedly that he is a bullpen nut so I’d expect some definite changes there.
I know I might sound stupid because we don’t know what Anderson can really do, but if he can be a true lead of hitter it would greatly improve the offense. Then it would allow you to trade Scott which he should have some value.
I guess with a new GM there is a slight hope that Lamb is signed and Wigs traded.
Possible trade bait: Williams, Scott and Wigginton. I think that could snag you some good bullpen arms. Or maybe a 2B.
What do you think of this Kazuo Matsui? I hadn’t paid much attention to him, but I’ve watched his playoff games and he looks good. He’ll be a free agent.
I wouldn’t be upset if they gave Burke another shot but who knows if he’ll ever get his swing back.
I have given up trying to figure this organization out and theyre thought process with Luke Scott. I dont just dont understand it. So according to the chart on the Astros hitting, we only had 5 players with double figure numbers and they wan to get rid of 2 of them. This from a team with offensive struggles especially with RISP – I am amazed that they are not falling over themselves to lock Luke up for a few years. He is so cheap right now and the bargain on the team.. Go figure.
The Astros org does so many odd things it’s hard to understand most of what they do. My pet peeve is their inability to let a prospect settle in a position. They seem to think if a lineup doesn’t produce immediately, always, they have to change things. Watching the playoffs and hearing about the patience of Boston with Pedroia, whom they hung in with despite a poor start, long slump, early struggles, and he may end up with rookie of the year. Had the Astros been managing (both field and office) that lineup, Pedroia never would have made it, Lugo would have been traded, etc. Ty over Lamb, Burke virtually ignored, Scott labeled ineffective (my vote for a player who might have done well if allowed to settle in), all add up to an organization that doesn’t really know what they’re doing. The “champion” mentality of the owner (which I think drives the impatience) may well prevent them from ever competing at a high level again.
Hey the D-Backs have the worst offense, in terms of RSAA, so maybe that’s the Astros plan in giving away some of their best players. If Josh Anderson can be a better hitting, better fielding version of Willy T, then I’ll rahter have him in center and Pence in right, but if not, give me Scott!!
joel,
for an explanation of lee sinins’ system, go to his website.
kaz matsui has looked fine ever since he left the mets. the rox have a team option. AND i would bet he’s gonna get a multi year deal and cost some $$$ if the team decides to let him go and put ian stewart at second – giving up a LOT of defense there to do that…
i just don’t know about burke. and what is worse is that i don’t know that they will really give him much of a chance. i just hope he really works out whatever his problem in the hitting cage this winter…
glennbo,
sometimes an Organization just hate a player personally – and i don’t know why. they didn’t want to put him on the roster at the beginning of 05 even though it wasn’t like they had someone else. they didn’t want to bring him up at the ASB last year. and even after he was awesome, they STILL said they wouldn’t give him the job. DEFINITELY something wrong…
there is no way that anderson + pence = pence + luke. heck there is no way willy + pence would have been = pence + luke
and fact is that luke is one of those guys who can’t pinch hit for spit and needs to play every day.
and ALL baseball players are streaky.
agree that pence is not exactly gary pettis in center but unfortunately LF will be occupied with carlos lee for years and what can i say – at least he looks good on a horse…
gary,
agree what you are saying about the prospects. funny because it is a radical departure from their patience at the beginning of 05…
If RCAA is indeed a good stat to use, then you have to consider having one of those Seinfeld moments where you’d like to ask Astros management one question when it comes to Scott and Lamb….”What the hell are you thinking?”
I don’t see how the management of any professional baseball team can make as many bad decisions as Astros management has since the end of the Hunsicker era. They’re amazing.
I’ll never understand why we picked up Wiggington when we had Lamb eager to start and definitely deserving of the role. I’m not entirely sold on Wiggington yet, maybe he just needs time to adjust to the NL.
Letting Springer go surprised me. I’m hoping the bullpen will get better, and hoping Lidge will find a way to be lights out again seeing as how no one, with discipline, chases that low-and-away slider.
Gary
I think they let Ensberg and Lane settle plenty. Its not that they don’t give players a chance. Its they have trouble identifing which players to give the time too.
Footer makes a good point about Scott.
“He’s been battling an achilles problem for quite a while and given his frequent bouts with health issues, the club is not convinced that he can give them 150 games through a full season.”
She is right. He may be abloe to produce but how often can he? RCAA doesn’t account for that.
i never understood getting rid of springer. especially bcause they didn’t have his replacement right at hand.
i never understood replacing lamb with wiggy. you gain exactly zero – what’s the point?
and as for luke and the achilles – well, he SURE as heck didn’t have any trouble with it last year and they announced immediately after the season that he wasn’t going to be given a regular job – wassup with THAT? and he didn’t have anything wrong in ST etc.
he didn’t have “frequent bouts with health issues” until the middle of THIS year. but they had a problem with him BEFORE that. the club is just spinning it.
they should just freaking trade him already – let the poor guy have a career. it’s pretty clear to me that it is personal. maybe mrs mclane said – oh drayton what a CUTE boy!!! and he was just done right there. or even worse – what if he can’t ride a horse?
and joel is right that they certainly DID let ensberg and lane settle. but there was a NO question problem with ensberg after he hurt his shoulder and they had ALREADY had experience with him refusing to tell them he was hurt – his elbow in 04 – and they should have just shut him down/made him get examined.
he never did get his swing back at ALL. i watched him a few games with the padres too – he’s just not the same guy.
like i’ve said before – the club has to do something about the fact that clearly guys can’t tell them the truth about any non-obvious injury. if they SAY something is wrong and something IS wrong, they get punished for it.
I don’t know, but maybe he does have a history of being injury prone. Didn’t he miss some games last year because of that groin issue?
I just find it hard to believe that a team would not play some one because he isn’t liked by the organization despite the fact that he plays better than others. Why wouldn’t they just ship him out? Why waste your time and money with him?
Maybe they are just evil people that keep him so he doesn’t have chance to go elsewhere and be successful.
They better have a good backup plan at catcher. JR Towles is NOT ready. At all! Brad needs to go.
Joel B,
If you believe much of Ms. Footer’s “reporting” then you are being lead down the yellow brick road, Sir … she basically just regurgitates the words of Mgmt
Lisa,
Re Luke, Yes it is mighty mighty strange indeed, I watched this ENTIRE season and I sure don’t recall ANY mention of a Achilles “problem” for Luke Scott … hmmm don’t think I could have missed that, did anyone else hear EVER hear them mention it ???
Yes he DID reaggravate a hip/groin pull he got this summer (Pence had one too remember?) and he DID get hit in the knee by Albers in warmups and missed a few games then. But in REALITY – Scott did NOT miss many games at all due to INJURY – he missed a lot due to Garner’s favoriitism & MISmanagement.
Luke must be quite healthy actually, he’s going to play Winter ball soon in Venezuela … don’t think he’d be planning that if he had all these “injuries” to deal with …
No chance for Springer. http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/player_main.aspx?sport=MLB&id=1726
MOMO,
well, at this particular minute, it surely does look like towles. unless they plan to go with 3 catchers and keep munson
kris,
thisis the first i heard of an “achilles” problem – like you i heard aout a hip pull earlier this summer
joel,
except for the year he had tommy john surgery, i can’t find ANY time that luke ever had any injury problem at all. baseball organisations play favorites all the time and won’t play better players because of preferring someone else personally even if he is a much worse player. think of the dodgers this year playing crappy vets instead of good young players.
even look at the early years of mo ensberg – playing geoff blum??? instead? WTF??? and that was back when mo was good.
i’ve heard stories from more than a few people about players who are very good who are not given a chance because they are personally disliked.
look at hee sop choi – every team but florida – for example.
i am sure we could get something pretty good for luke – a CHEAP good young OF with a decent glove…
keeping him and just trying to use him as a LH pinch hitter is not evil, just flat out stupid
Did anyone else notice that four out of our bottom five pitchers were off-season acquisitions? Woody, Jennings, Randolph and White. Good pickups, Timmy P. That guy really had an eye for talent (*GRUMBLING*)
well, i think drayton told him to sign woody (but before the deadline???!!!) and same with jennings.
getting rid of springer was estupido deluxe and expecting rick white to be a multi inning pitcher was even dumber.
randolph was really AAA filler so i can let that slide
but timmy sure didn’t do anything GOOD that i can think of