NL East Players To Watch

Posted on February 17, 2013 by Daniel Marino

Turner

Dan Marino is trekking through each division in the major leagues and giving you one player he thinks is the: Rookie to Watch, Breakthrough Player, The Party’s Over, Non-Roster Invitee Most Likely to Stick, and Just Not Seeing it.

He has already given us his AL East Players to Watch. Now, in part two of six, he brings you the National League East: (more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Goose Gossage Award – Top Reliever

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Jonathan C. Mitchell

As a proud member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance I continue my postseason awards ballot with the Goose Gossage Award. I think the name of the award sums up what it is about just perfectly.

American League

1. David Robertson (NYY) - He was the best reliever in the AL. His 1.08 ERA ranked 1st. His 13.50 K/9 also ranked 1st. He ranked 2nd in both FIP (1.84) and fWAR (2.8) and 3rd in xFIP (2.46). He only allowed one homerun in 66.2 innings and did this in a great hitter’s park and in the toughest division in the Majors. He was also the only AL reliever to reach 100 strikeouts.

2. Jonathan Papelbon (BOS) – Robertson finished 2nd in a few main categories only because Papelbon finished 1st. He was 1st in FIP (1.53), xFIP (2.16), and fWAR (3.0) this past year. He was 3rd in BB/9 with a remarkable 1.40 and was 4th in K/9 at 12.17. One could argue that Papelbon may have been the best in the AL.

3. Koji Uehara (BAL/TEX) – In 65 innings all Uehara did was post a 2.35 ERA and place 2nd with a 2.33 xFIP and 1.25 BB/9. He also finished 5th with an 11.77 K/9. The icing on the cake was his 9.44 K/BB ratio, tops in the league. Oh, he also played most of his games in hitter’s parks and in the AL East.

Just missed (in order): Greg Holland (KC), Alfredo Aceves (BOS), Mariano Rivera (NYY), Vinnie Pestano (CLE), Chris Sale (CHW)

National League

(more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

The Braves Bullpen Down the Stretch

Posted on September 21, 2011 by Michael Schwartze

Craig Kimbrel

The Atlanta Braves bullpen has been terrific this year and there is no question about it. Their bullpen ranks second in saves (51), second in K/9 (9.32), second in HR/9 (0.56), third in ERA (3.01), first in FIP (3.09), and tied for first in WAR (7.2). Good starting pitching paired with a great bullpen has really helped the Braves get to where they currently are. Atlanta is leading the NL wild card with a 2.5 game lead over a very hot St. Louis Cardinals team.

The Braves do not have a very big lead at all so they will have to be playing their best baseball to hold off the surging Cardinals. One very important factor down the stretch could be the bullpen of the Braves.

The three main workhorses for the Braves this year out of the bullpen have been Craig Kimbrel, Jonny Venters, and Eric O’Flaherty. If we take a look at the games appeared leaders for relievers, these three pitchers rank in the top 4.

  1. Jonny Venters, 82 games
  2. Jose Veras, 78 games
  3. Craig Kimbrel, 77 games
  4. Eric O’Flaherty, 75 games

These young relievers have been terrific this year but have they been overworked? I will take a look at each reliever and a little on each of their season’s.

(more…)

Filed under: Digging Deep - Analysis | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 1,664 other followers