Posted by: James
Mariano Rivera - Closer.
Age: 35 Years Old (Turns 36 in May).
Three-Year History and splits:
Outlook: What can possibly be said about Mariano? Perhaps...I wish I had more hands so I could give him 4 thumbs up! No, for Mo, only the highest honor is worthy. That's right: I Heart Mariano. Anything less...would be uncivilized.
I think Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus sums it up quite nicely:
Exactly. We all know what Mo has done to this point in his career; 2.33 ERA, 541 GF, 379 SVs. In 807 innings, 630 Hits, 728 Ks, 215 BBs, 42 HRs. 8-1 with 34 SVs and a 0.81 ERA in 112 postseason innings. Staggering numbers when you really start looking at them. They become even more impressive once you consider what he has done since the rumblings began that he was finally succumbing to time and overuse. Those thoughts weren't entirely unfounded as Rivera posted ERAs over 2 for all three years between the 2000 and 2002 seasons. Prior to those three seasons, the closest he had gotten was a 2.09 ERA in 1996, his first full year in the majors. He also lost part of the 2002 season to injury. Well, apparently Mariano took the phrase "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" to heart since he has been phenomenal (even more so) since 2002. The numbers don't lie: 209 G, 228 Innings, 176 Hits, 209 Ks, 48 BBs - 193 GF, 136 SV - 1.66 ERA, 8.3 K and 1.9 BB per 9 and .32 HRs a game.
Hold on, it gets better. Last year, at the tender age of 35, Mariano posted one of his finest seasons ever. If you take out his misadventures against Boston in his first two appearances last year, his line for 2006 becomes: 1.17 ERA, 9.0 K and 1.8 BB per 9, .12 HRs a game and a 5.13 K/BB ratio. He also put up a line that I will never forget. On the road last year, he gave up one earned run in 35 innings (that's a 0.26 ERA with a 32/5 K/BB ratio). Maybe it was his decision to forgo pitching in the winter leagues during the offseason, maybe it was the implementation of a two-seam fastball into his arsenal, maybe he just found the fountain of youth. It might be a mixture of all three but whatever he's been doing, I hope he keeps doing it because it's worked. I mean, even after accounting for some regression because of his age and worse luck, Mariano still projects to have a great season and until he shows that he can't do it anymore, I can't think of any reason not to expect more greatness from Mo.
It will be a sad day when Mo walks off the mound for the last time but until that day, I will continue to be amazed by his performance, humbled by his modesty and in awe of his faith.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
Age: 35 Years Old (Turns 36 in May).
Three-Year History and splits:
| SEASON | G | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W | L | SV | HD | BlSv | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 64 | 71.2 | 61 | 15 | 13 | 3 | 10 | 63 | 5 | 2 | 40 | 0 | 6 | 1.66 |
| 2004 | 74 | 79.2 | 65 | 17 | 17 | 3 | 20 | 66 | 4 | 2 | 53 | 0 | 4 | 1.95 |
| 2005 | 71 | 78.1 | 50 | 18 | 12 | 2 | 18 | 80 | 7 | 4 | 43 | 0 | 4 | 1.38 |
Outlook: What can possibly be said about Mariano? Perhaps...I wish I had more hands so I could give him 4 thumbs up! No, for Mo, only the highest honor is worthy. That's right: I Heart Mariano. Anything less...would be uncivilized.
I think Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus sums it up quite nicely:
"Mariano's been consistent and such a presence. Gossage was feared, Righetti was good, McGraw was a great story, but Rivera is such a pure, consistent guy that on the few occasions where he fails, it's a shock. No other closer has ever inspired such confidence."
Exactly. We all know what Mo has done to this point in his career; 2.33 ERA, 541 GF, 379 SVs. In 807 innings, 630 Hits, 728 Ks, 215 BBs, 42 HRs. 8-1 with 34 SVs and a 0.81 ERA in 112 postseason innings. Staggering numbers when you really start looking at them. They become even more impressive once you consider what he has done since the rumblings began that he was finally succumbing to time and overuse. Those thoughts weren't entirely unfounded as Rivera posted ERAs over 2 for all three years between the 2000 and 2002 seasons. Prior to those three seasons, the closest he had gotten was a 2.09 ERA in 1996, his first full year in the majors. He also lost part of the 2002 season to injury. Well, apparently Mariano took the phrase "whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger" to heart since he has been phenomenal (even more so) since 2002. The numbers don't lie: 209 G, 228 Innings, 176 Hits, 209 Ks, 48 BBs - 193 GF, 136 SV - 1.66 ERA, 8.3 K and 1.9 BB per 9 and .32 HRs a game.
Hold on, it gets better. Last year, at the tender age of 35, Mariano posted one of his finest seasons ever. If you take out his misadventures against Boston in his first two appearances last year, his line for 2006 becomes: 1.17 ERA, 9.0 K and 1.8 BB per 9, .12 HRs a game and a 5.13 K/BB ratio. He also put up a line that I will never forget. On the road last year, he gave up one earned run in 35 innings (that's a 0.26 ERA with a 32/5 K/BB ratio). Maybe it was his decision to forgo pitching in the winter leagues during the offseason, maybe it was the implementation of a two-seam fastball into his arsenal, maybe he just found the fountain of youth. It might be a mixture of all three but whatever he's been doing, I hope he keeps doing it because it's worked. I mean, even after accounting for some regression because of his age and worse luck, Mariano still projects to have a great season and until he shows that he can't do it anymore, I can't think of any reason not to expect more greatness from Mo.
It will be a sad day when Mo walks off the mound for the last time but until that day, I will continue to be amazed by his performance, humbled by his modesty and in awe of his faith.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
| G | Innings | W | L | BB | K | HD | SV | BlSv | ERA |
|---|
03/29: Around the Web
Posted by: James
Man, is there a lot of good stuff to read out there today!
First off, Cliff Corcoran of Bronx Banter and Patrick Sullivan of The House That Dewey Built are the participants in the Two on Two series over at the Baseball Analysts and preview the American League East. It's a good discussion so I encourage you to go check it out.
While I was reading that, I realized that I had completely forgotten about The House That Dewey Built, which is a very good blog. I don't usually read it a lot during the season but Sully's annual, and pretty detailed, look through every team is a great reference. Combine that with The Hardball Times' 5 Questions series on each team and you can learn quite a bit about the competition. If you have the time, I'd highly recommend both.
Finally, NoMaas is starting up a look at various baseball statistics. It's been done before but I'll be happy to see the NoMaas team inject their usual humor and Yankee-centric view into the discussion. They start off with one of the basics, batting average, and will be building up to some of the more advanced stuff in later days. If you're turned off by the idea of advanced stats, keep in mind that it wasn't that long ago that most people didn't know what OPS was.
First off, Cliff Corcoran of Bronx Banter and Patrick Sullivan of The House That Dewey Built are the participants in the Two on Two series over at the Baseball Analysts and preview the American League East. It's a good discussion so I encourage you to go check it out.
While I was reading that, I realized that I had completely forgotten about The House That Dewey Built, which is a very good blog. I don't usually read it a lot during the season but Sully's annual, and pretty detailed, look through every team is a great reference. Combine that with The Hardball Times' 5 Questions series on each team and you can learn quite a bit about the competition. If you have the time, I'd highly recommend both.
Finally, NoMaas is starting up a look at various baseball statistics. It's been done before but I'll be happy to see the NoMaas team inject their usual humor and Yankee-centric view into the discussion. They start off with one of the basics, batting average, and will be building up to some of the more advanced stuff in later days. If you're turned off by the idea of advanced stats, keep in mind that it wasn't that long ago that most people didn't know what OPS was.
Posted by: James
Ron Villone - Reliever
Age: 36 Years Old.
Three-Year History and splits:
Outlook: It seems like the Yankees had been working toward getting Villone for a while now as his name popped up in trade rumors all the time over the least couple of years. Well, they finally got their man this offseason, trading LHP Ben Julianel to the Marlins for him. It was actually a pretty odd move by the Marlins as they could have easily taken Julianel in the Rule 5 draft and traded Villone for something else of worth once his value had rebounded. Well, their loss is the Yankees gain as Villone is a decent left-handed reliever who has shut down both lefties (.227/.324/.330/.654) and righties (238/.340/.399/.738) over the last three years and can give you the occasional spot start as well. Last year was the first year since 1998 that he was a full-time reliever and he had a phenomenal first half for Seattle (2.45 ERA, 176 ERA+) before being traded to Florida (6.85 ERA, 59 ERA+). (For you statheads out there, his FIP remained consistent at about 3.5)
There are definitely areas of concern though as his control leaves quite a bit to be desired (career walks per 9 is 4.77, 4.92 for the last two years). Also, outside of a short stint in Cleveland in 1998, Villone has pitched for all NL teams except for Seattle (clearly a pitchers park). AL teams with stronger, more patient, lineups could give him problems. Still, his stuff, versatility and durabilty (knock on wood) should make him a good addition to the Yankees pen, especially after looking at the bullpens of the past few years.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
Age: 36 Years Old.
Three-Year History and splits:
| SEASON | G | GS | CG | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W | L | SV | HD | BlSv | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 19 | 19 | 0 | 107.2 | 91 | 51 | 49 | 16 | 48 | 91 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | -- | 4.13 |
| 2004 | 56 | 10 | 0 | 117.0 | 102 | 64 | 53 | 12 | 64 | 86 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 4.08 |
| 2005 | 79 | 0 | 0 | 64.0 | 57 | 34 | 29 | 4 | 35 | 70 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 21 | 8 | 4.08 |
Outlook: It seems like the Yankees had been working toward getting Villone for a while now as his name popped up in trade rumors all the time over the least couple of years. Well, they finally got their man this offseason, trading LHP Ben Julianel to the Marlins for him. It was actually a pretty odd move by the Marlins as they could have easily taken Julianel in the Rule 5 draft and traded Villone for something else of worth once his value had rebounded. Well, their loss is the Yankees gain as Villone is a decent left-handed reliever who has shut down both lefties (.227/.324/.330/.654) and righties (238/.340/.399/.738) over the last three years and can give you the occasional spot start as well. Last year was the first year since 1998 that he was a full-time reliever and he had a phenomenal first half for Seattle (2.45 ERA, 176 ERA+) before being traded to Florida (6.85 ERA, 59 ERA+). (For you statheads out there, his FIP remained consistent at about 3.5)
There are definitely areas of concern though as his control leaves quite a bit to be desired (career walks per 9 is 4.77, 4.92 for the last two years). Also, outside of a short stint in Cleveland in 1998, Villone has pitched for all NL teams except for Seattle (clearly a pitchers park). AL teams with stronger, more patient, lineups could give him problems. Still, his stuff, versatility and durabilty (knock on wood) should make him a good addition to the Yankees pen, especially after looking at the bullpens of the past few years.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
| G | Innings | W | L | BB | K | HD | SV | BlSv | ERA |
|---|
Posted by: James
Mike Myers - Reliever
Age: 36 Years Old (Turns 37 in June).
Three-Year History and splits:
Outlook: After holding the Yankees hitters to a .227 AVG and a 1.35 ERA (in 7.2 innings) over the last couple of years, the Yanks decided to add Mike Myers to their bullpen to the tune of $2.4 MILLION dollars...wait, wrong Mike Myers. Mike Myers is a LOOGY, no doubt about it. His sidearm motion is very effective on lefties but lets righties have a long look at what he's throwing, which is often junk. Mike's control was much better last year than it has been in years past and he did get a lot luckier on balls in play so we might see some regression in those areas. His main selling point is that for his career, he's held lefties to a .207 AVG (258 innings) while righties have tattooed him to a tune of .312 (199 innings). This hasn't exactly eased up with time either; over the last three years: .208/.278/.318/.595 vs. lefties and .331/.450/.509/.959 against righties. To beat the point to death, last year, righties put up a line even Joe DiMaggio would have envied: .385/.510/.641. The simple advice is don't pitch him against righties, but hey, that's practically impossible. Every manager (theoretically) will stagger their line-up and there will be lots of switching during the games to counter the relievers. Still, the pluses are many: Myers has one job and he does that as well as anyone, he doesn't give up many homeruns and has been working on ways to make himself less hittable to righties (we'll see about that one) and after last year's Buddy Groom/Wayne Franklin/Alan Embree adventure/fiasco, I think we can all turn to Mike and say, party on dude! Ahhh - someone stop me!
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
Age: 36 Years Old (Turns 37 in June).
Three-Year History and splits:
| SEASON | G | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W | L | SV | HD | BlSv | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 64 | 36.1 | 38 | 23 | 23 | 4 | 21 | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 5.70 |
| 2004 | 75 | 43.2 | 45 | 22 | 22 | 5 | 23 | 32 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 10 | -- | 4.64 |
| 2005 | 65 | 37.1 | 30 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 13 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 3.13 |
Outlook: After holding the Yankees hitters to a .227 AVG and a 1.35 ERA (in 7.2 innings) over the last couple of years, the Yanks decided to add Mike Myers to their bullpen to the tune of $2.4 MILLION dollars...wait, wrong Mike Myers. Mike Myers is a LOOGY, no doubt about it. His sidearm motion is very effective on lefties but lets righties have a long look at what he's throwing, which is often junk. Mike's control was much better last year than it has been in years past and he did get a lot luckier on balls in play so we might see some regression in those areas. His main selling point is that for his career, he's held lefties to a .207 AVG (258 innings) while righties have tattooed him to a tune of .312 (199 innings). This hasn't exactly eased up with time either; over the last three years: .208/.278/.318/.595 vs. lefties and .331/.450/.509/.959 against righties. To beat the point to death, last year, righties put up a line even Joe DiMaggio would have envied: .385/.510/.641. The simple advice is don't pitch him against righties, but hey, that's practically impossible. Every manager (theoretically) will stagger their line-up and there will be lots of switching during the games to counter the relievers. Still, the pluses are many: Myers has one job and he does that as well as anyone, he doesn't give up many homeruns and has been working on ways to make himself less hittable to righties (we'll see about that one) and after last year's Buddy Groom/Wayne Franklin/Alan Embree adventure/fiasco, I think we can all turn to Mike and say, party on dude! Ahhh - someone stop me!
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
| G | Innings | W | L | BB | K | HD | SV | BlSv | ERA |
|---|
Posted by: James
Tanyon Sturtze - Reliever
Age: 35 Years Old.
Three-Year History and splits:
Outlook: Another guy that personally, I think I would like. Tanyon seems like a good guy and he sticks up for his teammates but as a player, I can't help but think that his roster spot could be better utilized. To this point in his career (and he's not a young guy), Sturtze, at his absolute best, has been just about league average (and it's only happened twice in his 10 year career). However, there were rumblings of Sturtze 2.0 (credit RLYW for the nickname) that had been taught a cutter by the great Mariano and that Sturtze showed up for the first couple of months of 2005. However, that fell apart after after a spot start on July 4th where he threw 82 pitches. Whether or not it was the spot start or the overuse by Joe Torre that did it, Tanyon reverted back to Sturtze 1.0 and had off and on arm troubles that have continued to spring training of this year. Nevertheless, the Yankees felt compelled to pick up Sturtze's option if only to continue the tradition of keeping old players who aren't that good (especially when there are younger options that might stink as well but at least have some upside - insert Hubie Brown of Jay Bilas joke here). At this point, expecting a league-average season (or even an ERA under 4.5) out of Tanyon might be wishful thinking but one can dream, especially since Joe Torre considers Sturtze to be of the same caliber as Farnsworth.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
Age: 35 Years Old.
Three-Year History and splits:
| SEASON | G | GS | CG | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W | L | SV | HD | BlSv | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 40 | 8 | 0 | 89.1 | 107 | 67 | 59 | 14 | 43 | 54 | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | -- | 5.94 |
| 2004 | 28 | 3 | 0 | 77.1 | 75 | 49 | 47 | 9 | 33 | 56 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.47 |
| 2005 | 64 | 1 | 0 | 78.0 | 76 | 43 | 41 | 10 | 27 | 45 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 5 | 4.73 |
Outlook: Another guy that personally, I think I would like. Tanyon seems like a good guy and he sticks up for his teammates but as a player, I can't help but think that his roster spot could be better utilized. To this point in his career (and he's not a young guy), Sturtze, at his absolute best, has been just about league average (and it's only happened twice in his 10 year career). However, there were rumblings of Sturtze 2.0 (credit RLYW for the nickname) that had been taught a cutter by the great Mariano and that Sturtze showed up for the first couple of months of 2005. However, that fell apart after after a spot start on July 4th where he threw 82 pitches. Whether or not it was the spot start or the overuse by Joe Torre that did it, Tanyon reverted back to Sturtze 1.0 and had off and on arm troubles that have continued to spring training of this year. Nevertheless, the Yankees felt compelled to pick up Sturtze's option if only to continue the tradition of keeping old players who aren't that good (especially when there are younger options that might stink as well but at least have some upside - insert Hubie Brown of Jay Bilas joke here). At this point, expecting a league-average season (or even an ERA under 4.5) out of Tanyon might be wishful thinking but one can dream, especially since Joe Torre considers Sturtze to be of the same caliber as Farnsworth.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
| G | GS | Innings | W | L | BB | K | Hld | SV | ERA |
|---|
03/27: The House That George Built
Posted by: James
Steve L. over at WasWatching posts a picture of the new Yankee Stadium site from a neat site that will be tracking the progress of the project. The website doesn't seem too enamored with the proposal but I haven't had a chance to check out the ins and outs of why they take that position. Going to school in for 4 years in PA and then living here for the last 3 years has positioned me well outside of the loop in regards to the pros and cons of the new stadium. If anyone reading has any thoughts, please feel free to enlighten me.
Posted by: James
Aaron Small - Reliever
Age: 34 Years Old.
Three-Year History and splits:
Outlook: Simply put, Aaron Small came of out nowhere to pick up 10 wins (and quite possibly save the 2005 season) for the Yankees and the chance of that happening again (in my mind) is slim. Small's career is the definition of the term journeyman - he began pitching in pro-ball in 1989 at the age of 17, and he's 34 now. This is no case of a player being held down in the minors either. He hasn't even been good enough to get tagged with the "AAAA player" label as his career ERA in AAA, in 871 innings, is 4.92 with a WHIP of 1.41. Still, baseball is a funny game - maybe he's finally figured something out that had been missing and maybe he's not just a fluke who benefitted from very good luck on balls in play. Maybe it was just his time to catch fire so that he could get a big payday after toiling so long in the minors ($1.2 million, $800K after taxes in an annuity @ 8% would give you a little over $60K tax-free for the next 40 years - not bad as a secondary source of income, right?). Whatever it is/was, Aaron Small was a wonderful surprise and a great story in 2005 and if he repeats his performance, I will be first in line to congratulate the man and wish him well. Based on his history though, I just can't see it happening.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
Age: 34 Years Old.
Three-Year History and splits:
| SEASON | Level | G | GS | CG | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W | L | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | AA | 8 | 7 | 0 | 41.0 | 47 | 23 | 22 | 5 | 14 | 24 | 3 | 4 | 4.83 |
| 2003 | AAA | 14 | 14 | 0 | 89.1 | 95 | 50 | 46 | 12 | 18 | 56 | 6 | 4 | 4.63 |
| 2004 | AAA | 27 | 24 | 2 | 154.2 | 199 | 95 | 87 | 18 | 29 | 109 | 9 | 9 | 5.06 |
| 2004 | MLB | 7 | 0 | 0 | 16.1 | 24 | 15 | 15 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 8.27 |
| 2005 | AA | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5.0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3.60 |
| 2005 | AAA | 11 | 10 | 0 | 49.0 | 62 | 30 | 27 | 5 | 8 | 21 | 1 | 4 | 4.96 |
| 2005 | MLB | 15 | 9 | 1 | 76.0 | 71 | 27 | 27 | 4 | 24 | 37 | 10 | 0 | 3.20 |
Outlook: Simply put, Aaron Small came of out nowhere to pick up 10 wins (and quite possibly save the 2005 season) for the Yankees and the chance of that happening again (in my mind) is slim. Small's career is the definition of the term journeyman - he began pitching in pro-ball in 1989 at the age of 17, and he's 34 now. This is no case of a player being held down in the minors either. He hasn't even been good enough to get tagged with the "AAAA player" label as his career ERA in AAA, in 871 innings, is 4.92 with a WHIP of 1.41. Still, baseball is a funny game - maybe he's finally figured something out that had been missing and maybe he's not just a fluke who benefitted from very good luck on balls in play. Maybe it was just his time to catch fire so that he could get a big payday after toiling so long in the minors ($1.2 million, $800K after taxes in an annuity @ 8% would give you a little over $60K tax-free for the next 40 years - not bad as a secondary source of income, right?). Whatever it is/was, Aaron Small was a wonderful surprise and a great story in 2005 and if he repeats his performance, I will be first in line to congratulate the man and wish him well. Based on his history though, I just can't see it happening.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
| G | GS | Innings | W | L | BB | K | Hld | SV | ERA |
|---|
Posted by: Patrick
Steve Lombardi posted a list of the Mike's in Yankee history, concluding that Mussina is the greatest and he did the same for a number of other first names.
03/24: Hee...Seop...Aww, Nuts!
Posted by: James
This could be a very significant move in the AL playoff race this year as the Red Sox claimed Hee-Seop Choi off waivers.
I was hoping that the Yankees would take a shot at him when there were rumors that the Dodgers would non-tender him last season. That proved not to be the case but the things I liked about him then ring true today. He is young and I believe that he is good. The move is great for the Red Sox in two ways: A) It gives them insurance in case Mike Lowell is all washed up as they can just move Kevin Youkilis back to third while slotting Choi in at first and B) the move gives them backup in case Youkilis and J.T. Snow are the ones who can't hit. And of course, just having a lefty masher who plays good defense on the bench is still a great asset and as much as I hate that stupid Boy Wonder title that Epstein gets, he is certainly a very capable GM. Very nice move.
A native of Chun Nam, South Korea, Choi has played all or part of four major league seasons with the Cubs (2002-03), Marlins (2004) and Dodgers (2004-05). The first Korean-born position player to appear in a major league game when he made his big league debut with the Cubs September 8, 2002, Choi is a career .240 hitter with 40 home runs, 120 RBI and a .349 on-base percentage in 363 major league games.
The left-handed batter and thrower boasts a career .992 fielding percentage at first base, committing only 18 errors in 2,387 total chances. Choi made just two errors in 762 total chances at first base in 2005 with the Dodgers, tied for the second-best fielding percentage (.997) among all National League first basemen with 750 or more total chances. The 27-year-old Choi last season matched his career high by hitting 15 home runs for the second straight year, batting .253 with 15 doubles and 42 RBI in 133 games for the Dodgers. He became the first major league player of Asian descent to homer three times in a game when he did so June 12 vs. Minnesota.
The left-handed batter and thrower boasts a career .992 fielding percentage at first base, committing only 18 errors in 2,387 total chances. Choi made just two errors in 762 total chances at first base in 2005 with the Dodgers, tied for the second-best fielding percentage (.997) among all National League first basemen with 750 or more total chances. The 27-year-old Choi last season matched his career high by hitting 15 home runs for the second straight year, batting .253 with 15 doubles and 42 RBI in 133 games for the Dodgers. He became the first major league player of Asian descent to homer three times in a game when he did so June 12 vs. Minnesota.
I was hoping that the Yankees would take a shot at him when there were rumors that the Dodgers would non-tender him last season. That proved not to be the case but the things I liked about him then ring true today. He is young and I believe that he is good. The move is great for the Red Sox in two ways: A) It gives them insurance in case Mike Lowell is all washed up as they can just move Kevin Youkilis back to third while slotting Choi in at first and B) the move gives them backup in case Youkilis and J.T. Snow are the ones who can't hit. And of course, just having a lefty masher who plays good defense on the bench is still a great asset and as much as I hate that stupid Boy Wonder title that Epstein gets, he is certainly a very capable GM. Very nice move.
Posted by: James
Octavio Dotel - Reliever
Age: 31 Years Old (Turns 32 in June).
Three-Year History and splits:
Outlook: I thought that the Dotel signing was one of the best ones of the offseason (though I would have preferred a two-year deal but I guess you do what you have to do to add the guy). By now, everyone knows the story with Dotel. He started last season as the closer for the A's but had Tommy John surgery on June 6 after having pitched in only 15 games (this was done against the advice of the Athletics, who wanted him to try some R&R first). Dotel's continued with rehab since then, signed a one-year deal with the Yankees and will begin the season on the DL and depending on who you ask, will be ready to pitch anywhere from mid-May to the end of June.
To get a historical perspective on Dotel, keep this in mind. As a reliever, he has 481 strikeouts (11.49 Ks per 9) while giving up 268 hits in 390 innings since the start of the 2001 season, the most (by far) in the majors while putting up a 2.68 ERA. This is even more impressive considering this includes last season, which was lost due to his injury. His closest comparision is probably to an older Brad Lidge. If healthy, he and an effective Farnsworth could provide a lights-out bridge to Mariano.
What are his negatives? Well, he gives up more home runs than you would like (he's a fly ball pitcher - 0.51 G/F ratio in 2004), he's coming off an injury (though he has been pretty durable prior to the surgery) and he apparently doesn't have the "mental edge" (or whatever it is) to be an effective closer. He has found far more success as a set-up man than he has as a closer so hopefully, this will be a good experience for him. If nothing else, he can teach the rest of the Yankees pitchers how to live with some flair.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
Age: 31 Years Old (Turns 32 in June).
Three-Year History and splits:
| SEASON | G | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | W | L | SV | HD | BlSv | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 76 | 87.0 | 53 | 25 | 24 | 9 | 31 | 97 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 33 | 2 | 2.48 |
| 2004 | 77 | 85.1 | 68 | 38 | 35 | 13 | 33 | 122 | 6 | 6 | 36 | 0 | 9 | 3.69 |
| 2005 | 15 | 15.1 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 11 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 3.52 |
Outlook: I thought that the Dotel signing was one of the best ones of the offseason (though I would have preferred a two-year deal but I guess you do what you have to do to add the guy). By now, everyone knows the story with Dotel. He started last season as the closer for the A's but had Tommy John surgery on June 6 after having pitched in only 15 games (this was done against the advice of the Athletics, who wanted him to try some R&R first). Dotel's continued with rehab since then, signed a one-year deal with the Yankees and will begin the season on the DL and depending on who you ask, will be ready to pitch anywhere from mid-May to the end of June.
To get a historical perspective on Dotel, keep this in mind. As a reliever, he has 481 strikeouts (11.49 Ks per 9) while giving up 268 hits in 390 innings since the start of the 2001 season, the most (by far) in the majors while putting up a 2.68 ERA. This is even more impressive considering this includes last season, which was lost due to his injury. His closest comparision is probably to an older Brad Lidge. If healthy, he and an effective Farnsworth could provide a lights-out bridge to Mariano.
What are his negatives? Well, he gives up more home runs than you would like (he's a fly ball pitcher - 0.51 G/F ratio in 2004), he's coming off an injury (though he has been pretty durable prior to the surgery) and he apparently doesn't have the "mental edge" (or whatever it is) to be an effective closer. He has found far more success as a set-up man than he has as a closer so hopefully, this will be a good experience for him. If nothing else, he can teach the rest of the Yankees pitchers how to live with some flair.
Please post your predictions for the following stat line in the comments section:
| G | Innings | W | L | BB | K | HD | SV | BlSv | ERA |
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