When Your Replacement Level Is Declan Mulholland
Posted by Steve L. on March 18th, 2010 · Comments (11)
Some numbers to check out:
| BF | ERA+ | WHIP | H/9 | HR/9 | BB/9 | SO/9 | SO/BB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | 1204 | 0.750 | 4.5 | 0.4 | 2.3 | 12.8 | 5.67 |
| 417 | 171 | 1.256 | 7.8 | 0.4 | 3.5 | 10.6 | 3.03 |
| 709 | 90 | 1.544 | 9.6 | 1.2 | 4.3 | 7.6 | 1.75 |
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So, here’s the point here. These numbers are three consecutive seasons in a pitcher’s career. Note that the more he pitches – in terms of years under his belt and increased workload (meaning Batters Faced) – the worse he gets…across the board. He allows more base-runners (WHIP, H/9, BB/9) and more homers (HR/9) while striking-out less (SO/9) and allowing more to score (ERA+). Oh, and his command (SO/BB) gets worse and worse. Any ideas on who this pitcher is?
Yes, it’s Joba Chamberlain. Exciting, huh?
I guessed correctly! what do I win?
[...] no longer on an innings watch but Hughes is, is a fair one. But Steve Lombardi at Was Watching concisely presents the other side noting that in his brief youthful career Joba has seen is preformance decline the more innings he [...]
Scout wrote:
A great big “Attaboy!”
This is a skewed look at Joba, and if you put a cross section of his season last year around the time when he hits his career innings high, you’ll see that this could all be a lot of nothing.
@ Corey Italiano:
I’m believing that less and less. I’m not too far away from being convinced he’s a reliever.
@ MJ Recanati:
Nothing has changed between now and then except you getting bombarded with articles like these. All I’m saying is keep that in mind.
@ Corey Italiano:
I agree, spring training isn’t very important and I’m not taking his generally slow spring as an indicator.
All I’m saying is that there’s a lot about Joba that no longer indicates the ability to be a good MLB starter. He’s a two-pitch pitcher with poor command and declining velocity.
I’m prepared to give him all of 2010 to prove that he’s a starter. If 2010 looks like 2009, sorry, I can’t buy that he’s anything more than a relief pitcher. Honestly, if that’s how it turns out, it’s not the end of the world. There’s a lot of value in that too.
MJ Recanati wrote:
That’s fair, but let’s give it 2010 before we start casting doubt…
Then again, we did this last year with Andy, and we saw how well that turned out. So perhaps the fact that you think he’ll tank is just good luck?
@ Corey Italiano:
LOL.
Furthermore, you’re not remembering your facts correctly. I praised Andy PLENTY of times last year. You’re focusing on the 6-8 start stretch in May where he was horrible and I was (fairly and justly) pointing it out.
@ MJ Recanati:
You sure you weren’t on the pre-season bandwagon that Andy had nothing left in the tank? I coulda sworn.
@ Corey Italiano:
Not at all. I was satisfied that Cashman played hardball with Pettitte, given how poor his 2008 went down the stretch and I was skeptical of how much the Yanks were relying on him but, no, I never ripped the signing or trashed Andy when he didn’t deserve it.
I love Andy, always have and always will. I proudly took park in “P46.” I just called him out when he deserved to be called out.