Thursday, April 29, 2004
20-Game Stat Look
I said before that I thought you needed to wait at least 20 games before using (cumulative) stats responsibly. So, 21 games in, and where are the Diamondbacks?
Hitting
The Diamondbacks currently rank 5th in the NL in OPS (non-park adjusted) at .809. They trail only the Rockies in the NL West in this category. Even better, they rank 2nd in the NL in OPS w/ 2 outs at .849, again trailing the Rockies. So as a team, they're doing OK. As for individuals, clearly Danny Bautista has far outstripped any reasonable expectation for him as his 1.067 OPS exceeds his lifetime high by .200 (in an injury-shortened 2002). It won't last, of course, but it's been a nice rebound from a disappointing 2003. Luis Gonzalez is having another quietly good season, while Richie Sexson makes up for his .241 batting average by drawing his fair share of walks and hitting the living tar out of the ball. Chad Tracy has taken advantage of his opportunity, while Matt Kata and Alex Cintron have done fine, too. Finley may be getting on track. The catcher position, well, it's not a glaring weakness. Again, overall, hitting is fine.
Pitching
It's harder to judge pitchers (Casey's had just 3 appearances, for example), but I'll try.
Johnson? Check (save a couple bad innings). Webb? Check (save the first inning). Everybody else? Duck and cover, folks. Elmer can't get out of the 6th inning to save his life. Daigle's game-by-game ERA has been 27.0, 13.5, 3.9. Three games is an awfully small sample size, but what say we give him at least 3 more games to settle into the major leagues. Sparks, after getting shelled in the first 2 games, has had the following ERAs (includes 2 relief stints): 3.2, 0.0, 0.0, 1.3. This shouldn't be a settling-in issue, so I'm not sure I should be excluding those first 2 games, but I'm willing to believe those will be the exception, not the rule (which isn't to say we should expect a 1.7 ERA from here on out, either). The problems of the bullpen are legendary, so I won't go into further detail, so I'll just leave one suggestion. Stephen Randolph's ERA: 2.45; Randy Choate's ERA: 9.39. Who do you think should be given more opportunities as the left-handed setup man?
I'll be out-of-town this weekend and unable to update. Back next week. Thanks for reading.
Hitting
The Diamondbacks currently rank 5th in the NL in OPS (non-park adjusted) at .809. They trail only the Rockies in the NL West in this category. Even better, they rank 2nd in the NL in OPS w/ 2 outs at .849, again trailing the Rockies. So as a team, they're doing OK. As for individuals, clearly Danny Bautista has far outstripped any reasonable expectation for him as his 1.067 OPS exceeds his lifetime high by .200 (in an injury-shortened 2002). It won't last, of course, but it's been a nice rebound from a disappointing 2003. Luis Gonzalez is having another quietly good season, while Richie Sexson makes up for his .241 batting average by drawing his fair share of walks and hitting the living tar out of the ball. Chad Tracy has taken advantage of his opportunity, while Matt Kata and Alex Cintron have done fine, too. Finley may be getting on track. The catcher position, well, it's not a glaring weakness. Again, overall, hitting is fine.
Pitching
It's harder to judge pitchers (Casey's had just 3 appearances, for example), but I'll try.
Johnson? Check (save a couple bad innings). Webb? Check (save the first inning). Everybody else? Duck and cover, folks. Elmer can't get out of the 6th inning to save his life. Daigle's game-by-game ERA has been 27.0, 13.5, 3.9. Three games is an awfully small sample size, but what say we give him at least 3 more games to settle into the major leagues. Sparks, after getting shelled in the first 2 games, has had the following ERAs (includes 2 relief stints): 3.2, 0.0, 0.0, 1.3. This shouldn't be a settling-in issue, so I'm not sure I should be excluding those first 2 games, but I'm willing to believe those will be the exception, not the rule (which isn't to say we should expect a 1.7 ERA from here on out, either). The problems of the bullpen are legendary, so I won't go into further detail, so I'll just leave one suggestion. Stephen Randolph's ERA: 2.45; Randy Choate's ERA: 9.39. Who do you think should be given more opportunities as the left-handed setup man?
I'll be out-of-town this weekend and unable to update. Back next week. Thanks for reading.
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