Three pitchers with ties to the New York Mets excelled over the weekend. One's on the Mets roster, one's on the Mets Triple-A team, and one's an ex-Met.
First, the current Met.
Mike Pelfrey has had a rough season with the Men of Shea. Going into Saturday's pressure-filled game at Atlanta, he'd lost seven of his nine starts in the majors without a win in a season some have said should have been spent in Triple-A until the September call-ups. But on Saturday, Pelfrey proved the naysayers wrong. In six innings he surrendered one hit, three walks, and only one run while striking out seven.
He threw a lot of pitches, 99 (51 were strikes), but he's not alone in doing that. Both Maine and Perez also usually have high pitch counts. More important, he notched his first win.
Next, the ex-Met.
Today, espn.com contained this headline: "Don't look now, but ... has 12 wins and is building a good case for AL Rookie of the Year."
Though on various discussion boards know-it-alls have knocked this pitcher, I've never wavered in my belief that the Mets never should have traded him. His name is Brian Bannister. Yesterday, he won again. In eight innings, he gave up six hits and a run to lower his ERA to 3.15. And he's not pitching for a pennant contender. He's pitching for the Kansas City Royals, whose record is 61-75.
The Mets traded Bannister for Ambiorix Burgos who's helped the Mets very little this season and will likely miss most, if not all, of next season due to recent Tommy John Surgery. This trade could go down as one of Mets General Manager Omar Minaya's worst trades in a season in which he's done little to make the Mets better than they were in 2006.
It also makes me question Minaya's ability to judge pitching talent. There's more to pitching ability than how high on the radar gun a pitcher's fastball registers and how many batters a pitcher strikes out.
Last, the yet-to-be Met.
Sunday, Kevin Mulvey started his first game in Triple-A after spending the season with the Binghamton Mets. The promotion to the Mets highest minor league farm team, the Zephyrs, didn't phase him. In six innings he didn't give up either a run or a walk and limited Round Rock to two hits. Equally impressive was his control. He threw 79 pitches; 52 (66%) were strikes.
Hopefully, Minaya won't be as hasty in parting company with Pelfrey and Mulvey as he was with Bannister.
Showing posts with label Bannister. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bannister. Show all posts
Monday, September 3, 2007
Monday, August 20, 2007
A better starting rotation
Yesterday's amazing performance against the Nats by the 41-year-old Orlando Hernandez makes me wish the Mets had a four-man rotation, as teams in years past did with their starters. With that rotation, Hernandez and Tom Glavine could pitch more games while the other three starters, John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Brian Lawrence would get fewer starts.
Further, given the performance of the Mets starters beyond Glavine and Hernandez, for my third starter I'd prefer Brian Bannister. This past Friday Bannister pitched a complete game for Kansas City, picking up his ninth win. Only two Mets have pitched complete games this season. Glavine and Maine have each pitched one.
Who would I take as my fourth starter? John Maine. My fifth starter would be Perez.
A way to measure a pitcher's effectiveness is through the use of two statistics: VORP and WARP.
Here is the 2006 VORP and WARP for each member of my starting rotation.
VORP means Value Above Replacement Player. For a pitcher, a positive number represents the number of fewer runs that the pitcher prevented the other teams from scoring compared with what a replacement-level pitcher would have surrendered. A negative VORP means that he gave up more runs than a replacement-level pitcher would have. Looking at the VORPs in the above table, Glavine was the most valuable starter on the Mets.
For the Mets, Jason Vargas, Mike Pelfrey, and Dave Williams, all of whom have been Triple-A call-ups this season, represent replacement-level pitchers.
WARP means Wins Above Replacement Player. WARP refers to the number of additional games a pitcher won for his team beyond what a replacement-level pitcher would have won. For example, last season Glavine won 15 games. In his place, a replacement-level pitcher would have won about nine.
Why would I make Bannister my #3 starter ahead of Maine and Perez? Since the All-Star break he's gone 4-2 with a 2.64 ERA. In comparison, though Maine had a higher VORP last season than did Bannister, this season since the break Maine's been 3-3 with a 6.31 ERA and Perez has been 4-2 with a 4.39.
By the way, Ambiorix Burgos, the reliever whom the Mets traded Bannister for, is not even in the majors. He was pitching for the GCL Mets, a Rookie League team, and just joined the Zephyrs.
Further, given the performance of the Mets starters beyond Glavine and Hernandez, for my third starter I'd prefer Brian Bannister. This past Friday Bannister pitched a complete game for Kansas City, picking up his ninth win. Only two Mets have pitched complete games this season. Glavine and Maine have each pitched one.
Who would I take as my fourth starter? John Maine. My fifth starter would be Perez.
A way to measure a pitcher's effectiveness is through the use of two statistics: VORP and WARP.
Here is the 2006 VORP and WARP for each member of my starting rotation.
| Pitcher | VORP | WARP | Wins |
| Glavine | 37.1 | 5.5 | 15 |
| Hernandez | 19.4 | 3.5 | 9 |
| Bannister | 6.8 | 1.0 | 0 |
| Maine | 19.3 | 3.0 | 6 |
| Perez | -1.9 | 0.3 | 1 |
VORP means Value Above Replacement Player. For a pitcher, a positive number represents the number of fewer runs that the pitcher prevented the other teams from scoring compared with what a replacement-level pitcher would have surrendered. A negative VORP means that he gave up more runs than a replacement-level pitcher would have. Looking at the VORPs in the above table, Glavine was the most valuable starter on the Mets.
For the Mets, Jason Vargas, Mike Pelfrey, and Dave Williams, all of whom have been Triple-A call-ups this season, represent replacement-level pitchers.
WARP means Wins Above Replacement Player. WARP refers to the number of additional games a pitcher won for his team beyond what a replacement-level pitcher would have won. For example, last season Glavine won 15 games. In his place, a replacement-level pitcher would have won about nine.
Why would I make Bannister my #3 starter ahead of Maine and Perez? Since the All-Star break he's gone 4-2 with a 2.64 ERA. In comparison, though Maine had a higher VORP last season than did Bannister, this season since the break Maine's been 3-3 with a 6.31 ERA and Perez has been 4-2 with a 4.39.
By the way, Ambiorix Burgos, the reliever whom the Mets traded Bannister for, is not even in the majors. He was pitching for the GCL Mets, a Rookie League team, and just joined the Zephyrs.
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