Batter's Box Interactive Magazine - Weekend Notes: Washburn to Mariners

According to CBS Sportsline.com Jarrod Washburn is close to signing with the Mariners for four years and between $36 and $38 million.

Washburn has a career record of 75-57 so he's obviously a better bargain than AJ Burnett, right?

Washburn is an extreme fly ball pitcher - his career GB/FB ratio is .74:1 - so Safeco Field will be a good fit for him (but what pitcher wouldn't benefit?).

Comparison time:

Pitcher:  IP  	 K/G  	BB/G  	HR/G  
Washburn 177.3	 4.9	2.6	1.0
X        208.7	 4.9	1.3	1.1

Pitcher X is none other than Josh Towers. If he can make 2005 the norm rather than the exception he'll be a very rich man three years from now.

Posted by Pistol on Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 09:45 AM EST.

Weekend Notes: Washburn to Mariners | 68 comments | Create New Account

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Donkit R.K. - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 09:48 AM EST (#136803) #

I like that Towers doesn't get to be a "very rich man" for another three years. If Towers regresses, then the Jays look like they overpaid a la Hinske and (arguably) Wells. I think Towers has the control and the mindset to be worth the extension and then some, however - underrated signing by the Jays.

Blue in SK - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 12:00 PM EST (#136808) #

From the Fort Worth Star Telegram - "Orlando Hudson of Toronto is available, but the Rangers aren't interested in giving up outfielder Kevin Mench and first baseman Adrian Gonzalez." Seems like the Rangers and Jays are still talking.

Mick Doherty - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 12:59 PM EST (#136810) #

No, according to local DFW media, the signing yesterday of D'Angelo Jiminez to provide competition at 2B for young Ian Kinsler takes Texas out of the running for Hudson. And if TO was asking for Mench AND Gonzalez, then Jon Daniels wasn't talking, he was laughing.

jmoney - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 01:09 PM EST (#136811) #

I agree that's a bad trade for the Rangers. However, its a bad deal for the Jays too.

I really wish these Hudson rumours would go away.

Pistol - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 01:30 PM EST (#136812) #

If the Jays made that offer with Hudson I suspect it was to indirectly say to the Rangers "quit asking about Hudson".

Anyway, now that the Jays have Overbay I don't think they need a 4th 1B so I think that's just an old rumor that made its way into the paper.

Mike Green - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 02:10 PM EST (#136814) #

Here's an early look at potential non-tenders. The deadline for tendering arbitration-eligible players is Tuesday. Non-tenders become free agents. There are some familiar names being bandied about: Hee Seop Choi and Russell Branyan. We'll wait to see if those players and perhaps some surprises are available.

The obvious header for articles about this deadline is "Love Me, Tender". Elvis is not in the building, though, so we won't.

Matthew E - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 02:26 PM EST (#136815) #

The obvious header for articles about this deadline is "Love Me, Tender".

Not "Try a Little Tenderness"?

Nick - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 02:57 PM EST (#136816) #

I'd much rather have Orlando Hudson than Kevin Mench and Adrian Gonzalez.

Skills - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 03:10 PM EST (#136817) #

Same here, only way I'd trade Hudson to Texas would be in a deal for Texeira, which of course is not going to happen. And even in that case, I'd still be reluctant, Hudson's value to the Jays' is greater than his value appears if you isolate his stats. We need him to scoop up the grounders for Doc and AJ.

Jim - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 03:11 PM EST (#136818) #

I wouldn't mind seeing the Jays sign Jason Phillips if he's non-tendered.

Kingsley Zissou - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 03:22 PM EST (#136819) #

Put me in the camp that believes Corey Patterson will be a different player once he's out of the Cubs organization. He could be a real steal.

Jim - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 03:27 PM EST (#136820) #

Well Patterson is someone a lot of people would like to take a chance on. One guy who probably won't want to take a chance on? JP Riccardi.

Why?

Strikeouts/PA the past 4 seasons
144/628
72/347
168!/687
118/481

23.4% of his plate appearances in the last 4 ML seasons have ended in strikeouts.

einsof - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 03:59 PM EST (#136821) #

The Pirates claim they're looking for a 3rd baseman--We can help them---What do you guys think of Craig Wilson? His numbers seem reasonable-- Some combo of Hinske/Batista or Koskie or Shea--Comments?

TA - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 04:02 PM EST (#136822) #

Have to agree that Phillips would be desirable. The splits tell the story.

Malcolm Little - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 04:25 PM EST (#136823) #

Is Wilson really worth so much as Hinske and Bastista? Am I missing something, or should I really be lowering my expectations when Batista could not fetch even the likes of Mench?

Mike Green - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 04:44 PM EST (#136824) #

Not "Try a Little Tenderness"?

Great tune, but sad to say, Otis too is not in the building. I'll just have to spin the black circle...Besides, I wasn't suggesting that tendering was necessarily a good thing. On the other hand, tenderness is always.:)

Wildrose - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 05:30 PM EST (#136825) #

Rosenthal corners the rumour market.

Geoff - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 06:07 PM EST (#136826) #

I made this post in another thread about the possibility of moving Hinske in a package for Wilson.

Wouldn't it be nice to get the Jays' second round pick of 1995 back in the fold... perhaps he could blossom as well as the Jays' first-rounder?

The Bone - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 06:12 PM EST (#136827) #

I thought up Kearns for Batista and the Cat awhile ago so nice to see Jays were thinking something similar - but adding the Cat is just baseless speculation on my part - to me that would entice the Reds to complete the deal (Cat-Griffey-Pena outfield with Dunn at first is quite palatable and they need a closer) and Kearns would give us a balanced lineup (Adams-Kearns-Overbay-Wells-Koskie-Shea-Zaun-Hudson-Rios), as wellas spectacular defense

All things being equal, I'd rather have Craig Wilson and Wes Helms than Shea Hillenbrand and Eric Hinske, so if we could trade Shea for Wilson and pick up Helms, I think the salary savings would allow us to pay some team to take Hinske off our hands

Ron - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 07:05 PM EST (#136828) #

"After signing his five-year, $55 million contract with the Blue Jays, Burnett thanked his agent, Darek Braunecker, in a big way. Burnett asked Braunecker and his wife, Shelley, to fly from their home in Little Rock, Ark., and meet him in Melbourne, Fla. Braunecker's gift was waiting: A 2006 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, fully loaded and lifted. Sticker price: Nearly $40,000"

Nice gesture from AJ. Don't forget AJ has also donated $250,000 ($50,000 per year in his deal)to the Jays Care foundation.

Ron - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 07:15 PM EST (#136829) #

GQ and Rios are struggling at the plate in Winter Ball
http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20051216&content_id=1282975&vkey=news_tor&fext=.jsp&c_id=tor

Catcher Guillermo Quiroz, 23, is batting .173 in 16 games for his hometown Zulia Aguilas in the Venezuelan League.
The backstop has three RBIs and one extra-base hit for the Aguilas.

A former league MVP, Rios has played in five games for Caguas (9-16), collecting two hits.

Twilight - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 07:22 PM EST (#136830) #

Yeah, BJ Ryan also donated 250 large. Pretty cool.

rtcaino - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 07:25 PM EST (#136831) #

Certainly not good news. I wonder why Rios isn't getting many at bats? Hopefully GQ can get his act together. At that level of production, we would have been been better off keeping Huckaby.

John Northey - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 07:26 PM EST (#136832) #

Hmm. Hee Seop Choi as a free agent? Tempting as many seem to be down on him even though just a year ago he was a hot property. He is 27 next season, lifetime 240/349/437 but in '04 was 251/370/449. 253/336/453 last season, but was screwed around a lot by the manager in LA (320 AB's over 133 games). Sadly is a left handed hitter thus isn't what JP is looking for but if he sticks on the market for awhile and the Jays trade both Hinske and Hilly to clear salary room and get a good hitting RF then it might make sense. I expect to see Choi in an A's uniform in '06 though, if he goes as cheap as I suspect he will (around $1-2 million).

6-4-3 - Saturday, December 17 2005 @ 08:36 PM EST (#136833) #

If Choi is non-tendered, I'd like to see the Jays be interested in him but there doesn't seem to be any space. Hinske, Overbay, and Hillenbrand take up the 1B / DH spots, even if one of Hinske or Hillenbrand is traded. But I'm also not sure that the A's have any room. They now have Kotsay / Bradley / Payton in the outfield, so Swisher might move to first. DH is filled by Dan Johnson, so there's not much room for Choi in Oakland, either.

StephenT - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 12:03 AM EST (#136835) #

fyi: I'm not sure if this has been mentioned here before, but I just noticed that the 2006 Jays Schedule includes road games now. e.g. The Jays play in Denver for the first time on May 19, and their final 6 games include 3 in Detroit and 3 in Yankee Stadium.

The_Game - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 02:18 AM EST (#136836) #

"Nomar Garciaparra has agreed in principle to a one-year deal with the Dodgers with a base salary of $6 million, according to the Boston Herald.
It appears likely that Garciaparra will play first base, which should lead to Hee Seop Choi being traded or non-tendered by Tuesday's deadline. Garciaparra figures to bat fifth behind J.D. Drew and Jeff Kent in the Los Angeles lineup."

Interesting, I wonder what Ricciardi was offering?

Pistol - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 09:32 AM EST (#136840) #

Blair indicated that the Jays dropped out when the offers exceeded $5 million for Nomar.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20051101.wblai/BNStory/Sports/?pageRequested=2

Magpie - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 11:01 AM EST (#136841) #

I wonder why Rios isn't getting many at bats?

Alas, ESPN's Spanish site has stats for all the winter leagues except Puerto Rico. There's probably just a few outfielders who happen to be hitting better than Rios (and Negron) this week.

VBF - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 11:41 AM EST (#136842) #

According to the Toronto Star, the most searched topics of Yahoo! Canada in 2005 were, in order:

The Toronto Blue Jays
The Toronto Maple Leafs
Tour De France
Ottawa Senators
Montreal Canadiens

I'm not sure if those were the actual top 5 in all of Yahoo Canada or if just out of those five, but it's certainly interesting to note that we have the Leafs on this one.

Blue in SK - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 11:56 AM EST (#136843) #

From the Twin Cities Pioneer Press - "Word is the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox have interest in free-agent ex-Twin Matthew LeCroy, who could also have an opportunity to play in Japan."

263/327/447 career line

He does like hitting lefties - 307/382/554 (3 year splits), but do we need another DH/1B? As a catcher he does have more pop than Zaun. And, I'm not sure who he would replace on the roster.

I noticed something else as I was reading Zaun's stats page, my perception was that Zaun was a much better hitter from the left side than the right side. Turns out he is pretty much the same from both sides of the plate. Here are his 3 year splits;

vs RH - 245/351/377
vs LH - 281/353/374

Just a small bump in batting average, but the OBP and SLG remain the same.

VBF - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 12:00 PM EST (#136844) #

That's actually the top 5 sports searches in Canada.

Blue in SK - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 12:03 PM EST (#136845) #

And, from the Cincinnati Enquirer - "O'Brien said the club is talking to a pitcher whom the Reds see in a swing role.

"It's someone we could use in a starting role and have pitch in relief as well," O'Brien said. "I'd rather not say who, because we're in the preliminary stages."

Now, to me that screams Miggy, but if you note is says the Reds are talking to the pitcher so unless tampering is now allowed that excludes El Artista. The only way it would make sense is if the Reds received permission to try and sign him to an extension.

timpinder - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 12:58 PM EST (#136846) #

LeCroy might be a good option if the Jays can't trade Hinske. They could platoon DH since Hinske hits righties well and LeCroy hits lefties well. That would allow J.P. to trade Hillenbrand and free up some money.

Any idea how much LeCroy's going to cost?

Wildrose - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 01:26 PM EST (#136847) #

Any idea how much LeCroy's going to cost?

He'll probably get market value as his agent is Boras. Having fairly dealt with Schoeneweis, another Boras client, can only help the Jays.

actionjackson - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 01:27 PM EST (#136848) #

I would think LeCroy would come reasonably cheap, as he should only be taken seriously as a hitter against LHP. That being said he should be taken VERY seriously against LHP. There might be some foolish team out there that wants to pay him to be a fulltime DH, which would escalate his price. He made $750,000 in his first year of arb eligibility last year, but I believe the Twins have cut ties with him, so I'm not sure what that does to his status. Do other bauxites with more knowledge of the business end of the game know? Perhaps 1 year at $1mil would suffice?

actionjackson - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 01:41 PM EST (#136849) #

Cancel above comment, I had no idea Boras was his agent. I can see the booklet now: "the right handed sultan of swat" "can catch, DH and play 1B flawlessly, can even pitch in a pinch" "3 years $18mil minimum offer" etc. Yeah, I know his clients are all happy with him, but he and his booklets make me laugh. e.g. suggesting Johnny Damon is the most durable player since Cal Ripken Jr. From looking over Damon's numbers Boras is using AB totals, not GP totals to justify this claim, glossing over the fact that for most of Johnny's career he's hit at the top of the lineup, while Ripken was more of a middle of the order type. Of course, there's a sucker born every minute, and all it takes is 1 of the 30 teams going whole hog and boom! Boras' client (and Boras) hit another huge payday.

Cristian - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 01:47 PM EST (#136850) #

According to the Toronto Star, the most searched topics of Yahoo! Canada in 2005 were, in order:

I'm shocked anyone still uses Yahoo for their searches. I suppose it's the same people who read the Toronto Star.

Wildrose - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 01:52 PM EST (#136851) #

Hard to determine his value. His agent Boras will explore every possible avenue ( he's talking about sending him to Japan),play team off against other team, he'll take his time to maximize value. I like LeCroy but signing him will not be easy, I think the Jays will look at other options first.

HollywoodHartman - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 01:52 PM EST (#136852) #

I use Yahoo!... :(

I feel so nerdy.

Pistol - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 02:17 PM EST (#136853) #

Unless the Jays go with an 11 man pitching staff and/or trade Hillenbrand or Hinske I can't imagine LeCroy is a possibility with the Jays. There's just not room unless you're relying on LeCroy to be the backup catcher which I imagine is doubtful.

LeCroy would likely be the DH against lefties (which there aren't a lot of), pinch hit, and be an emergency catcher. He's only averaged 120 ABs against lefties the last 4 years. I'm not sure that's a large enough role to offer too much money.

Jonny German - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 02:28 PM EST (#136854) #

I'm shocked anyone still uses Yahoo for their searches.

I don't understand - what's wrong with Yahoo for searches?

Joe - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 02:36 PM EST (#136855) #

I read the Star, but never use Yahoo.

There's nothing wrong with using Yahoo. It's just that Google has made it obsolete. Why bother when Google does everything Yahoo does and more?

timpinder - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 02:55 PM EST (#136856) #

Try metacrawler. Best search engine.

Jonny German - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 03:00 PM EST (#136857) #

Why bother when Google does everything Yahoo does and more?

Because that just ain't true - among the useful things Yahoo offers me, for free, that Google doesn't (as far as I know) are fantasy baseball, baseball stats, online games, personalized radio. I like Google too, particularly Gmail and Google maps. But I don't understand why people slag Yahoo - it offers lots of good stuff that Google doesn't. And while Google somehow has this reputation for being a better search engine, I've yet to see any practical evidence of it. Doesn't mean it's not better, but for a user like me there's no meaningful difference.

I don't read the Star, but that's mostly a matter of principle, as opposed to not reading the Sun as a matter of it being written at a Grade-4 level of literacy.

david wang - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 04:33 PM EST (#136858) #

I believe Yahoo and Google use the same search engine.

Just Google is more clean and faster to load.

Lecroy would be good, but right now the Jays don't like middle of the road complimentary hitters, they need the 35-40 HR, 120 RBI guy who strikes fear. I still dream of us getting Manny for maybe Miggy, Hillenbrand, Koskie and some prospects including McGowan. The salaries would cancel out but Boston would never do the trade =(

StephenT - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 05:07 PM EST (#136860) #

Yahoo doesn't use Google as its search engine any more.

A neat 'blind test' survey comparing the big 3 search engines currently has Google rated best for 42%, Yahoo 31% and MSN 27% of searches. (Based just on the quality of the top-3 results, not other performance or usability features.)

I just tried the test myself with 'jays blog' as my query. Only one of the engines put this site first, so I gave it my vote. It then revealed the winner was Yahoo. (But I still use the Google toolbar for my web searching most of the time.)

timpinder - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 06:03 PM EST (#136861) #

"metacrawler" searches the search engines, including Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves, About, MIVA, etc.... it's the best search site.

Anyway, back to baseball. I'd love to see a 30+ homerun guy come to Toronto, but it's just not going to happen. Manny and Miggy are too expensive, and Wilkerson and Sanders have only had one 30+ HR season each I believe. I'd be satisfied if they got one of those two and kept Hillenbrand to DH. I wonder if Texas would take Adams to play 2B along with Batista for Wilkerson.

Craig B - Sunday, December 18 2005 @ 09:33 PM EST (#136862) #

There's nothing wrong with using Yahoo. It's just that Google has made it obsolete. Why bother when Google does everything Yahoo does and more?

Many people seem to be increasingly finding that Yahoo's search closes tighter on their desired targets faster (i.e. higher in the results) than Google. Assuming that Google is the only way to go is a relic of the situation five years ago. The competition took notes, and they're doing quite well.

rtcaino - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 03:11 AM EST (#136864) #

""I use Yahoo!... :(

I feel so nerdy.""

That's how I feel when my friends find out how much I read this site.

timpinder - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 08:29 AM EST (#136865) #

Scout.com has an article today about Fransisco Rosario. Apparently his DWL Era is down to 2.63. I can't read the article because I'm not an Insider with Scout, but I'm glad to see that Rosario might be coming around. I've always been a big fan, he has good stuff. I worried he might not fully recover from Tommy John.

He could be a great starter, but I wonder if J.P. has his mind set that Rosario's going to be in the pen as a set-up man.

Any insight?

Twilight - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 11:55 AM EST (#136872) #

I wonder if Texas would take Adams to play 2B along with Batista for Wilkerson.

Nope, we'd have to throw in League, Frasor, maybe McGowan, heck, give him Halladay and we might even score Mench. lol

VGeras - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 12:06 PM EST (#136875) #

Same site mentions the Jays signed Luis Figeroa to a minor league deal with an invitation to major league camp.

Jacko - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 02:24 PM EST (#136889) #

For BP subscribers, there's a nice article by Dayn Perry up there today which talks about the Jays.

The highlights:

- Adams (and Hudson/Koskie) will benefit from Overbay's ability to scoop errant throws
- Burnett, if healthy, will be Halladay II (i.e. extreme groundballer who also gets K's)
- Ryan should improve Jays record in close games

Not rocket science, but nice to see someone show how the moves this offseason were not made in isolation.

sweat - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 02:43 PM EST (#136892) #

I think that his comment about Adams improving due to Overbay's Scoop Factor(new stat) is just a guess. I think he is operating under the assumption that Adams problem with his D was low throws, but it seemed to me that his real problem was related to bobbling balls and throwing wide/high of the bag.
Maybe the Confidence Factor(new stat II, heh) would help more than anything. I expect Adams errors will go down because of hard work in the offseason, and now having a year under his belt.

Jacko - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 02:50 PM EST (#136893) #

Of Adams' 26 errors, 13 were boots and 13 were on throws.

Though it's complete pseudo science, I like your idea of a "confidence feedback loop" happening with Adams.

Mike Green - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 02:59 PM EST (#136894) #

Expecting Burnett to be anywhere near as good as Halladay is not realistic. He would have to develop much better control. It is possible to argue that Burnett should be the Jays 2nd best pitcher in 2006 (if he's healthy, and that's a big if), with the assistance of a better infield defence, but going beyond that is mere conjecture.

sweat - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 03:07 PM EST (#136895) #

I just don't recall any throwing errors that I witnessed, being in the dirt. As a former 1st basemen myself, I always get mad seeing throws in the dirt not getting scooped. A good first baseman should pick up 85% of those, and a great one should get 95%+.

sweat - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 03:11 PM EST (#136896) #

If Burnetts walk totals drop even slightly, I think our infield defense can have a large impact on eraseing a big percentage of those runners. AJ becomes a lot better of a pitcher when you factor in the O-dog effect. Look at what Chacin accomplished despite his 70 free passes. AJ only had 9 more walks last year. And he is much more a groundball pitcher then Chacin.

Pistol - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 03:16 PM EST (#136898) #

Just to clarify, Perry didn't say Burnett would be Halladay II. He said Burnett has 'considerable breakout potential' becuase of his GB/FB and K ratios.

Jacko - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 03:26 PM EST (#136900) #

Florida's infield defense was about the same as Toronto's last year:

Hinske/Hilly >>> Delgado
Hudson > Castillo
Adams <<< Sea Bass
Koskie/Hill < Lowell

It's adding in Overbay that should make the big difference (the aforementioned scoopability, and Hudson will be able to cheat more up the middle).

Mike Green - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 03:36 PM EST (#136901) #

He does have breakout potential, sure. He could turn into Kevin Brown in his 30s. But, as I said, that will be dependent on him finding better control, and staying healthy. Lots and lots of pitchers have "breakout potential", but few actually do break out. Burnett's K rate of about 7.5 (adjusted for park) gives him less of a chance than the Bobby Witts and Randy Johnsons.

Gerry - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 03:43 PM EST (#136902) #

I happened to watch a Burnett start on DVD yesterday (more on that tomorrow). Burnetts fastball was sitting at 95-99 with a change around 88 and a hard curve around 82-83. The one negative with Burnett was fastball command. Even though Burnett shut down Arizona in this game he started 11 straight hitters with balls, in the middle innings. The commentators from Arizona were saying that if you throw 91 and you do that you are asking for trouble, but with Burnett's velocity he could get away with it. Even with that problem Burnett had thrown about 70 piches through six innings.

IMO if Arnsberg can improve Burnetts fastball command he could be up there challenging DOC, his stuff is excellent.

Jacko - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 03:51 PM EST (#136904) #

Just to clarify, Perry didn't say Burnett would be Halladay II. He said Burnett has 'considerable breakout potential' becuase of his GB/FB and K ratios.

My fault. I was just trying to be brief in my summary (I didn't want to cite too much of a premium content article in a public forum!)

Mike Green - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 04:11 PM EST (#136907) #

Here's Burnett's game log with pitch/strike counts and GO/AO ratios. September was not pretty, and hopefully unrelated to injury/pitching tolerance issues.

subculture - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 05:02 PM EST (#136910) #

I actually thought the Jay's were excellent at scooping up balls in the dirt last-year, in particular Hinske from the games I saw. I was very surprised at how he and Hillenbrand both played such a strong defense, likely b/c I watched Delgado kick things around for so long (not that I don't want Carlos back, b/c I do!).

Jacko - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 05:15 PM EST (#136914) #

Delgado < Hinske < Hilly < Overbay

Your eyes were not deceiving you. Delgado really was that bad at 1B.

Overbay is supposed to be even better than Hillenbrand, who grades out as being about average as a 1B.

Geoff - Monday, December 19 2005 @ 07:49 PM EST (#136926) #

The only thing holding back Burnett from being like a Halladay or Oswalt-type pitcher is to either refine his control or pitch smarter. Burnett has a career average of 7.94 K/9 to Halladay's 6.53. Oswalt has a career K/9 IP of 7.80, but last year was only 6.85 and I'd like to think that's because he decided it would better to be like Halladay and drop his usual 2.3 BB/9 to 1.79 and get one less K per game.

The Halladay model, to me, is to get more batters out for the sake of fewer strikeouts and fewer walks.

Burnett's been trying to be that pitcher who always goes for the K, and is more willing to walk you than give up a hit. Beckett is the same way. B.J. Ryan seems to be that way too. Countless pitchers, really. Interesting to see if Arnsberg will push both newcomers to walk fewer batters than ever before, or if they'll continue the status quo of being guys with nasty stuff who will more likely walk or strike you out than give up a hit.

Here are some stats for you stat hounds (I gave Roy a mulligan on 2004, hoping his superhuman efforts of 03 and 05 are the norm for him now.)

Burnett                          BAA	BB/9  	K/9
2004 	    Florida Marlins 	.231 	2.85 	8.48
2005 	    Florida Marlins 	.237 	3.40 	8.53

Oswalt
2004  	    Houston Astros  	.260  	2.35  	7.82  	
2005 	    Houston Astros 	.262 	1.79  	6.85

Halladay
2003  	    Toronto Blue Jays  	.247  	1.08  	6.90
2005  	    Toronto Blue Jays   .225 	1.14  	6.86

Notice that Halladay was near unhittable last year -- and maintained a low BB/9 rate. If Burnett were to change his name to Roy, walk less batters and only sacrifice one or two Ks/9? Holy rotation studs, batman!

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