Thursday, October 27, 2005

Congratulations To Chicago




I guess it would be a bad thing to not congratulate Chicago on their sweep in the World Series. They did a good job kicking the Astros butts. I watched with mild interest mostly because it was Baseball. Not Yankee Baseball, but still...

I do enjoy Ozzie anyway so I'm happy for him. Plus there are a few ex-Yanks on that team. Has to be why they won. ;)

So, congratulations Chicago. Enjoy your championship. It will be fun to take it from you next year.








BTW, I'm still wondering where they got that Contreras guy. He's not the same guy who pitched in New York.
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Thursday, October 20, 2005

1. Shawn Chacon

Seemed like a good idea to do a recap of all the players on the roster. And so I started to look at each one, and realized it would take a while.

So I decided to do a little bit about all the pitchers - but that was still too much. Just starting pitchers? Too many for one post.

So here's a little bit about Shawn Chacon, alphabetically the first starting pitcher by last name:


Pitchers B/T Ht Wt DOB

39 Shawn Chacon R/R 6-3 220 12/23/77

I was born 12/31/77 - but he's made a bunch loads more money. He was born in Anchorage, AK.

Here's what struck me when looking at his stats: the Rockies and Yankees numbers looked very similar. There's a table with his stats compared, as listed by mlb - then a table arranged by percent change. A list of the stats is here (most of them you should know - AO means fly outs).









Shawn Chacon: 2005
TEAMWLERAGGSCGIPHRERHRHBP
Colorado Rockies174.091312072.269333378
New York Yankees732.851412079.066262576
TEAMBBSOWPCTTBBKWPIBBSBCSPKGOAOGO/AO
Colorado Rockies3639.12511403440281960.89
New York Yankees3040.700102130331941001.01
TEAMWHIPSLGOBAAVGNPP/IPK/BBBB/9K/9H9
Colorado Rockies1.44.430.361.260118716.330.984.464.838.55
New York Yankees1.22.348.309.225130916.571.333.424.567.52







Shawn Chacon: 2005 - Sorted by Absolute Percent Change

WWPCTLK/BBERASBHBPERBB/9RSLGBB
+/-++-+--------
Percent Change600%460%57%36%30%25%25%24%23%21%19%17%

GOWHIPOBAGO/AOAVGH9TBGK/9HAOSOGS
+/-+--+---+--++Nada
Percent Change16%15%14%13%13%12%11%8%6%4%4%3%0%

I should have just used normalized stats, such as K/BB, ERA, BB/9, SLG, WHIP, OBA, GO/AO, AVG, etc... but I'm too lazy to separate out the counting stats (W, L, H, K, BB, etc). But I did take out a couple of stats that didn't add to the conversation. Something I know that is lacking in these tables is the run support he received, but that's a nice sub 3.00 ERA.

And just what do these tables tell us? They say damn he did well for the Yankees - increasing his winning percentage 460% on the strength of a 7-3 record for the Bombers.

It also says, nice job Shawn on getting your walks down. His K/BB ratio was more favorable to the tune of a 36% increase (and importantly above 1.00). While he gave up the same number of home runs (7) in a comparable amount of innings (72.2 CR/79 NY), he also decreased his BB/9 total by 23% (4.46 CR/3.42 NY). Pair that with a slight increase in K/9 and it was a pleasure to watch him pitch.

Two notes on the previous paragraph: 1. How many of those HRs were at home w/ the Rockies? 2. I screwed up the % change for IP because "72.2" should be calculated as "72 2/3." D'oh.

Moving on.

My first opinion on Shawn Chacon? Goofy hat-wearer.










Second opinion on Shawn Chacon? Good first game. Pitched six solid innings against the Angels - who he would later pitch well against in the ALDS.

Then I kind of forgot about him, he pitched a few games, won most of them - but I didn't really follow him too much. For those of you who had a similar approach to Chacon, here's (another) table - showing some stats from each of his starts for the Yankees. I added a column in the first section labelled "DS," which stands for "Disaster Start." This is when the runs given up is greater than the innings pitched.

DATE GAME W L ERA IP H R DS
30-Jul LAA 000641N
4-Aug@CLE 001.5682N
9-AugCWS 011.42731N
14-AugTEX 102.16573N
20-Aug@CWS 101.64840N
25-AugTOR 101.8762N
30-Aug@SEA 013.13688Y
4-Sep@OAK 103.086.252N
10-SepBOS 013.72365Y
17-Sep@TOR 103.25840N
23-SepTOR 102.89830N
28-Sep@BAL 102.766.241N


ER HR BB SO NP-S GO-AOK/BB
30-Jul LAA 0034 104-56 5-91.33
4-Aug@CLE 2024104-62 8-62.00
9-AugCWS 1134120-69 7-101.33
14-AugTEX 310588-53 6-4Infinite
20-Aug@CWS 0035127-78 7-121.67
25-AugTOR 2046119-66 8-71.50
30-Aug@SEA 8143113-62 8-70.75
4-Sep@OAK 2133113-70 10-61.00
10-SepBOS 523177-42 5-30.33
17-Sep@TOR 0011109-68 8-141.00
23-SepTOR 0013111-73 9-123.00
28-Sep@BAL 113191-56 11-70.33

Chacon also pitched in relief twice - once against Texas, giving up no runs in 1 inning of work, and once against the Red Sux, giving up 1 earned run in 2/3 of an inning pitched. He didn't pick up a decision in either relief appearance.

Two disaster starts - against the Red Sux, which hurts but can be expected with their lineup, and against the Mariners, who just plain sucked this year.

It must have been a rough time for him in the beginning, as he went 0-1 with a 1.42 ERA in his first three starts, pitching 6, 6 and 7 innings in each, respectively. He went 7-2 the rest of the way, losing only the two disaster starts - and owning Toronto, picking up 3 wins in 3 starts. He gave up 2 ER through 7 IP in his first start against Toronto and then two straight starts of shutout ball through 8 innings. Fantastic.

In the post season against the Angels, he pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up 2 ER while striking out 5 and walking 1 - not too shabby. He dueled John Lackey, but Leiter got the win in relief and Mo pitched 2 innings for the save. Most importantly he kept the Yankees in it to force Game 5. Huge.

Selected Links

Baseball Prospectus PECOTA Card - check out the 5 Year Forecast. Huge fluctuations the past 3 years (sucked, good, sucked) but should straighten out to be a decent pitcher.

Wikipedia entry - "He throws a 88-92mph sinker, a big curveball, a slider, and a changeup."

TSN.ca entry - "Colorado Rockies traded Shawn Chacon to the New York Yankees for Ramon Ramirez and Edwardo Sierra." "Assets: His mid-90s heat mixed with a slider and change-up help him particularly tough on right-handed hitters. Shows some pretty good poise with runners on."

I've been looking for a personal interest story about Chacon, but no luck. Anyone know anything interesting about him?

Later.
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Tuesday, October 18, 2005

I Still Have To Watch

Let's see, 9th inning, winning the game, your best reliever on the mound, one more guy to get and the series is over. Seems pretty good on paper. Until the hitter decides he doesn't want to go home yet. (Hmm, this feels familiar somehow; Remember 2001?) Anyway, kudos to the Cards and Pujols for pulling that one out of their butts last night. I thought for sure they were done. Lidge usually doesn't allow heroics like that.

I'm bummed for Andy though. No matter what, I still see him as a Yankee and I hate to see his team lose. I want them to get to the Series for 2 reasons really. 1 - Andy Pettitte and 2 - Craig Biggio. One deterrant for me is that bum Clemens is on this team too, but what the hey.

And how did I miss this story? Yanks get permission to talk to Mazzone I don't think I would mind that move a bit. Except for the rocking back and forth all the time, Mazzone is a tried and true Pitching Coach that we sorely need. I wonder how serious they are?

I think whoever wins this series is in deep doodoo against the White Sox anyway. They will be well rested and their pitching kicks ass. BTW, how come Contrearas (sp?) didn't pitch like that in New York? Look at the loser we got for him. Not the best move the Yanks have made in a while, eh?

I thought I would be totally bummed against Baseball after the Yanks lost, but I'm only partially bummed. This series is entertaining. Still, I can't wait until next year. Hey KB, are you keeping the countdown until Spring Training again?
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Tuesday, October 11, 2005

thanks anyway guys

18 weeks to pitchers & catchers.

xo yall.
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Renewed Blog

So, after last night's debacle I feel OK to post here again. Funny how superstitous Baseball people can be. It seemed to me (way back when) that every time I posted here something bad would happen to the Yankees. So I stopped and they won the division. Weird, I know, but whatever works, right?

So now I will attempt to make this blog something special over the off season so that in the Spring it will be a gem for our boys in pinstripes.

I do want to say that this has been a tough year, but a decent one. After the horrible start, we really don't have a lot to complain about. Although I will. Starting with the stupid-ass umpires in last nights game. Plus, I believe Bubba needs some more experience out there in the field. That or he needs to learn to respect his elders. ;)

So next season we should be in good shape when it comes to the starting pitching. With Chacon, Wang, Small, Mussina, & Johnson the starting is good. Question mark beside Johnson of course. It's the middle relief that we need more of. That and we need Torii Hunter. (I like that rumor. I hope it's real.) Obviously, I would prefer Bernie still being a Yankee but I would also like to see some good defense out there. There are few better than Hunter.

Can you tell I'm already psyched for the 2006 season? Uh huh.

So I will watch some of the remainder of the playoffs with mild interest. Yes, it is still Baseball and I am an addict. I just don't care who wins. The great part is that the bums from boston can't win. That is sweet at least.

So everyone, get ready for next year. I already am. And to all the team members here, any suggestions to make this blog Yankee-worthy, lemme know.
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