Tag: Rockies

The Better Player Is…

By Blaidd Drwg

Looking at these 162 game averages, who would you rather have on your team?

Player AVG HR RBI BB SO OBP SLG IBB SB
A .299 30 99 53 147 .357 .531 8 25
B .314 29 96 103 127 .419 .541 14 8

 

Based on the more traditional stats, it is close, but player B seems to be the better choice.

What if I include this?

Player OPS+ ASG MVP GG oWAR dWAR Pos Age GP
A 125 2 0 2 17.5 0.0 LF 28 704
B 155 4 1 1 31.4 -3.2 1B 30 903

 

Player B is obviously a better hitter, but B is, in theory, a “better” defender and he is in his peak season right now.

One more:

Home Road
Player BA SLG tOPS+ BA SLG tOPS+
A .330 .608 124 .267 .450 75
B .302 .536 97 .325 .546 103

 

Both of these guys play in home parks that favor hitters pretty extremely. Player A has huge home/road splits while player B is essentially the same hitter no matter where he plays.  Given all of the above info, I think player B is clearly the better player and the guy I would want to take for my team. Just for the record, player A is Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies and player B is Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds.

This came from a discussion on a baseball board about who was the better player, Gonzalez or Votto. Superficially at least, they look pretty close until you take into account that Gonzalez gets a huge boost from his home park and is somewhat more pedestrian on the road. For what it was worth, before I looked deeply into the numbers, I sided with Votto. How could you not take the guy who has led the NL in OBP 4 consecutive seasons?

Is the End Near for Methusela?

By Blaidd Drwg

The ‘real’ Methuselah rookie card. I am not sure he was old enough to drive when that picture was taken. Heck, I am not sure they had cars when that picture was taken.

I think it is time for Jamie Moyer to hang it up. He has had an interesting career and a strange ride this season:

  • Signed minor league contract with the Rockies in the off-season with an invite to spring training.
  • Makes the Rockies opening day roster.
  • Pitches poorly (like anyone is surprised that this happened) with the Rockies and is released.
  • Signed by the Orioles and assigned to AAA.
  • Pitches pretty well but the Orioles are not planning on calling him up, so he is released.
  • Signed by the Blue Jays and assigned to AAA.
  • Pitches poorly in AAA and is released by the Jays.

The Rockies have been so bad that their starters have an ERA somewhere around 7 this season, so that gives you an idea how bad Moyer was in Colorado. That is not really a surprise – a guy who tends to give up a ton of fly balls pitching in the best hitters park in the league, well, you get the idea.

I will admit, the Orioles release was a bit of a surprise – Moyer pitched well at AAA Norfolk, but the Orioles wanted to go in a different direction, so they released him. The funny thing is, the Orioles have actually demoted 3 of their starting pitchers since Moyer was released.

The Blue Jays experiment was also no surprise – Moyer pitching in the PCL, at altitude, in a small ballpark; that is Colorado part 2.

I haven’t seen any indication that Moyer is ready to give it up. I bet he is just waiting for someone to need an arm and give him a call. I honestly think he is done, but teams might get desperate

What I really would like to see when Moyer is ready to hang it up, is to sign with the Mariners. Not just a symbolic deal – I want to see him sign a deal where he starts one final game at Safeco Field, has an agreement with the opposing team to throw one pitch for a strike where the batter won’t swing and then pull him out of the game and have him walk off the mound to a standing ovation from a sold out crowd.

I think that would be a fitting career end for a pitcher that had one of the most improbable careers I have ever seen.