Early Weekend 6-pack (5/7/09)
Another early weekend
1. Bullpens are complicated things
Below is a list of the Indians relievers sorted by gmLI, which is the leverage at the moment they get brought into the game. Sipp is new enough that I think we can throw him out, but with the exception of Rafael Perez, it is not too surprising a list given preseason expectations. Furthermore, and maybe an encourage note, that with the exception of Jensen Lewis, the pitchers underlying peripherals (as indicated by FIP) suggest they are better than their performance (measured by ERA) at this point, and that Wedge has been using them correctly. Stomp is a bit scary, though. (pLI gives average leverage usage)
| Name | FIP | ERA | gmLI | pLI |
| J. Lewis | 8.30 | 5.93 | 2.57 | 1.83 |
| T. Sipp | 6.38 | 3.60 | 1.88 | 1.53 |
| K. Wood | 4.08 | 7.20 | 1.57 | 1.90 |
| R. Betancourt | 4.40 | 5.14 | 1.07 | 1.06 |
| J. Smith | 3.66 | 7.11 | 1.06 | 0.74 |
| R. Perez | 6.28 | 15.19 | 0.86 | 1.00 |
| V. Chulk | 6.10 | 3.75 | 0.85 | 0.93 |
| M. Kobayashi | 6.60 | 3.72 | 0.29 | 0.18 |
2. I think Cleveland could start giving away Masa's innings as a promotional giveaway at the ticket gates as a way of getting people into Jacobs Progressive Field.
Pitch to a real live major league player! (see above)
3. Asdrubal Cabrera is good, and might be really good
Noted without comment:
Asdrubal Cabrera (age 23): .333/.416/.434
R. Alomar (age 23): .296/.354/.436
B. Larkin (age 24):.296/.347/.429
H. Ramirez (age 23): .332/.386/.562
A. Trammell (age 25): .319/.385/.471
E. Renteria (age 24): .278/.346/.423
4. Looking for minor league bullpen names?
Here's another one to keep an eye on: David Roberts
5. Fausto's power sinker seems to be a little inconsistent
Fangraphs now has all of the pitchFX data in graphical form, viewable by individual game. Here is Fausto's movement chart from his outing against the Yankees (below). It looks to me like he's not consistently getting sharp horizontal and vertical movement. His average power sinkers till looks good, but there appears to be a lot of spread in the data. Hard to know exactly how this quantitatively compares to other pitchers, but something to keep an eye on.

6. I'm taking the 6th thought with me out the door (on my way to watch the Tribe in person tonight).
1 recs |
17 comments
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Comments
are those comparable stats to Asdrubals also through 30-some games, or are they through the entire season? Because as much as I’d like it to Droob’s numbers aren’t going to stay like that through the entire season
i think either way its too early to be throwing out comps in considering what he might become as he ages.
full season stats. I don’t mean to suggest any broad conclusions – just throwing the comparisons out there. What droobs is doing right now is very good. If he can continue it throughout the season, it’ll suggest very very good things about his future.
by APV on May 7, 2009 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions
But can Roberts pinch run? I’ll admit, I’m a little fascinated by the leverage index, in general. And it’s comforting to see that Wood’s getting burned a little. If only now they can get him some regular work.
I can’t believe it’s Thursday already. Superb job as always, Adam. All four authors are in peak form right now.
Though I look right at home, I still feel like an exile
by Manhattan Tribe Fan on May 7, 2009 4:29 PM EDT reply actions
Roberts is interesting to me in that Grant specifically mentioned his college workload as a positive factor, something I hadn’t considered much previously. But I think he was a reliever for his whole college career. He’s a “fresh arm.”
by fleerdon on May 7, 2009 4:40 PM EDT reply actions
Where are your tickets tonight? In right field with frats? New seats with the corporates? Down low with the old money?
Thursday night lineup.
B. Francisco cf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .250
A. Cabrera ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333
V. Martinez c 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .398
M. DeRosa 3b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .256
D. Dellucci lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .412
R. Garko 1b 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .292
J. Peralta dh 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .208
M. LaPorta rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .100
L. Valbuena 2b
Spring Training all over again!

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