Pop Quiz Wednesday: Name that Twin

by Bobomojo on Sep 14, 2011 11:51 AM EDT in By the Numbers

Let's take our minds off of Bruce Chen and 100 losses, shall we?

Below I've listed some player comparisons that I found interesting, entertaining, or, well, frustrating.

Let's start with a simple one:

	Age	BA	OBP	SLG	SB	UZR/150
Player A	22	0.258	0.296	0.360	33	17.3
Player B	23	0.249	0.295	0.283	26	18.9

Here we have two virtually-identically players. They're both outfielders with great speed and great gloves, but questionable offensive skills. Any guesses?

Player A: Carlos Gomez in 2008 (his first season as a Twin)

Player B: Ben Revere, 2011.

Let's try some more, after the jump:

	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Player A	0.265	0.314	0.393	0.707
Player B	0.259	0.310	0.400	0.710

Player A? Michael Cuddyer's season batting stats against right-handed pitching.

Player B? White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez's season batting stats against right-handed pitching.

	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Player A	0.321	0.420	0.620	1.040
Player B	0.298	0.444	0.607	1.051

Player A? Michael Cuddyer's season batting stats against left-handed pitching.

Player B? Barry Bonds' career batting line (against all pitchers)

Here's a depressing one:

	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
Player A	0.161	0.198	0.232	0.430
Player B	0.174	0.207	0.254	0.461

Player A is the season batting line of Twins catcher Drew Butera.

Player B is the career batting line of former Twins pitcher Johan Santana.

The Twins have given Butera 227 plate appearances this season.

	Ages	ERA	FIP	HR/9	BB/9	K/9	K/BB
Player A	25-27	4.50	4.51	1.3	3.0	6.7	2.27
Player B	25-27	4.82	4.21	1.4	1.5	6.7	4.37

Take a moment to look at those numbers and ask yourself: which of those pitchers would you rather have? Player A has the better ERA, for sure, but in almost every other meaningful category, Player B is superior.

Player B is Kevin Slowey's stats through the past three seasons (his age 25, 26, and 27 seasons).

Player is A is Cliff Lee, circa 2004, 2005 and 2006.

How about this for two similar players:

	BA	OBP	SLG
Player A	0.264	0.331	0.348
Player B	0.263	0.331	0.342

Player A is Denard Span in 2010. Player B is Denard Span in 2011.

Last one:

Name	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	ERA	FIP	xFIP
Player A	5.28	5.67	0.93	4.30	5.00	5.88
Player B	3.04	4.39	0.69	6.92	6.12	5.77
Player C	4.47	5.63	0.79	4.27	4.86	5.72
Player D	5.86	6.35	0.92	5.62	5.47	5.11
Player E	5.30	5.46	0.97	4.02	6.04	5.77

This, my friends, is an elite group. These are the only five pitchers in all of baseball this season to pitch more than 40 innings while walking more batters than they've struck out.

Player A is Jose Mijares.

Players B-E are, respectively: Sean O'Sullivan, Miguel Batista, Kyle Drabek, and Brad Hand.

Not surprisingly, teams that allow pitchers with stats these bad to accumulate a significant number of innings aren't performing terribly well. On average, the five teams that employ these pitchers (Royals, Twins, Mets, Marlins, and Blue Jays) are on pace to each lose 90 games.

Got some comparisons of your own? Post 'em in the comment section.

Tweet Comment 16 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

I've got one

Player IP K BB ERA K/IP BB/IP K/BB
AAAAA 88.0 45 23 3.89 0.51 0.26 1.9
BBBBB 62.1 31 10 4.04 0.49 0.16 3.1

Player A is a pitcher that some people consider a lock for the rotation next year. Player B is someone almost all of those same people want dumped on the curb.

by DJL44 on Sep 14, 2011 1:49 PM EDT reply actions

The funny thing is

A has had the same type of success with less than stellar stuff in the minors. To me, this says either he’s been lucky for 6/8 years with 2008 and 2010 being more true indications of his talent, or he’s a smart pitcher who knows how to pitch rather than just throw. I like him as a backend of the rotation guy.

B has actually been pretty good, though extremely unlucky early on. He stumbled quite a bit in July, but ERA is such an overrated stat. His K/9 is the lowest of his career, so if he could ramp that up a bit and cut back on HRs, he could be a solid bullpen guy. He’s just too expensive.

by Caleb A on Sep 15, 2011 2:04 PM EDT up reply actions

Here are Swarzak's AAA stats

InnP K BB ERA K/IP BB/IP K/BB
268.2 165 80 4.32 0.61 0.30 2.06

I seriously doubt he does better than that line at the major league level. He’s 25 years old, there is little upside remaining. His xFIP is up around 4.8 which seems reasonable – add half a run to his AAA ERA. I think he’s a middle reliever who can spot start, same as Brian Duensing. The Twins desperately need guys like that in the bullpen.

by DJL44 on Sep 15, 2011 2:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Good one

I knew A was Swarzak, but it was hard to figure out B. WIMC?

I don't know, but I've been told it's hard to run with the weight of gold,
'the other hand, I've heard it said, it's just as hard with the weight of lead.

by montanatwinsfan on Sep 14, 2011 2:09 PM EDT reply actions

I looked it up, and you're right

Honestly, I had no idea his ERA had improved that much.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Sep 14, 2011 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions

The Butera vs Santana one is probably the most depressing

I would be interested in seeing where Butera would rank when compared to all the pitchers’ batting stats.

FIRE DAN EDWARDS!!!

by Flip27 on Sep 14, 2011 2:10 PM EDT reply actions

Slowey/Lee comp not even remotely fair

In those three seasons Slowey managed 289 innings. Total. Lee three nearly 300 more innings. Lee made 30+ starts every year. Slowey has .9 WAR. Total. Lee is 5.2. Nor is it fair to assume rate stats in different years are equivalent. The 04-06 AL (and AL central) was a tougher pitching environment than 09-11 AL.

by Gunnarthor on Sep 14, 2011 2:26 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs

But

The following year, at age 28, Lee tanked and got demoted to AAA.

And Slowey has fewer IP during this stretch because 1)major wrist injury, and 2)Twins didn’t start him for 4 months.

The Indians kept running Lee out there, and it paid off.

by AM. on Sep 15, 2011 6:31 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Here's another

Player AVG/OBP/SLG PA XBH
AAAA .227/.285/.333 288 20
BBBB .260/.322/.368 323 27

Which one is the first baseman and which is the middle infielder?

by DJL44 on Sep 14, 2011 4:28 PM EDT reply actions

That's depressing

But, for schadenfreude’s sake, let’s add a DH

Player AVG/OBP/SLG PA XBH
CCCC .162/.292/.285 448 24

Player C: my favorite player in baseball for 2011.

by archie2227 on Sep 14, 2011 5:06 PM EDT up reply actions

Hehe

His splits against lefties:
AVG/OBP/SLG PA XBH Hits
.036/.200/.036 100 0 3

He might be my favorite this year too!

"...and we'll see ya tomorrow night!" - Jack Buck, Game 6, 1991 World Series

by WindyCityTwinsFan on Sep 14, 2011 5:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Wow

Speechless… I have no speech.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Sep 15, 2011 9:54 AM EDT up reply actions

damnit who are they?

I dont have time to look them up.

I don't know, but I've been told it's hard to run with the weight of gold,
'the other hand, I've heard it said, it's just as hard with the weight of lead.

by montanatwinsfan on Sep 15, 2011 12:47 PM EDT up reply actions

A - Morneau

B – Casilla
C – Adam Dunn

"...and we'll see ya tomorrow night!" - Jack Buck, Game 6, 1991 World Series

by WindyCityTwinsFan on Sep 15, 2011 1:02 PM EDT up reply actions

TY

I don't know, but I've been told it's hard to run with the weight of gold,
'the other hand, I've heard it said, it's just as hard with the weight of lead.

by montanatwinsfan on Sep 15, 2011 2:09 PM EDT up reply actions