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By egrissom | February 22, 2010
Last week I mentioned that while the Phillies got worse at preventing runs overall last year, using opponent batting statistics they still got better against left-handed batters.
A couple more things about that.
First, a big part of their success against left-handed hitting had to do with some right-handed pitchers that 1) were great against lefties in 2009 and 2) aren’t going to be on the team in 2010. Lefties hit .172 and on-based .262 against Condrey, who faced about as many left-handed batters in ‘09 as Scott Eyre (65 for Condrey and 67 for Eyre). Lefties hit 229/283/313 against Tyler Walker. Brett Myers saw most of his action as a starter but also made eight appearances in relief — overall for the year, lefties hit 233/314/360 against him.
Here’s what that trio did combined against left-handed batting in 2009:
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Condrey, Walker and Myers combined vs lefties in 2009 |
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| PA | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS |
| 289 | .219 | .296 | .332 | .628 |
They were really good against lefties. Of those 289 batters faced, about 59% were faced by Myers and he saw about 90% of his action as a starter. So we don’t want to overstate the impact on the bullpen. Still, it’s true that the Phillies had good numbers overall against lefties last year and a big part of that was because of the work of some now departed right-handed pitchers.
The second thing about lefties in the pen comes with a small sample size warning, but in his limited action against lefties in 2009, Romero was just terrible. The 32 left-handed batters that he faced hit 308/438/538 against him. He came into the season having allowed about one home run to every 93 left-handed hitters he faced and allowed two to the 32 lefties he faced in ‘09. Scott Eyre was the king of getting lefties out in relief for the Phils in ‘09 — they hit a paltry 210/269/355 against him. The tiny number of lefties that Romero faced in 2009 makes it hard to worry too much about what they did against him. He’s been fantastic against left-handed hitters over his career, holding them to a fantastic 215/310/293 line. Let’s hope that proves to be the much better measuring stick than what he did in limited action last season.
Chan Ho Park has agreed to a one-year deal with the Yankees worth $1.2 million. Contreras will get $1.5 million from the Phillies this year and Baez $5.25 million over the next two years.
This says the Phillies have maintained contact with Pedro Martinez and considers the possibility that the Phils will add a back of the rotation starter. Moyer looks like a sure thing to me to join Halladay, Hamels, Blanton and Happ in the rotation if he’s healthy.
Topics: Bullpen |
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:25 pm
Linked to your site today. Good stuff.
February 22nd, 2010 at 12:34 pm
I don’t like the Baez deal at all. The Park deal looks good for the Yankees.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:13 pm
i agree…wish we still had Park. Loved him all last year.
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:14 pm
oh and im not really sold on Romero
February 22nd, 2010 at 1:41 pm
I miss Park too. It sounds like Manuel really wasn’t a fan, though. I still think I’d rather have him pitching in relief than Contreras
I’m hoping for the best for Baez and Contreras. It’s going to be a long year for the Phils if those guys don’t pan out. I think Park could have a better year in 2010 than either of them.
Contreras just scares me. ERA over five over the past three years with a 1.48 ratio. Yikes. Hopefully things go better as a full-time reliever. The ERA in Colorado in brief action for Conteras last year was nice, but all the other numbers were pretty ugly.
I’m hoping for the best with Romero, too. I’d feel better if he had done more last season, though. I don’t think you want to be counting on Bastardo and Escalona (or Zagurski). I’d really like to see the Phils pick up a veteran lefty.