BoSox Get a Shot in the Aarm

The Red Sox acquired RHP David Aardsma from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for two long-shot prospects, righthanded pitchers Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich.  As OverTheMonster mentions, Aardsma struck out 90 and walked 55 in 96 Major League Innings.  He was drafted as a first-rounder (22d pick) by San Fran in 2003, has spent time with both Chicago franchises, and (perhaps appropriately) has an award named after him which was presented at the “2008 Recycled Baseball Items (RBI) Foundation Banquet.”

Best Second best stat on this guy?

He “is the first player listed alphabetically in the Baseball Encyclopedia, ahead of Hank Aaron ” [MLB.com Player Profile]  And you all thought that losing the HR record to Barry was rough…

 Update: Best stat on this guy?  His sister is an actress and has a saucy photo on IMDB:

Thanks to The Chief for flagging the transaction, if not the hot sister angle.

Top Relievers in 2007

So, I had planned to post a thorough review of the top relievers of 2007 a few days ago. Sorry — my NYE Spinach & Artichoke Dip preparation got in the way. Now, because 2007 is so yesterday, here’s my cop-out Top Five list (please note that this list is in no way based upon holds or saves):

* Honorable mention: Pat Neshek, Tony Pena, Rafael Perez, Chad Qualls, Brandon Lyon

5. Joba Chamberlain – He was called up on August 8, but his name belongs on this list because: (1) he had an utterly dominant two-month stretch, helping to propel the Yankees to the postseason; (2) he achieved icon status in New York in record time; and (3) I’m a biased Yankees’ fan.

4. Carlos Marmol – Was nearly N.L. MVP. Plus, 96 K’s in 69.1 innings!

3. Hideki Okajima - The silver lining for us Yankees’ fans is that Jeemer struggled in the second half of the season; perhaps the league caught up to him a bit. Nevertheless, he was lights out in the first half and a major contributor to Boston’s championship season. Who woulda thunk that he’d be Boston’s best Japanese import?

2. Rafael Betancourt – I almost put him at number one, but because the Mitchell Report can selectively single out a small percentage of players who might have used PEDs, I choose to selectively discount Betancourt’s 2007 accomplishments because of his positive test a few years back. That said, Betancourt was awesome this past season. See, e.g., 312 ERA+!!!!

1. Heath Bell - A year ago, the Mets sent Bell to Kevin Towers’s Padres after a disappointing 2006 campaign. In 2007, Bell made, to say the least, a dramatic turnaround. While most of his numbers are similarly impressive as compared to the other guys on this list, what stands out the most, and what made Bell such a valuable reliever in 2007, is that he put those numbers up over 81 games and 93.2 innings pitched. In other words, Joe Torre would love to get this guy in a Dodgers uniform.

His arm might fall off by the middle of 2008, but, in 2007, Heath Bell was the best middle-relief pitcher in baseball. Congratulations, Heath!

R-O-L-A-I-D-S Spells Prejudice Against Middle-Relievers

Rolaids purports to be the “home of everything you need to know about the best relievers in baseball.” Hey, Rolaids: relief-pitching fans across the country now agree that the Loogy Lounge is the home of everything they need to know about the best relievers in baseball. And your Relief Man of the Year Award undermines everything we strive for as a blog dedicated to relief pitchers.

Why does a silly award like this make my stomach turn? (Get it? Stomach turn… Rolaids. Thank you. Thank you. I’ll be here all week. Try the veal.) I did some research, and it appears the award is actually considered to be prestigious and is sometimes used as a barometer to measure relief pitchers. The Relief Man Award is given to the relief pitcher in each league who accumulates the most points based upon the following system:

• Three points for each save
• One additional point for each “tough” save (i.e. reliever comes in with the tying run on base and saves the game)
• Two points for each win
• Two points deducted for each loss or “blown save”

At least its objective. Unfortunately, it’s also really stupid. First, it absolutely is impossible for a non-closer to win the Rolaids Relief Man Award. The list of past award recipients confirms this point. Maybe my issue here merely is based upon semantics, but I think it’s disingenuous to call this a Relief Man Award. It’s an award exclusively for closers. Second, putting the middle-relief prejudice aside, this is a really bad way to measure closer effectiveness. Case in point: Joe Borowski was ranked ahead of Jonathan Papelbon in 2007.

OK, I’m done ranting about trivial nonsense. Going forward, I’m just going to use Pepto for my indigestion. Maybe they can come up with a better way to recognize relief pitchers.

Okajimer Steamer

Congratulations to Hideki Okajima for being named to the 2007 All-Rookie Team, as the LHP representative. This caps an excellent season where he was named A.L. Rookie of the Month in April, an All-Star, and the World Series Game 3 Chevy Player of the Game.

Well done, Okaji!

Relief-Pitcher Aficionados Rejoice: Marmol Receives a Tenth Place N.L. MVP Vote

In news that is sure to spike readership of blogs devoted to relief pitching, Carlos Marmol of the Chicago Cubs was recognized today in the National League MVP Vote. Marmol dominated batters all season to the tune of a 1.096 WHIP, 1.43 ERA, and 326 ERA+. Marmol didn’t accumulate quite enough points to surpass Jimmy Rollins, but he took one giant leap for relief pitchers across the country.

Congratulations, Carlos! The Loogy Lounge salutes you.

[Note: Gnopple assures me that he does not have a vote for the N.L. MVP.]