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!

Low-Budget Team Gives Lots of Money to 34-Year-Old With Zero Major League Experience

Apologies for neglecting to post on the Royals’ signing of Japanese reliever, Yasuhiko Yabuta. Despite my snide title above, this move does make some sense from a business standpoint. Japan has become a crucial source of talent for MLB clubs, and perhaps the signing of Yabuta will make other Japanese players — like sought-after starter Hiroki Kuroda — more comfortable going to play in Kansas City.

In this light, the move is reminiscent of Hideki Okajima’s signing with the Red Sox last off-season. After the signing, and before the Sox signed Dice-K, Theo Epstein said: “He’s going be a valuable member of our bullpen. But, if we do end up with two Japanese pitchers, that certainly would help the assimilation process, not only on the field but also off the field.”

Because I feel nothing but pity for Royals’ fans, I truly hope this signing works out as well as Okajima’s signing did for the Red Sox. The best thing Yabuta has going for him, as was the case for Jeemer, is that Major League hitters have never seen him before. Not anywhere close to the best thing going for him is that he “register[ed] 86 holds over the last three seasons for the Chibe Lotte Marines in the Pacific League.”

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!

I Hate The Hold.

I’m going to ridicule the “hold” statistic in FireJoeMorgan fashion. Here goes! According to Major League Baseball:

The hold is not an official statistic, but it was created as a way to credit middle relief pitchers for a job well done.

So the hold unofficially gives credit to middle-relief pitchers? I’m not really sure what that means. I guess MLB also thinks it’s a pretty dumb stat?

Starting pitchers get wins, and closers — the relief pitchers who come in at the end of the game — get saves, but the guys who pitch in between the two rarely get either statistic.

This is really thoughtful of MLB. Wins are a stupid way to measure starting-pitcher performance and saves are a stupid way to measure closer performance, so let’s find a stupid way to measure middle-relief performance. And let’s not stop there — let’s make the hold even stupider than the win and save.

So what’s the most important thing one of these middle relievers can do? “Hold” a lead.

Sounds right. Seems innocent enough. But here’s where things get really stupid…

If a reliever comes into a game to protect a lead, gets at least one out and leaves without giving up that lead, he gets a hold.

Here’s the scene: World Series. Bottom of the 8th inning. Road team up 5-2. Six outs away from winning it all. Its best middle reliever comes in. He gets an out, but then surrenders a single and a homerun. 5-4. But heck, he shouldn’t feel bad about himself — his team still has the lead. Let’s unofficially give him credit for his performance. Good job, Jeemer!

By the way, it appears that some stat services define the hold differently. (I guess people feel they can use artistic discretion with the hold because MLB made the stat “unofficial”). According to these folks, a reliever doesn’t even need to record an out to get a hold. Way to go, Mike MacDougal! And thank you Yahoo! for making the hold even worse than it already was.

But you can’t get a save and a hold at the same time.

That makes sense, I guess. You know what doesn’t make sense? Amazingly, you can get a hold and a loss at the same time! Check this out. That is just plain stupid.

How to evaluate a relief pitcher? — Part I

The question on your mind is probably: how does one actually evaluate middle relievers? It’s an excellent question, and one that I haven’t quite figured out yet. Part of the reason for starting this blog is to get a better handle on appropriate standards for evaluating talent. Currently, I evaluate middle relievers on a scale from “sucks” (Jeff Ridgway of the 189.00 ERA in 2007) to “gamer” (Hideki Okajima, Rock Star). I’m sure that will evolve somewhat in the next year.

In the meantime, check out U.S. Patent No. 7092847, a method for “evaluating the performance of a relief pitcher in the late innings of a baseball game.” Yeah, the man who brought you the self-stablizing training wheels for a bicycle and the kick-ass water conservation delivery system using temperature-controlled by-pass circuit has turned his engineering prowess to baseball.