08/24: The Very Unique Chien-Ming
Posted by: James
The always interesting Dave Studeman checks in with weekly "Ten Things I Didn't Know Last Week" and the Yankees show up twice on the list. The first point is about how the Yankees have pulled away from the Red Sox (I love looking at that graph and seeing the two teams diverge). The second point refers to Obi-Wang and what he might accomplish this season:
Hmmm, neither of those guys bear much resemblance to Chien-Ming's pitching profile so it will be especially interesting to see how Wang develops.
Finally, Dave points over to TriplePlay's blog where he's compiled how each team in the majors has put together their 25-man roster. Ben Kabak of Off the Facade did this a little while ago as well for the Yanks and is one of the sources for TriplePlay's Yankees page.
I found out that he's (Wang) on track to do something that hasn't been accomplished for 17 years: finish the season with fewer than three strikeouts a game and an ERA under 4.00.
The last pitchers to pull off that feat were two lefties: Baltimore’s Jeff Ballard and Toronto’s Mike Flanagan in 1989. Ballard had a classic “fluke” year in 1989, when he finished with a record of 18-8 and an ERA of 3.43, despite striking out only 62 batters in 215 innings. He never approached that level of success again. Flanagan was a 37-year-old crafty lefthander at the end of a fine career, relying on guile, control and placement. Freakishly, he had as many walks as strikeouts in 1989 but he still managed to post a 3.93 ERA.
Of course, it was harder to score runs in the 1980s than it is today, so I doubt that there are many valid comparisons in recent baseball history to what Wang is doing this year.
The last pitchers to pull off that feat were two lefties: Baltimore’s Jeff Ballard and Toronto’s Mike Flanagan in 1989. Ballard had a classic “fluke” year in 1989, when he finished with a record of 18-8 and an ERA of 3.43, despite striking out only 62 batters in 215 innings. He never approached that level of success again. Flanagan was a 37-year-old crafty lefthander at the end of a fine career, relying on guile, control and placement. Freakishly, he had as many walks as strikeouts in 1989 but he still managed to post a 3.93 ERA.
Of course, it was harder to score runs in the 1980s than it is today, so I doubt that there are many valid comparisons in recent baseball history to what Wang is doing this year.
Hmmm, neither of those guys bear much resemblance to Chien-Ming's pitching profile so it will be especially interesting to see how Wang develops.
Finally, Dave points over to TriplePlay's blog where he's compiled how each team in the majors has put together their 25-man roster. Ben Kabak of Off the Facade did this a little while ago as well for the Yanks and is one of the sources for TriplePlay's Yankees page.
