Brewers Pitching Philosophy: A Single Is Not Enough

by TheJay on Aug 19, 2009 1:00 PM CDT Comment 10 comments

One week ago, roguejim wrote a post about just how lousy the Brewers starting rotation has been. Here are some more numbers showing just how hard Brewers starters have been hit.

Check out the fifteen highest slugging averages allowed by MLB pitchers with a minimum of 100 innings pitched in 2009. Note: these numbers are through August 17, so Parra's start last night and those of anyone else on the list are not included.

Name	SLG	IP	ERA	HR	W-L
Josh Geer	.561	102.2	5.96	27	1-7
Jeff Suppan	.512	114.1	5.27	18	5-8
Trevor Cahill	.506	139.1	4.97	25	6-12
Jeremy Guthrie	.506	140.0	5.66	28	7-12
Todd Wellemeyer	.498	112.2	5.67	17	7-9
Braden Looper	.496	143.0	5.03	30	10-6
Brian Moehler	.495	113.1	5.40	16	7-9
Jamie Moyer	.491	123.1	5.47	22	10-9
Livan Hernandez	.491	135.0	5.47	16	7-8
Armando Galarraga	.487	129.0	5.16	21	6-10
Brad Penny	.482	127.2	5.22	17	7-7
Jason Hammel	.479	118.0	4.73	11	7-7
Joe Saunders	.477	136.2	5.33	24	9-7
Aaron Harang	.471	155.1	4.35	24	6-14
Manny Parra	.470	107.2	6.44	12	8-8

The Brewers are the only team with more than one pitcher on that list and they very nearly had four. Jeff Suppan has seen his reputation improve with time spent on the DL, but Dave Bush has made out pretty well, too. He only had 81 innings pitched when he was placed on the DL, but his .534 slugging average allowed would have placed him second. If you add nineteen perfect innings to his season line, his resulting .450 still comes in 27th. If you're curious, Yovani Gallardo's .371 is 79th out of 102 qualifying pitchers.

I know including W-L records in anything is heresy these days, but it gives me an excuse to post this snippet originally found in the August 16 Elias Says column:

Braden Looper handed a 5-4 seventh-inning lead to the bullpen, but the Astros rallied against Brewers relievers to post an 8-5 win at Milwaukee. It was the fifth time this season that relievers relinquished a lead in a game in which Looper was in line for a victory. The only starting pitchers in the majors with more blown wins this season than Looper are Randy Wolf (7), Gavin Floyd (6) and Looper's mound opponent on Sunday, Roy Oswalt (6).

Strange to think that Looper could right now be the worst 15+ game winner in recent memory.

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A quick aside

I don’t mean to distract from the conversation, just give commenters more to consider. BP also talks about Milwaukee’s woes, with this article today (may require subscription). Although it says the offense has been good, the starting pitching hasn’t. Key quote:

In terms of SNWP, Bush and Suppan have been terrible (.445 and .419, respectively)… Beyond emerging ace Yovani Gallardo (4.4), Braden Looper (1.0) is the only other starter even a full victory above replacement level, but his [Looper’s] .429 SNWP suggest he’s another part of the problem in a weak unit… Still, the Brewers are 15th in the NL in runs allowed with an average of 5.1 a game, ahead of only the Nationals.

by Capt Science on Aug 19, 2009 1:21 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Can you imagine?

Looper as a 20-game winner?

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on Aug 19, 2009 1:53 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

real quick

how much of his ER are inherrited runners let in by relievers? Before we judge him on his ERA, we should have this info

"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."

by Hyatt on Aug 19, 2009 3:38 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't think it will help much

Looper leads the majors in home runs given up. Coincidentally, Arroyo and Harang are close on his heels.

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on Aug 19, 2009 3:59 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Coincidentally?

I don’t know if its coincidence, considering the same GM that inked Looper is now looking at scooping up diamonds-in-the-rough Harang and Arroyo. He must know that Chris Bosio is the second coming of Dave Duncan.

Sigh.

I don’t have a category for "washed-up guys who may or may not be dominant big-league closers sometime soon."

~Jeff Sackmann

by Charlie Marlow on Aug 19, 2009 4:07 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I don't know if he's all that excited about either of them, but I'd be a hell of a lot happier if they were rolling Harang out there instead of Mike Burns or Carlos Villenueva. I mean, we're paying either way, why not get a player?

by Mykenk on Aug 19, 2009 4:43 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Its a moot point now, but...

If you were looking at a straight up swap you’d be paying approximately 2.6MM for Arroyo and 3.1MM for Harang, plus a 2MM buyout for each. So, you’re paying ALL of Hall’s contract, plus 4.6MM-5.1MM. Yuck.

I don’t have a category for "washed-up guys who may or may not be dominant big-league closers sometime soon."

~Jeff Sackmann

by Charlie Marlow on Aug 19, 2009 6:17 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs