SB Nation User Blog: RockiesMagicNumber

GM Meetings Day 3: Today is a National Holliday

RockiesMagicNumber — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:50:29 -0000

To kick things off, in all seriousness, thank you to all of our Veterans who have served our country and are serving our country, in any and all capacities. What you all have done and are doing requires a strength of body, mind, and character that I could only hope to attain someday. Sincerely, Thank You, and God Bless you.

Moving to the lighter side of things, we have a few rumors already kicking up. Mostly about New York. Great.

The Statue of Liberty has been resigned to a 87 year, $1.479B contract that will be shared between the Yankees, Mets, Knicks, Giants, Rangers, and in small (mostly ceremonial) part, Paris FC, with a regional option on the 88th year that will vest if the poor, tired, and huddled masses yearning to breathe free are continued to be given through year 31.

Rudy Guliani has agreed to a 7 year sponsorship agreement with New Era and Fox that will ensure that you know he LOVES NEW YORK by means of him excitedly wearing a Yankees cap when spotted at games.

And finally, the Mets have offered Albert Pujols 12 years, $314M, until someone gently informed Omar Minaya that Pujols was not, in fact, a free agent.

But seriously, baseball news in the comments.

GM Meetings: Day 2 - The Rockening

RockiesMagicNumber — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:40:01 -0000

by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

I hope you brought your wallet.

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Get it, it's like The Reckoning or something? yeah I know it's terrible. Turrible if you will.

It may have been a better idea to go with like "The Metsening", because when Omar Minaya arrived, it was like a fanfare, all the agents rejoiced, saying "Oh, the benevolent king of absurd contracts and an undying affinity for latin players has come to line our pockets with gold and fine oils!"

When suddenly the crowd parted and Scott Boras seemed to glide forward with hands outstretched, saying "I bring to thee Matt Holliday; for thou lackest a powerful bat from the right who canst playeth thine Outer Fields" to which Joe Urbon popped up saying "Hey! My client [Jason Bay] has more years displaying consistent offensive prowess in more run-neutral environments!"

Boras replied "Ah, but thou forgettest Holliday's most excellent postseason experiences, he hath carried the Rockies AND the Cardinals to October. Also, thou forgettest 2007, where Jason Bay hath batted .247 and hath only batted above .300 in his career onthe. Clearly, my client beith the supreme LF available, as he hath a career .318 batting average."

"Listen, Boras, your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped sway savvy GMs that Holliday is better than Bay. Bay's posted similar OPS in worse hitters parks and he-"

"Come, Omar, we have much to discuss" as Boras wraps his arm around Omar Minaya's shoulder and slowly walks away while $100 bills litter the ground from Minaya's torn pockets.

Seriously, when Minaya arrived, Heyman cited that he was looking for a power hitter, a starter, and a catcher. Heyman immediately suggested Holliday, Wolf, and Molina. Marquis could also be an option.

On the other side of town, it's sounding like the Yankees actually want to keep all their guys like Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui. I have trouble thinking they're not in the running for Holliday or Bay, though. I'm not terribly impressed with Austin Jackson, and it's not as if Matsui and Damon are going to magically get younger and/or healthier.

In other news, Texas is interested in reacquiring Milton Bradley, and he had some pretty solid success with them there in 2008. Heyman is saying he has to go SOMEWHERE, as the rumor is that many Cubs stars won't even talk to him. ARE YOU NOTICING THE COMMON THEME, MILTON? Whatever happens there, the Cubs don't have much leverage.

Rosenthal and Morosi are telling me (just got off the phone with them) that the Mariners are expected to kick the tires on Bay, at the least. Also there's a lot of demand for Billy Wagner, apparently. Who knew?

There are stirrings that the Phillies are pursuing Mark DeRosa to replace Pedro Feliz. So where is Feliz supposed to land? Does anybody care? Maybe the Giants will look at him again if they miss on Adrian Beltre, so they can move Pablo Sandoval over to 1B.

After last season, I don't see how the Giants aren't players for some combination of Bay, Holliday, Beltre, etc etc.

I'll keep them coming as long as I'm getting them till about noonish, and then I hope some of the other folks warming themselves around the Hot Stove can pitch in a bit as well!

Jays Make More 40-Man Roster Moves

RockiesMagicNumber — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:25:07 -0000

Jays Make More 40-Man Roster Moves

THEY CLAIMED MIKE MCCOY OFF OF WAIVERS

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

THIS IS THE WORST THING TO HAPPEN IN FRANCHISE HISTORY

GM Meetings day 1

RockiesMagicNumber — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:35:23 -0000

More photos » by Pat Sullivan - AP

"I am going to give you so many old, overvalued players to work with..."

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Today marks the beginning of the GM Meetings taking place in Chicago. While not nearly as exciting as the Winter Meetings, there may be some interesting trades and rumors that start swirling during these.

In this article, I'll post the various notifications I receive regarding rumors. This article is mostly a placeholder for ongoing discussion regarding the posted rumors and such.

Try and keep commentary threaded under the appropriate rumor (and I know there'll be some spillover due to REPLY FAIL, etc), and I think if we all work together, we can make this happen. And by "this" I mean a well organized series of discussions.

WE SHOULD TRADE FOR - Compilation thread!

RockiesMagicNumber — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:03:28 -0000

We all have trademaster ambitions. We all think we understand other clubs' depth and organizational needs. Some of us do, some of us don't. Some of us think Alan Johnson is a legit "prospect".

But whether our ideas are unfounded, based entirely in fantasy (We WILL have Brian Roberts! Oh Yes!), or make perfect organization sense, I think we should all share them, because frankly, I'm already bored, and there are 106 days until pitchers and catchers report.

So without further adieu, let me propose a trade here to get things moving (disclaimer: I may or may not actually think this is a good idea) :

OF Matt Murton and RF Brad Hawpe to Kansas City for 2B Alberto Callaspo and SP Luke Hochevar

Kansas City will find themselves with a quality DH and an OF that will outperform Josh Fields, David DeJesus, Jose Guillen, and Mitch Maier, while Colorado solidifies their rotation with a perfect Apodaca-fixer-upper prospect who doesn't seem to have his game entirely together, as well as adds a decent hitter at 2B who may not have Barmes' glove, but makes up for it in his bat.

Feel free to comment on this trade, or to post your own ideas. Please be nice people. I mean, call out blatantly terrible trades, but in a NICE way, you get me?

Swing and a miss! –or- Jip Jip Jorge!

RockiesMagicNumber — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:26:31 -0000

More photos » by Ben Margot - AP

Somebody swung and missed at this pitch.

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Alas, poor Jorge: I knew him well...at least that's how we all felt when he left against the Dodgers with a left groin pull. Losing Jorge De La Rosa may have been a major part of the Rockies' 4-game loss in the NLDS against the 2009 NL Champion Phillies. However, at this point, what's done is done, and I feel we can look back on his season and be pleased for the most part.

Starting 2 weeks ago, Counting Rocks is looking at the Rockies' rotation and drooling over the good things they've done and finding ways to brush the bad things under the rug.

This was a promising season for De La Rosa. After bouncing through 2 professional leagues (MLB, Mexican League) and 5 MLB franchises (Arizona, Boston, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Colorado), it would seem that at least for the time being, Jorge has found somewhere to call home. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say how pleased I am that he's here.

DLR has brought electricity to the mound that we haven't really seen since Pedro Astacio and Bruce Ruffin. DLR came to the mound with a 4 pitch arsenal: a 92-95mph fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup. This season, his fastball was really nothing terribly special (according to Fangraphs, as will the rest be), his curveball was roughly an average pitch, but his slider and changeup were remarkably positive pitches, and while nowhere near the top of the leaderboards, you can find his pitch values somewhere around the middle of the first page, anyhow.

No, what stands out about Jorge's pitches isn't how they rank in terms of run values in the majors, but rather what other batters were able to do with the pitches.

Join us after the jump as we look at Jorge's skillsets and how he's used them in the 2009 season.

Firstly, he's a strikeout machine. Now, he doesn't have the sheer number of punchouts that Jimenez and Astacio have/had, but that's mostly because they are/were more durable pitchers, more innings, etc. That said, DLR's 2009 season in terms of sheer strikeout totals ranked 3^rd in Rockies' history, tied with Pedro Astacio's 2000, at 193. Ranked ahead of him are: Ubaldo Jimenez' 2009, with 198, and Pedro Astacio's 1999, where he fanned 210 batters. Following is the Rockies' all-time leaderboard in terms of single-season strikeouts.

Rank	Player	SO	Year
1	Pedro Astacio	210	1999
2	Ubaldo Jimenez	198	2009
T3	Pedro Astacio	193	2000
T3	Jorge de la Rosa	193	2009
5	Ubaldo Jimenez	172	2008
6	Pedro Astacio	170	1998
7	Jeff Francis	165	2007
8	Darryl Kile	158	1998
9	Jason Jennings	142	2006
10	Denny Neagle	139	2001

Secondly, past the total strikeouts, De La Rosa was able to get more people to swing and miss at his pitches than anyone on the staff, making batters look silly with 10.6% of his pitches. He ranked 14^th in the majors among eligible starters in this Swinging Strike% category. That's nasty right there. DLR also was 10^th in the majors in terms of % of pitches that resulted in balls in play, at 16.9%. Now with a guy like DLR, you almost don't want him to put it in play. He's not TERRIBLY home run prone, but he did allow an OPS of .745 this season (which means batters batted just a shade below average against DLR as a collective). But remember that only 1 pitch per plate appearance can be put into play, and even then, sometimes one ISN'T put into play.

I'd be remiss if I just presented the number of batters who swung and missed without presenting any of the downside. While we can cheer about DLR making guys whiff and not putting a lot of balls into play, DLR also ranked 17^th in the majors in Ball%, in the bad way. Yes, 38.9% of DLR's pitches landed outside of the zone, while 43.9% fell for strikes/balls. This is new, right, the revelation that he walks too many guys? Anyhow.

But all of these numbers are kind of meaningless without putting them into context. As you all know, I'm a big fan of component rate stats: K/9, K/BB, BB/9, and HR/9. DLR posted a 9.39 K/9 this season, which is a career best for him, beating last year's mark of 8.86. Check out DLR's components below:

Season	Team	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	HR/9	AVG	WHIP	FIP
2004	Brewers	1.99	5.56	0.36	0.4	0.312	1.9	5.17
2005	Brewers	8.93	8.08	1.11	0.21	0.287	2.03	4.04
2006	Brewers/Royals	7.63	6.15	1.24	1.59	0.267	1.71	5.88
2007	Royals	5.68	3.67	1.55	1.38	0.304	1.64	5.27
2008	Rockies	8.86	4.29	2.06	0.9	0.259	1.46	4.06
2009	Rockies	9.39	4.04	2.33	0.97	0.248	1.38	3.91

(Bolded numbers indicate career bests)

DLR took strides this season, and this really has been the best year of his career. He's 29 on opening day 2010, so while I don't anticipate him getting better, per se, I do see him being able to refine his BB9 while maintaining a high K/9. (It should be noted his 2009 numbers are very slightly skewed by his 1 relief appearance, his numbers as just a starter are slightly better overall, but not enough to post JUST his results as a starting pitcher.)

I'd also like to point out that that Jorge posted a 4.10 tRA* (the regressed and adjusted and lathered/rinsed/repeated version of tRA that takes everything into account) this season, good for 21st overall in the majors, and 2nd on the Rockies behind our boy Ubaldo.

So this is all nice and fun, but seeing how we're looking at DLR's numbers in terms of the Rockies' franchise, chew on this for a minute:

Jorge De La Rosa holds the top 2 marks in franchise history for strikeouts per 9. Yes, higher than Pedro Astacio. Higher than Bruce Ruffin. Higher than Darryl Kile. He tops them all.

Rank	Player	K/9	Year
1	Jorge de la Rosa	9.389	2009
2	Jorge de la Rosa	8.861	2008
3	Pedro Astacio	8.847	2000
4	Ubaldo Jimenez	8.174	2009
5	Pedro Astacio	8.147	1999
6	Bruce Ruffin	8.119	1993
7	Pedro Astacio	7.979	2001
8	Ubaldo Jimenez	7.792	2008
9	Shawn Chacon	7.537	2001
10	Byung-Hyun Kim	7.49	2006

Nothing's more fun for me than watching a pitcher amass strikeouts in a single game. This season, among his 32 starts (remember he missed that one at the ASB and pitched terribly in relief in one game just to give him a little work before a big layover), De La Rosa threw 3 games with 10 or more punchouts, 5 with 9 or more, 8 with 8 or more, and 11 with 7 or more strikeouts. It's hardly Lincecum-esque, but that's pretty awesome right there. Only Ubaldo really ranks about De La Rosa in this area of being a sheer lockdown pitcher, and that's simply because where Ubaldo lacks in the K9 department, he has a good 5-10% extra GB% as an insurance policy against the few scattered baserunners he allows.

So I've put my opinion on my sleeve pretty firmly here, I think DLR is a stud. His stuff is destructive. He's shown a lot of growth and maturity, especially in some games down the stretch where he allowed himself to be stretched an extra inning or two extra in some outings where they needed their starter to give some innings - specifically I'm thinking about his August 22 start against SF, where he got hit for 6 runs early, but still stretched out over 6 innings while the Rockies rallied and ultimately won the game 12-8.

Of DLR's 32 starts, he only had 7 starts where he allowed more than 4 runs (9 if you include the 4 run games), 2 games with 6 runs allowed, 4 with 7 runs allowed. Those 4 7-run starts have me disturbed, as well as the 2 6-run starts, because it's not as if we can just write them off to April shakiness or whatever - 2 came in May, 2 in August, 1 in June, 1 in September. The small "good" we can take out of those terrible 6 starts are 2 small-ish things: First, he was able to make it out of the 4^th in 2 of the starts, pitching 5 and 6 innings in 2 of these stinkers, so at least he mopped up a bit of his own mess; second, his walk totals aren't obscene in them. Out of the 6 stinker starts, only 2 of them featured more walks than strikeouts, and only 1 of them featured more than 3 walks - well, 2 if you count HBP, but I'm looking that as kind of a different thing, esp in how it factors into pitch count. What I'm trying to point out here is that DLR's biggest weakness may seem to be wildness, but BBs weren't what killed him in his worst starts. In 3 of his 6 stinkers, however, he allowed 2 or more long balls.

It's pretty obvious we're putting lipstick on a pig in these cases, because it's not as if the "not as bad as it could've been" factor suddenly makes the runs not count or something, it's more that it simply looks like he just had "those days" rather than "man this guy just sucks", as the losses didn't really show his weaknesses - at least in the form of his recurring lack of control. If we wanna talk about emotional issues, whew, that's not really my field, but I'll be happy to discuss it. (My stance is the feared Jekyll and Hyde nature of DLR is starting to fade, almost like an evanescent mist, as he finds himself in a more stable role with the team, especially a team as good as the Rockies. I imagine knowing that even if he gives up 3-4 runs, the game isn't over, so he can pitch a bit looser and with a bit more confidence.)

So to conclude this praise of De La Rosa's 2009 season, I'll just leave you with with one line from DLR's split stats:

Opponent Name	G	W	L	PA	AB	SO/9	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	ERA	IP	WHIP
Arizona Diamondbacks	4	3	1	109	93	7.4	.172	.287	.258	.545	50	1.35	26.2	1.163

Colorado Rockies Top 10 Pitching Leaders

RockiesMagicNumber — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:48:33 -0000

Colorado Rockies Top 10 Pitching Leaders

I forgot to look into this and/or mention this last time CR was published, but Jason Hammel is even more of a man than any of us realized.

If you scroll down to "Strikeouts / Base On Balls" (about 2/3 of the way down), take a quick look at the leaderboard there, and how much of a jump there is from 1st to 2nd.

Jason Hammel: The Man, the Myth, the Back-End Starter

RockiesMagicNumber — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 05:11:51 -0000

***UPDATE: I went ahead and averaged everyone's rankings, as I'm somewhat foolish in the original analysis. This has been reflected in the article, and in the linked spreadsheet as well.***

Jason Hammel is a stud. At least, in my opinion he is. I found that he really solidified his spot in the rotation after a shaky April. He had a bit of an ugly July as well, but all things averaging out, Hammel finished the season at 10-8 with a 4.33 ERA, 176 2/3 IP, and a nice friendly smile to go with all of that.

Now, what's probably sticking in most Rockies' fans mind is his first and only postseason start against Philly, where he didn't have his ace stuff. He only lasted 3.2 innings, allowing 4 runs on 4 hits, 5K's, 3BB, and sucked up the loss. Definitely not solid stuff.

But we all know that 1 start does not make a pitcher, especially a first postseason start, where nerves and the bitter cold may have played a part. In the minds of many fans, however, he still wasn't the solidifying force that many people would have liked to see over the course of the season, #5 starter or not. I've read several claims that he should be in the bullpen in 2010, making way for starters returning from injury, for young prospects looking eager to make the rotation, and perhaps even being bumped when Colorado inevitably trades for Roy Halladay.

See, I disagree with the notion that he hasn't earned himself a spot in the 2010 rotation. I personally feel he's earned himself the #4 spot, behind Ubaldo, Cook, and DLR.

I feel strongly enough about this to make the following claim: Jason Hammel was the best (or at least top 15%) among all #5 starters in the majors this season, and that he'd even find himself in the middle of the pack (top 50%) among all #4 starters this season.

Now, to explore this hypothesis, I pulled all the #4/#5 starters from Baseball Reference to see how well he stacks up. I included all the #6 starters as well and called them #5s. I had to make a few adjustments as BBR ranks the 1-5 based on innings pitched, which makes sense for the most part: your ace will likely have the most innings pitched, and the #5/#6 will probably have been called up/sent down and/or demoted to/promoted from the pen, thereby giving them an overall lesser workload than the other rotation members. That said, I had to make sure that Cliff Lee was an Ace, and other pitching staffs with a lot of injuries didn't have their Ace listed as the #4.

Now there are a couple of interesting details to note here. For starters, the #5 slot isn't nearly as non-competitive as you'd think. Populating the back-end include not only a bunch of no-names and veterans just there to eat innings, but also young bucks who burned their way past AAA and will probably be a #3 or higher in the 2010 season. That said, the #5 competition is almost stiffer than the #4 competition, as the #4 doesn't have quite the revolving door that the #5 does, and oftentimes will house the Livan Hernandez' of a rotation, who really kind of suck, but not badly enough to be demoted.

Join us after the jump as we see where Hammel stacks up against the competition.

Now, when I evaluate a pitcher, I look at the following things: ERA, FIP, xFIP, tRA. I'll be excluding xFIP and tRA from this not because I don't think they should come into play, but because I have like 60 pitchers to stack up and their xFIP/tRA aren't easily calculable and/or aren't nicely listed on BBR. Ah, the drawbacks of making your own spreadsheets.

After the runs/9 metrics, I then move to peripherals: WHIP, K9, BB9, HR9, K/BB. I feel those can tell more of a story of how the pitcher actually pitched without taking a lot of the more variable aspects of the game into play (parks and such - although obviously HR9 is very different based on where you pitched. This is where the "YEAH BUT COORS" comes into play).

Finally, Innings Pitched. Typically, it's not that big of a deal, because we can just look at rate stats to level the playing field, but considering the revolving-door nature of the #5 slot, it shows that the pitcher was consistently good enough to not lose his rotation spot to anyone else.

So let's get to cracking.

Jason Hammel posted a 4.33 ERA in 2009 over 176 2/3 innings, good for an ERA+ of 104, allowing a WHIP of 1.387. His FIP sat at a solid 3.66. Per 9 innings, Hammel struck out 6.8, walked a mere 2.1, and gave up 0.9 HR. He struck out 3.17 batters per walk allowed.

Based on those numbers, Hammel ranked as follows:

	#5
ERA	13
ERA+	11
WHIP	17
FIP	3
K9	13
BB9	5
HR9	9
K/BB	4
IP	2
Average	8.89

Averaging all those rankings gives Hammel an average rank of 8.89, as seen above. This puts Hammel as 3rd among #5 starters, with 1st being Tommy Hanson (4.33) and Jeff Niemann (8.56). That's some pretty fine company to have right there. So let's see how he stacks up among the steady #4 starters:

	Hammel	DLR
ERA	7	8
ERA+	7	8
WHIP	9	8
FIP	1	4
K9	13	2
BB9	2	21
HR9	5	10
K/BB	2	4
IP	2	1
Average	5.333333333	7.333333333

Averaging THOSE rankings puts Hammel at an average 5.333 ranking among #4 starters. Ahead of him, nobody. That's right, he's first. Directly behind him are Hiroki Kuroda, Randy Wells, and Jorge De La Rosa.

Clearly we're not looking at all the pieces to the puzzle here. There's more to a pitcher's makeup than simply how he ranks among his peers. But considering the job we asked Jason to do this season, it would appear he held it down admirably.

If you asked me to tell you which number impressed me the most about Jason Hammel this season, I'd answer simply that it's his walk rate. With 2 fireballers/K machines in Ubaldo Jimenez and Jorge De La Rosa, we also saw some pretty unfriendly BB9's, despite their relative improvements. Jason almost halved his BB9 from his past 2 seasons in Tampa, and took to attacking the strike zone far more than we'd seen of him in his career. Granted, he had times when he was very hittable, but at the very least, a BB9 that low will keep you in games longer and help you eat more innings at the back end of a rotation.

Additionally, Hammel ranked 31^st in tRA*, the adjusted and regressed form of tRA. While that doesn't really show how the other #4/#5 pitchers did this season, putting Hammel that high up on the list is pretty impressive to say the least.

So let's go back to my hypothesis.

Did Jason Hammel rate top 15% among #5 starters?

No, no he did not. Based on the criteria, Hammel just barely missed being in the top 20%. So swing and a miss there, although he might have caught a piece of it. Yes, yes he did. Ranking 3rd behind Jeff Niemann and Tommy Hanson is no small feat, considering Hanson is the Braves' top pitching prospect and Niemann is the guy who beat him out for the job in Tampa. Very admirable.

Did Jason Hammel rate top 50% among #4 starters?

Yes, yes he did. Based on the criteria, Hammel blew past the top 50% and topped all eligible #4 starters in the categories used to evaluate.

That said, based on the hypothesis given, the conclusion I draw is that while Hammel ranks very favorably among #5 starters, he can easily compete with #4 starters, and I feel that puts him in a place that should all but guarantee him a rotation spot in 2010.

If you'd like to see the raw data I used to make this evaluation, I've created a Google Docs spreadsheet here for you to look at and mess with.

Purple Row Awards: American League Cy Young Award

RockiesMagicNumber — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:54:19 -0000

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As we continue our quest to award the big trophies to the deserving players, our eyes turn away from home and to the American League, where pitchers play half of a game and are given back rubs in between innings.

The writers on the staff had very little problem with finding a winner, as this particular pitcher received a unanimous vote from the Purple Row Brass.

Carl Pavano

#48 / Pitcher / Minnesota Twins

Height: 6-5

Weight: 240

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Jan 08, 1976

HA! Nah, I'm joking with you. Seriously, the winner is the following pitcher:

1st Place - Zack Greinke

#23 / Pitcher / Kansas City Royals

Height: 6-2

Weight: 190

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Oct 21, 1983

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Zack Greinke	16-8	33	33	6	3	0	0	229.1	195	64	55	11	51	242	2.16	1.07

Zack Greinke. What comes to your mind when you think about Zack Greinke? Ask me this a couple of years ago, and the first thing that comes to my mind is "man, what a shame. So much sheer talent and the kid can't keep his head on his shoulders. What a shame, I'd kill to have a guy who could throw a 95 mph sinker."

I've seen Greinke pitch once. May 20, 2007, Greinke pitched 4 outs of relief against Colorado, striking out 2, allowing no hits and walking nobody. Nothing terribly special, but it was a sign that he might be ready to pitch as a major leaguer again.

While 2007 and 2008 definitely showed signs of improvement for young Greinke, 2009 proved to be something nearly otherworldly.

Greinke posted a 2.16 ERA over 229 1/3 innings in the 2009 campaign. He struck out 242 batters, walked only 51, and never had to intentionally walk ANYONE.

Thanks to a pitiful Royals team this season, his record was only 16-8. He made 26 Quality Starts (6.0IP or more, 3.0ER or less), out of 33 starts. He struck out 8 or more batters in 16 starts. 9 or more in 9 starts, 10 or more in 5 starts, including 1 game where he punched out 15. He pitched 5 games in which he allowed zero runs, 3 of which being complete games.

Greinke pitched 29 innings in 2009 before allowing a single run. He pitched 75 innings before his ERA cracked 1. He pitched 121 1/3 innings before it passed 2.

But the real story of Zack Greinke is in the half-season splits.

First half Greinke: 10-5, 2.12 ERA, 6.14 K/BB.

Second half Greinke: 6-3, 2.21 ERA, 3.77 K/BB.

Ok I'm kidding about that. You can see that his SHEER DOMINANCE dropped off a bit as the halves changed, but he was still pretty dynamite.

For the SABR crowd, Greinke's season line looks like this: 2.16 ERA(1^st), 2.33 FIP (1^st), 2.35 tRA (1^st), 3.48 tRA* (1^st), 4.75 K/BB (2^nd to Halladay), 9.50 K/9 (3^rd behind Verlander and Lester), 6.07 WPA (1^st), 61.98 RE24 (1^st - next highest was 44.85, Halladay).

I don't see how there's any other option than Greinke, personally. I'm thrilled to see a troubled young guy find his stride, and really fill out the dominance the Royals saw in him when they drafted him.

Greinke's 4-year, $38M extension may be the only smart decision Dayton Moore has made in the past few years.

Our runners up:

2nd Place - Justin Verlander

#35 / Pitcher / Detroit Tigers

Height: 6-5

Weight: 200

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Feb 20, 1983

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Justin Verlander	19-9	35	35	3	1	0	0	240.0	219	99	92	20	63	269	3.45	1.17

3rd Place - Felix Hernandez

#34 / Pitcher / Seattle Mariners

Height: 6-3

Weight: 225

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Apr 08, 1986

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Felix Hernandez	19-5	34	34	2	1	0	0	238.2	200	81	66	15	71	217	2.49	1.14

Here is how the voting broke down:

AL Cy	RMN	PF	togb	Russ	Silver	Jabbs
1	Zack Greinke	Zack Greinke	Zack Greinke	Zack Greinke	Zack Greinke	Zack Greinke
2	Justin Verlander	Felix Hernandez	CC Sabathia	Felix Hernandez	Felix Hernandez	Justin Verlander
3	Roy Halladay	Justin Verlander	Justin Verlander	Justin Verlander	Roy Halladay	Felix Hernandez

If I could've I would've given 3rd place to both Halladay and King Felix. That kid is also bomb, and will be a Cy Young winner before you know it.

Tomorrow, Jabberwocky will be telling us about who won the NL Cy Young award, why he did, and why nobody can take away the way he wears his hat.

Jim Tracy named NL Manager of the Year, Scioscia in the AL

RockiesMagicNumber — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:16:39 -0000

More photos » by David Zalubowski - AP

Kudos, Jim. We wouldn't have been here without you.

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As announced by The Sporting News at midnight, Jim Tracy was selected as the Manager of the Year by a panel of 22 MLB managers.

Tracy, who took the reins after Clint Hurdle's firing, led the club from an 18-28 start and went 74-42 to lead the club to their franchise best finish of 92-70, as well as their second postseason berth in 3 years.

Regrettably, the Rockies did not advance beyond the NLDS in the postseason, however, many players cited Tracy as being instrumental in the club's turnaround.

The Rockies' brass are still working on an extension for Tracy, as well as GM Dan O'Dowd.

On the other side of the spectrum, Mike Scioscia led the Angels to their 3rd consecutive postseason (6th in the past 8 years), their 3rd consecutive division title (5th in past 6 years), and the team finished at 97-65, 1 game shy of breaking the .600 mark. The Angels are currently down 3-1 against the Yankees in the ALCS.

Hat tip to SDCat09 for the fanshot.

***It should be noted that this is NOT the Official MoTY award as presented by the BBWAA. However, the Sporting News' award should hardly be sniffed at.***