Monday, October 23, 2006
The Slugging of Bronson Arroyo & The RBI Watch: Pitcher's Edition
Originally posted April 11, 2006
Forget the 2-0 record, the 1.98 ERA, and his 0.88 WHIP...Bronson Arroyo has hit 2 HR in his 2 games with the Cincinnati Reds. All 6'5", 190 lbs. of him. I hope Boston’s pissed; they gave him up for Wily Mo Pena, who, in today’s game vs. the Blue Jays, flew out on the first pitch he saw, looked absolutely ridiculous in his second AB, striking out on three of the exact same pitches in a row that weren’t anywhere near the plate, and then knocked Frank Catalanotto’s fly ball into over the fence for a 2-run HR...great trade. Not up there with the Minnesota Twins just letting David Ortiz go, giving the Red Sox his 121 HR & 393 RBI, so far, for, literally, nothing...but that Arroyo/Mo Pena trade is looking pretty one-sided, at this point. Yeah; I know it’s based on 6 games, but so what? Crappy trade.
After I ripped on the Houston Astros for being "irredeemably pathetic" and "offensively inept", Lance Berkman has gone 8 for his last 20 with 4 HR and 10 RBI...so much for my odds of an Astros starting pitcher leading the team in RBI...although, Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt are both bashing at a rate that will net them 46 RBI each this year, so if Berkman’s production falls off, who knows? One thing is for sure: I’ll be keeping track with my trusty RBI Watch: Pitcher‘s Edition...last year, Florida’s Dontrelle Willis took the title with 11 RBI, barely outclassing Jason Marquis of the St. Louis Cardinals, who had 10. This year, the aforementioned Arroyo, with 1 RBI each for those 2 homeruns he’s spanked, has 2, as do John Thomson of Atlanta, and Mark Mulder of the Cards. It’s shaping up to be a tight race, folks!
With that in mind, it’s time for some Fun with First-Week Projections: Brad Wilkerson of the Texas Rangers is "on pace" to strike out 324 times, breaking Adam Dunn’s 2-year-old record by 129; Boston’s Josh Beckett looks to go 46-0, with a 1.29 ERA; The Los Angeles Angels of Someplace in Southern California’s Francisco Rodriguez, or "K-Rod", is humming along at a 162-save pace, which would break Bobby Thigpen’s record by 105, which is kind of like beating Hack Wilson’s 191 RBI record by mashing 500 ribbies, but is also on pace to surrender 81 homeruns, which would make the overall likelihood of tallying 100+ saves pretty small; I haven’t even mentioned Chris Shelton and his 116 HR for the Detroit Tigers! Last, but probably most impressive, are the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians both shooting for identical 139-23 records...which would be, by far, the best all-time. Man, there is going to be some craaaazy action this season!*
*postscript: I hit my head pretty hard while trying to get out of my car this afternoon; that might go a long way towards explaining why this post is so dumb...the end of it, anyway.
End of original post.
Arroyo ended up with a 14-11 record, 3.29 ERA and a WHIP of 1.19...to go with those 2 HR; Pena finished with a .301/.349/.489/.838 line in 84 games. Not too bad for ol’ Wily Mo, you say? What about the fact that Boston had to throw out David Wells and rookies until their arms fell off (I’m looking at you, Jonathan Papelbon) instead of a reliable starter, all so they could have 84 games of Pena. TERRIBLE.
¶ 12:10 PM
Forget the 2-0 record, the 1.98 ERA, and his 0.88 WHIP...Bronson Arroyo has hit 2 HR in his 2 games with the Cincinnati Reds. All 6'5", 190 lbs. of him. I hope Boston’s pissed; they gave him up for Wily Mo Pena, who, in today’s game vs. the Blue Jays, flew out on the first pitch he saw, looked absolutely ridiculous in his second AB, striking out on three of the exact same pitches in a row that weren’t anywhere near the plate, and then knocked Frank Catalanotto’s fly ball into over the fence for a 2-run HR...great trade. Not up there with the Minnesota Twins just letting David Ortiz go, giving the Red Sox his 121 HR & 393 RBI, so far, for, literally, nothing...but that Arroyo/Mo Pena trade is looking pretty one-sided, at this point. Yeah; I know it’s based on 6 games, but so what? Crappy trade.
After I ripped on the Houston Astros for being "irredeemably pathetic" and "offensively inept", Lance Berkman has gone 8 for his last 20 with 4 HR and 10 RBI...so much for my odds of an Astros starting pitcher leading the team in RBI...although, Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt are both bashing at a rate that will net them 46 RBI each this year, so if Berkman’s production falls off, who knows? One thing is for sure: I’ll be keeping track with my trusty RBI Watch: Pitcher‘s Edition...last year, Florida’s Dontrelle Willis took the title with 11 RBI, barely outclassing Jason Marquis of the St. Louis Cardinals, who had 10. This year, the aforementioned Arroyo, with 1 RBI each for those 2 homeruns he’s spanked, has 2, as do John Thomson of Atlanta, and Mark Mulder of the Cards. It’s shaping up to be a tight race, folks!
With that in mind, it’s time for some Fun with First-Week Projections: Brad Wilkerson of the Texas Rangers is "on pace" to strike out 324 times, breaking Adam Dunn’s 2-year-old record by 129; Boston’s Josh Beckett looks to go 46-0, with a 1.29 ERA; The Los Angeles Angels of Someplace in Southern California’s Francisco Rodriguez, or "K-Rod", is humming along at a 162-save pace, which would break Bobby Thigpen’s record by 105, which is kind of like beating Hack Wilson’s 191 RBI record by mashing 500 ribbies, but is also on pace to surrender 81 homeruns, which would make the overall likelihood of tallying 100+ saves pretty small; I haven’t even mentioned Chris Shelton and his 116 HR for the Detroit Tigers! Last, but probably most impressive, are the Boston Red Sox and the Cleveland Indians both shooting for identical 139-23 records...which would be, by far, the best all-time. Man, there is going to be some craaaazy action this season!*
*postscript: I hit my head pretty hard while trying to get out of my car this afternoon; that might go a long way towards explaining why this post is so dumb...the end of it, anyway.
End of original post.
Arroyo ended up with a 14-11 record, 3.29 ERA and a WHIP of 1.19...to go with those 2 HR; Pena finished with a .301/.349/.489/.838 line in 84 games. Not too bad for ol’ Wily Mo, you say? What about the fact that Boston had to throw out David Wells and rookies until their arms fell off (I’m looking at you, Jonathan Papelbon) instead of a reliable starter, all so they could have 84 games of Pena. TERRIBLE.
¶ 12:10 PM
