Diamondbacks Bullpen

[stu]

I just got the 2007 Baseball Handbook. I got it mainly because an article said that JB keeps a dog eared copy with him. It is almost the identical to the old yearly Stats, Inc. books.

I don't like format, but it has minor league and Japan numbers for some players. It does have rh/lh splits, park factors, some baserunning and fileding stats and some other features. The purpose of this post is to focus on some stats they gave for managers.

One stat they had is releivers used on consecutive days (RCD). That is if a pitcher is used two days in a row, there is a count on one. Melvin was next to the bottom of this with 86. Low was Giradi at 76. High was Baker with 165 followed by Garner at 157 and Tracy at 156. The numbers then were (and I may miss one or two here) 144, 137, 126, 121 119, 111, 107, 106, 98, 95.

It is too bad they don't have 3 days in a row, dry humping, or some other measure for overuse, but at very least Melvin wasn't bad in this stat last year. In fairness to us critcis we did acknowledge during the season that he improved in this area, but still managed to make poor choices.

Also in fairness to us, Melvin had 123 RCD's in 2005. They don't have the stats for that year but this would have placed him in the top half for 2006.

Melvin also "platooned" more than any other NL manager, 72% of his lineups had the platoon advantage at the start of the game. This is a bogus stat because a switch hitter also gets the platoon advanatge and Melvin had lots of them. I think the failure to platoon Green and Byrnes remains a very justifiable criticism.

Melvin was a 68% in 2005, but he had Tony Clark and Cruz that year plus a number of lh starters like Counsel, Tracy, Gonzo will give you an automatic platoon againt rh's (about 70-75% on its own IIRC). So I am of the view this is dispite Melvin rather than becasue of him. His numbers at Seattle 62 and 59 are more in the average range.

So two of my biggest gripes against Melvin are not borne out by the "stats", but I think we need to look beyond stats in these case. I am willing to concede, as we noted during the season, that Melvin was better on giving his relievers a day off after working them.

[qudjy1]

Cool... If you dont mind me asking, how much was it?

[Espo]

Which handbook did you get? Was it the BP one? I would recommend, and I'm sure most of you get this already, the Baseball America prospect handbook. I beat the heck out of my copy last year while down in Tucson and it's a very interesting read.

[stu]

21.95

It is the Bill James Baseball Handbook. Sorry I meant to have that in there. It does not have prospects except as they might be included in the normal player section.

The old Stats, Inc books used to have MLE's but, to me, these proved almost laughable fallible and I guess they dropped them.

[shoewizard]

Our complaints in 2007 are probably going to be that he leaves the starters in too long, and that he never rests Eric Byrnes.....every time Davanon or Hairston get in the lineup, it will be Young or Quentin that takes a seat.

[tmar]

I'm hating him already.

[Projekt]

I honestly would like to see Melvin play all 4 (or five, if Hariston gets on the ML roster) of the OF players about the same time...

[nm132]

[shoewizard]

[csktech]

[tmar]

He was also on line that year to hit 21HR had he been given 550 at bats. That in his first MLB season with all of the other crap that was going on in that nasty year both with him and the team.

In the same number of AB's he's probably the best HR hitter on the D-Backs.

[EvilJuan]

[B. O. N. D.]

Eric Byrnes is still in limbo arbitration/contract-wise, right?

It's also interesting to me that Hairston's name is popping up far more frequently as of late in DBacks articles.

Davanon's not going to be ready for the start of the season is he?

Spring training is still a few weeks away. There's still time. To do what, I don't know. Josh Byrnes has yet to prove to me that he's a dumbass.

I really doubt the organization is going to take away valuable ABs from the likes of Q and Young. An EB/SH platoon is more likely (while Davanon heals) then a trade of EB, with Davanon as the 4th OFer.

Of course, I have no idea of what Hairston's splits are, so I'm talking out of my ass until I do some research.
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Oops in the 2 hole!

[shoewizard]

Keep in mind in his major league at bats, Hairston has a pretty big Lefty/Righty split., 634 vs RHP, 899 vs LHP

However, like many of the d backs right handed hitters in AAA last year, he had a pretty big reverse split. Must have been a strength of competition issue.

[TSWINDERS]

There wasn't much in the righty department. In fact I can't even remember a righty period that had any success against us.
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"I think we won 97 games while promoting guys like Chris Young, Carlos Quentin, Stephen Drew, Miguel Montero. When those guys go out there and help the big league team win, it feels great. For us."

[shoewizard]

Well, the hitting numbers say otherwise, as the OPS vs. Lefties is far lower than OPS vs. righties.

[stu]

The Sidewinders had 1431 ab's against lhp last year for the 266/340/389 that shoe notes. Against rhp, they were 299/374/484 in 3628 ab's.

http://www.minorleaguesplits.com/tm/TucPCL/b06.html

[B. O. N. D.]

Well, there you go: Hairston gets 400+/- ABs vs. RHP and Byrnes gets 150 ABs vs. LHP.

Done.

Ok, I'm being a little facetious. Still. Byrnes being able to give days rest to the whole OF until Davanon is ready, plus platoon with Hairston, almost justifies his salary. No way Byrnes would be happy in that role, of course.
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Oops in the 2 hole!

[Dangerfield]

sorry guys, As of this posting, I have Byrnes leading off, playing 145 games next year. We're gonna have to find another spot for Hairston. My line-up trumps, hairston playing time. sorry.

I'd go into more, about how good Byrnes season was last year, but I'm waiting for arb to be over.

You know, I'm already starting to wonder how underestimated Stephen Drew is going to be next year. You know, you look at his lhp splits last year, and rh power splits, my percodin projections might just be a little off on the high end. don't be surprised if he has 25 or more homers next year. And there's reasons why for my projections. Drew for the two or third hole.
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My wife is always trying to get rid of me. The other day she told me to put the garbage out. I said to her I already did. She told me to go and keep an eye on it

[TSWINDERS]

[shoewizard]

[Dre]

At this point, if we can't trade Byrnes... let's just give DaVanon his outright release and eat that $1.25M. That way we keep Hairston on as our 4th OF.

[tmar]

Best case is Davanon is out for about 2 mos <necessary or not> in the beginning of the season and Hairston gets some starts and just announces his presence with authority.

If Hairston gets Byrnes days off and every day that Byrnes gives Young/Q a day off Hairston gets to play <along with PH responsibilities> Hairston might have the opportunity to earn a permanent position.

[TAP]

[AZ SnakePit]