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FIP+: National League West

Presented in alphabetical order following the jump.

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Arizona Diamondbacks

NAME IP FIP+
Chad Qualls 73.7 164
Dan Haren 216 150
Max Scherzer 56 136
Brandon Webb 226.7 136
Tony Pena 72.7 136
Wilfredo Ledezma 4 129
Juan Cruz 51.7 124
Randy Johnson 184 121
Jailen Peguero 9.3 117
Brandon Lyon 59.3 117
Doug Davis 146 108
Leonel Rosales 30 106
Micah Owings 104.7 93
Yusmeiro Petit 56.3 87
Doug Slaten 32.3 86
Billy Buckner 14 86
Edgar G Gonzalez 48 83
Connor Robertson 7 82
Brandon Medders 19.7 82
Jon Rauch 23.3 80

Hey Arizona, has anyone ever told you how beautiful your pitching staff is? No, really? Well it is quite wondrous. It starts at the end for the Diamondbacks. Chad Qualls was a suitable replacement for Jose Valverde and at a far more efficient financial rate. Dan Haren, Brandon Webb, and Randy Johnson were only three of the seven (!) pitcher with 120 or better FIP+ over at least 50 innings. Webb and Haren were exactly who we figured they would be, but who saw Johnson being that good this season? Jon Rauch's time in Arizona was derailed by the long ball, but I would expect that to regress back at least a bit. Scherzer has surreal potential and showed the ability to get swinging strikes last season as a starter and reliever, he should replace Doug Davis in the rotation. Speaking of relievers that induce hacks; Juan Cruz is going to be a very nice addition to some team's bullpen next season, and dare I say a better value than Francisco Rodriguez.

Colorado Rockies

NAME IP FIP+
Jose Capellan 2 400
Brian Fuentes 62.7 208
Jason Grilli 61.3 163
Taylor Buchholz 66.3 137
Juan Morillo 1 134
Aaron Cook 211.3 116
Ubaldo Jimenez 198.7 116
Manuel Corpas 79.7 116
Ryan Speier 51 115
Matt Herges 64.3 115
Glendon Rusch 64 114
Jorge De La Rosa 130 112
Alberto Arias 13.7 97
Jeff Francis 143.7 94
Luis Vizcaino 46 90
Kip Wells 27.3 89
Micah Bowie 8 88
Mark Redman 45.3 84
Franklin Morales 25.3 81
Livan Hernandez 40.3 76
Valerio DL Santos 8 69
Greg Reynolds 62 66
Jason Hirsh 8.7 59
Steven Register 10 55
Cedrick Bowers 6.7 54
Joshua Newman 8.7 52

Speaking of reliever value, Brian Fuentes is going to be paid handsomely and deservedly so. Ubaldo Jimenez and Aaron Cook carried the rotation while Manuel Corpas was pretty decent out of the bullpen. How many people knew Jason Grili or Taylor Buccholz before this season? Actually, who knows them now? Both were very solid for the Rockies. Disappointingly, Jeff Francis and Gregory Reynolds, two pieces of the rotation puzzle, were below average, with Reynolds being a complete and utter abomination of a pitcher. I am all for trying to find a bargain, but the problem is the Rockies seemingly are unsure of what separates pitchers from being undervalued and being unemployed. I am almost sure the reason Livan Hernandez was brought in had something to do with "eating innings" rather than "being good". Glendon Rusch was a bargain because he is not a bad pitcher and sat out a season, Kip Wells? Meh. There is definitely some work to be done here.

Los Angeles Dodgers

NAME IP FIP+
Takashi Saito 47 221
Jonathan Broxton 69 198
Hong-Chih Kuo 80 184
Ramon Troncoso 38 141
James McDonald 6 141
Joe Beimel 49 137
Derek Lowe 211 132
Chad Billingsley 200.7 128
Hiroki Kuroda 183.3 121
Tanyon Sturtze 2.3 118
Cory Wade 71.3 115
Clayton Kershaw 107.7 105
Greg Maddux 40.7 102
Chan Ho Park 95.3 102
Yhency Brazoban 3 102
Eric Stults 38.7 94
Brian Falkenborg 11.7 93
Esteban Loaiza 24 92
Scott Proctor 38.7 87
Jason Johnson 29.3 84
Brad Penny 94.7 81
Scott Elbert 6 58

Here we see a tale of two starters encroaching on free agency. Derek Lowe probably earned himself a very sweet contract, meanwhile Brad Penny stupidly pitched through injuries and finished with an awful season. Perhaps he still gets paid a good amount, but my goodness his agent must hate him. Takashi Saito, Jonathan Broxton, and Hong-Chih Kuo might be the best 1-2-3 relief punch in the league, although perhaps I should re-label them as a 1-2-1 punch. Chad Billingsley was quite solid and Hiroki Kuroda turned out to be a very astute move by the Dodgers. Greg Maddux and Chan Ho Park weren't too bad either, but Esteban Loaiza was. Clayton Kershaw will soon be a superstar and a glutton of other young Dodger pitchers like Ramon Troncoso, James McDonald, and Cory Wade performed above average.

San Diego Padres

NAME IP FIP+
Brett Tomko 9.3 188
Jared Wells 3 147
Scott Patterson 3.3 144
Justin Hampson 30.7 132
Mike Adams 65.3 128
Kevin Cameron 10 126
Heath Bell 78 126
Jake Peavy 173.7 111
Joshua Geer 27 110
Cla Meredith 70.3 106
Greg Maddux 153.3 101
Cha Seung Baek 111 100
Trevor Hoffman 45.3 100
Clay Hensley 39 97
Enrique Gonzalez 3.3 97
Chad Reineke 18 96
Glendon Rusch 19.7 95
Randy Wolf 119.7 94
Chris Young 102.3 93
Wilfredo Ledezma 54.3 92
Dirk Hayhurst 16.7 87
Josh Banks 85.3 81
Bryan Corey 39 80
Joe Thatcher 25.7 79
Sean Henn 9.3 78
Carlos Guevara 12.3 78
Shawn Estes 43.7 75
Justin Germano 43.7 73
Brian Falkenborg 10.7 71
Michael Ekstrom 9.7 63
Wade Leblanc 21.3 50
Charlie Haeger 4.3 33

Injuries to Chris Young and Jake Peavy, and just general ineffectiveness lead the Padres to use 32 pitchers for at least three innings. Amazingly only 13 of those were above average and only seven posted a FIP+ over 120. It appears Peavy might be dealt while Trevor Hoffman will finish his career as a Padre. Randy Wolf was spun off for Chad Reineke and despite a small sample size Reineke actually slightly outperformed Wolf in his San Diego stint. I've sang Cha Seung Baek's praises for a while now, and I should probably do the same for Mike Adams and Justin Hampson. There's some hope for a few pieces being serviceable next season (Haeger, Leblanc, ect.) but with Peavy likely on his way out I'm not sure whether it will be enough.

San Francisco Giants

NAME IP FIP+
Tim Lincecum 227 158
Sergio Romo 34 125
Merkin Valdez 16 112
Brian Wilson 62.3 108
Matt Cain 217.7 108
Jonathan Sanchez 158 106
Keiichi Yabu 68 106
Tyler Walker 53.3 99
Jack Taschner 48 95
Barry Zito 180 90
Alexander Hinshaw 39.7 90
Osiris Matos 20.7 82
Kevin Correia 110 81
Billy Sadler 44.3 79
Vinnie Chulk 31.7 75
Patrick Misch 52.3 75
Brad Hennessey 40.3 69
Erick Threets 10 65
Matt Palmer 12.7 59
Eugene Espineli 16 54

You know, I actually expected the Giants to use quite a few more pitchers than they really did. Lincecum is perhaps the most under appreciated pitcher in the league. His team won't be in the playoffs for the foreseeable future and the Giants minus-Bonds don't seem like a ratings draw anymore. Sergio Romo is probably not as well known as Tony, but was pretty damn good. Interesting to note that Brad Hennessey (awful), Kevin Correia (not good), and Tyler Walker (average) were all released. Keiichi Yabu was actually okay, and Matt Cain/Jonathan Sanchez were good as expected.

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FIP+: American League East

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FIP+: American League West

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FIP+: National League East

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Comments

Display:

I refuse to think this way..

When there is evidence Brett Tomko has a FIP+ of 188.

The Basil Fawlty Moderating Strategy:
"We could run a nice blog here if we didn't have all these members getting in the way."

by WalrusMan on Oct 21, 2008 2:29 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

The Basil Fawlty Moderating Strategy:
"We could run a nice blog here if we didn't have all these members getting in the way."

by WalrusMan on Oct 21, 2008 2:31 PM EDT up reply actions   0 recs

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