Ubaldo Jimeenz stretches with his new teammates in Boston.
Now with a lot of question marks entering the 2012 season surrounding the Rockies starting rotation I am guessing Dan O’Dowd might wish he had some of these arms back.
Ubaldo Jimenez: In his first start with the Cleveland Indians last night Ubaldo threw five innings of five run baseball. He allowed seven hits, three walks and struck out seven Texas Rangers. The Rangers aren’t exactly the San Diego Padres or San Francisco Giants at the plate. In Arlington the Rangers as a team are batting .294/.346/.511 which is utterly ridiculous. To compare with one of the best hitting teams in baseball in one of the best home run parks in baseball; the Yankees are batting .271/.352/.459 at home. I guess I am trying to say that five innings of five run baseball in Arlington isn’t as bad as it sounds. It isn’t great but it isn’t as bad as Rockies fans might think.
Felipe Paulino: Last night Paulino threw six and two-thirds of three run baseball against the Detroit Tigers. He struck out seven little Tigers and only walked two. He now has over 73 innings with the Royals and a 3.56 ERA (3.04 FIP and 3.41 xFIP). The most impressive number is that he has 70 K’s versus only 17 unintentional walks. Any chance the Rockies are wishing they had him back and/or started the year with him in the rotation?
Jeff Francis: Also with the Royals, Francis is having an OK season. He has thrown 140 2/3 innings with a 4.48 ERA but his FIP is 3.76 and xFIP is 4.01 which means he has been a bit unlucky with his defense behind him. Francis isn’t much of a strikeout pitcher (73 in ’11) but he hasn’t been walking many either (24 unintentional walks).
Jason Marquis: After missing most of the 2010 season with the Washington Nationals Marquis returned in 2011 and is having an OK season. In 20 starts with the Nationals Marquis had a 3.95 ERA in 120 2/3 innings pitched with more hits allowed than innings pitched and about a 2:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Nothing spectacular but something that the Rockies could really use right now: a solid pitcher for the backend of their rotation. Heck, they could really use one for the front and middle, too!
Franklin Morales: Not a lot changed with Morales once he arrived in Beantown. He has cut down on his walks slightly but in just over 16 innings pitched with Boston he has allowed 21 base runners (five via the free pass) and struck out 15.
Brian Fuentes: Our old friend Fuentes has thrown about 45 innings with the Oakland Athletics this year with an xFIP of 4.64. At the age of 35 he just doesn’t have the strikeout stuff he used it. When he was at his high point with the Rockies he was striking out 10-11 hitters per nine innings pitched and in 2011 that rate is down to 6.5 hitters per nine innings.
Loading ...
Loading tweets...
5 comments
Travis Lay
August 6, 2011 at 6:20 PM (UTC -6)
I guess I could have included Livan Hernandez in this piece, too. Would have been fitting since he is on the mound starting tonight for the Nationals. Get ready for a 55mph curve ball – almost looks like a softball pitch – tonight. This guy throws junk and throws it well.
Rico Rodriquez
August 6, 2011 at 6:21 PM (UTC -6)
The Paulino stuff is what’s really head-spinning, as he was all kinds of terrible when he was here. Perhaps he’s just more comfortable starting than relieving? I think he was always a starter in Houston. The rest of those guys were fodder here or there, so I don’t know that there’s a huge difference between what, say, Francis is doing in KC or what giving starts to somebody like Reynolds, Nicasio, etc would have been.
What Ubaldo did in Texas feels no different than what he often was doing here this year. When I read the stats, particularly needing 108 pitches to get through five innings, I just nodded my head. Sounded pretty familiar. Yes, I know Texas is a very good hitting team. What was the excuse against, say, Atlanta earlier this year? I’m all for Ubaldo, and hope he succeeds, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and all of the statistical acronymns in the world can’t change that.
Travis Lay
August 6, 2011 at 6:26 PM (UTC -6)
Paulino was mostly a starter in Houston. Made his share of relief appearances but mostly a starter.
Rockies17
August 7, 2011 at 1:01 AM (UTC -6)
Paulino was an unfortunate case of “having” to trade someone just because he was so mind-numbingly awful in so many appearances yet knowing full well he wasn’t as bad as he seemed at the time. I’m sure this turn-around isn’t shocking to O’Dowd, and I bet he does wish he still had him, but at the time he needed to trade him as he was killing the team with his agonizing outings and ridiculous FB/HR %.
Logan Burdine
August 7, 2011 at 7:45 AM (UTC -6)
We’ve been over this with Paulino. Very solid peripherals in CO, but he was not used appropriately. He is, and has been, much more effective as a starter. I was as wrong about him as anyone, but the signs for a turn around were obvious. Not to mention, he threw only 14 innings with the Rockies. Paying attention to small sample sizes leads to rash decisions like cutting Paulino. They don’t just need him in the rotation right now; they desperately need him next year as well.
http://www.blakestreetbulletin.com/2011/06/27/the-cautionary-tale-of-felipe-paulino/