At the trade deadline, the Red Sox took a strong bullpen and added a new element, Eric Gagne. The Yankees took a relatively week pen and subtracted out problem elements. So far, it looks like the Yankees did the better job:
Red Sox Relievers,
2007 Opposition Batting Stats |
Through 7/31 |
8/1-8/19 |
| Batting Average |
.225 |
.270 |
| On-Base Average |
.306 |
.342 |
| Slugging Average |
.340 |
.455 |
|
Yankees Relievers,
2007 Opposition Batting Stats |
Through 7/31 |
8/1-8/19 |
| Batting Average |
.243 |
.240 |
| On-Base Average |
.336 |
.307 |
| Slugging Average |
.371 |
.391 |
|
The Red Sox are giving up more hits, and more of those hits are finding gaps and fences. The Yankees are also giving up a bit more power, but those damaging walks are way down. So far, advantage to the New York front office on the trading front.
(On top of that, the Yankees have Wilson Betemit to show for part of the remodeling of the pen. He’s shown power, and drove in twelve runs in twelve games.)
Yep, Gagne’s 1.182 OPS allowed hasn’t exactly helped. He’s making every hitter he faces look like literally the best hitter in the AL. A-Rod leads all actual hitters in the league with a 1.034 OPS (among qualifiers).
This can’t continue. Gagne may be past his prime, but he’s not that bad. Sounds like faint comfort, but he’ll either improve, get hurt, or get benched.
Like the old saying goes, ‘the trades you *don’t* make’…yada yada yada.
Texas was looking for Melky and Ian Kennedy. Whew!
What are the BABIP, K/9, & WHIP numbers for both pens? Just based on impressions leftover from the Detroit series, it seems like the Yankees’ minor league call ups are striking out more batters than the Red Sox acquisition.
Also, note that Kyle Farnsworth’s best (and Gagne’s worst) stretch of the season occurred in the month of August. I’d echo Casey’s sentiments that this isn’t likely to continue.
Yes, these stats are misleading, but the Yankees have really sorted out their bullpen. Farnsworth is out of his former high-leverage slot, and is (thus?) pitching much better. Vizcaino has made huge improvements, and has been excellent the last two months to the point where I would doubt it is a fluke, Myers is gone, the overworked Proctor is gone, and the talented Edwar Ramirez. And Joba has added a ton of energy, and is absolutely brilliant. This has gone from a weakness to a strength.
The Red Sox took what had been a strength and thought they had made it more of a strength. But really, the Red Sox already had a very good bullpen from top to bottom, and did not *need* to replace any particular innings.