I'll let you read more about the calculations for these stats over at BtB or on Tom Tango's site but Lucas posted a spreadsheet with 2010 kwERA and bbFIP numbers for every pitcher in the league and since I am mildly obsessed with ERA estimators, I wanted to take a look at how a few Oriole pitchers fared.
ERA kwERA bbFIP Millwood 5.10 4.32 4.71
Kevin Millwood pitched a bit better for Baltimore than he gets credit for. His actual ERA was worse than both of these predictors as well as FIP and xFIP. The defense let Millwood down a bit and he was slightly unlucky perhaps. Again, I'm not saying he was good but he was a sliver better than we give him credit for.
ERA kwERA bbFIP Matusz 4.30 4.07 3.86
See a pattern here? Defense matters and the Orioles were not great in that facet of the game in 2010. kwERA came pretty close to estimating his ERA but the batted ball data suggests Matusz deserved a lot better from his fielders and Lady Luck.
One would have to think that the infield of Lee-(healthy)Roberts-Hardy-Reynolds would have to be better than the Wigginton-Lugo-Izturis-Tejada configuration we saw for most of last year. And the pitching numbers should be better for it.
ERA kwERA bbFIP Guthrie 3.83 4.23 4.44
Jeremy Guthrie doesn't give a damn about your ERA estimators.
Like all the others, Guthrie outperforms these estimators too. kwERA comes the closest and it's still .40 off. Kind of interesting that the estimator that uses solely strikeouts and walks is the best at quantifying what he does. I might have to apply it to previous seasons as well to see if there's a correlation.
ERA kwERA bbFIP Hernandez 4.31 4.11 4.38
He is what we thought he was. These numbers are pretty right on and even FIP does a good job. (Only xFIP was totally out of whack.) So he's an average-ish reliever with some potential upside as a late inning strikeout guy. I'm still OK with trading him for a couple years of Mark Reynolds.
ERA kwERA bbFIP Tillman 5.87 5.22 5.60 Arrieta 4.66 5.14 5.23
These two are linked due to their upcoming spring training duel for the 5th spot in the Oriole rotation.
As you can see, the two aren't as far apart in performance as their ERAs would suggest. There is a bit of sample bias since Arrieta faced nearly twice the major league batters that Tillman did in 2010. I still like Tillman's progress a little better at this point but...flip a coin with these two. We're likely to get the same 2011 performance from both of them.
ERA kwERA bbFIP Berken 3.03 3.84 3.52
Jason Berken wasn't quite as stellar as his sparkling 3.03 ERA but he was legitimately very good. Hopefully, he fully recovers from his injury and pitches at that level again.
ERA kwERA bbFIP Gonzalez 4.01 2.70 2.91
The contract was still not good...but Mike Gonzalez pitched pretty well over the second half of last season. It gives you hope that he can actually get results like he did in Atlanta. These numbers are giving me hope for the bullpen. Speaking of which...
ERA kwERA bbFIP Uehara 2.86 1.85 2.45
As spectacular as Uehara was when healthy last season, he may have been even better than we thought. All these numbers are really making me question our defensive team in 2010. Was it really that bad? Maybe.
(By the way, Dave Mc of Weaver's Tantrum has a nice breakdown of what defensive improvement can do for a team. Maybe the O's are setting themselves up for a big move for the better on D?)
ERA kwERA bbFIP Bergesen 4.98 4.79 4.68
That's about right for Brad. But hopefully the Bergy of the second half is what we get in 2011. It's no surprise that Brad fares slightly better with the metric that used batted ball data.
Three things to think about from this data:
1) For the first time, I'm beginning to think we might mave a pretty good bullpen.
2) It appears that our defense in 2010 may have been really, really bad. And that our defense in 2011 looks like it will be a sizable improvement. And the pitching numbers could improve with it.
3) I still can't pin down the intangible quality that makes Jeremy Guthrie so good. (I guess that's why it's intangible...)
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