Positives on McCarthy

by madyp on Dec 23, 2006 8:13 PM CST Comment 10 comments

http://www.rotoauthority.com/2006/12/brandon_mccarth.html
This guy says that TBIA is actually a better stadium for homerun pitchers than the White Sox stadium, so that will help out his ERA.
Another thing is that he's a better pitcher as a starter than a reliever, so that'll help his ERA too.
Here are some splits including his starter/reliever splits:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?statsId=7484&type=pitching3&three=1

So this guy looks like he could be an excellent starter for us. I think he has an upside of a 4.00 ERA but more realistically will be somewhere around 4.40.

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You're selling him short...

Play with the splits on the Baseballmusings site. You'll see that, as a starting pitcher since the ASB he's been one of the best in the AL.

by Stealfirstbase on Dec 23, 2006 11:02 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Too early

To judge a guy based on the first 150 inn of his career. He's still learning, and he wasn't pitching in the role he will be for us.

For what it's worth, saw on another site that 21 of his 30 homers allowed came with the bases empty. I just used the small sample size argument, so maybe it doesn't mean much, but that's a silver lining for me.

by AZranger on Dec 23, 2006 11:20 PM CST reply actions 0 recs

Well I mostly

just wanted to point out that McCarthy isn't going to get worse by moving to TBIA like alot of people are saying.

by madyp on Dec 24, 2006 8:18 AM CST reply actions 0 recs

Right

it's a tired cliche we've been hearing a lot this winter that no pitcher can succeed in TBIA. Every park has its quirks, and any pitcher worth their salt is going to figure out how to pitch there.

by t ball on Dec 24, 2006 10:44 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Yep, according to ESPN's park factor's

TBIA is actually much harder (at least in 2006) to hit a HR than US Cellular.....about a 23% difference.

by tklawless on Dec 24, 2006 12:28 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

I'm tired of that notion as well. If it were true, the Rangers might as well give up, and run a bunch of spares out there.

Yes, it's going to be more difficult to pitch well in Arlington than in Oakland, San Diego, or Florida. But that doesn't mean the Rangers can't find good pitchers, either through the draft, free agency, or trades, and it certainly doesn't mean that JD shouldn't try to put together the best staff possible.

Millwood is a good pitcher. So is Padilla. So are McCarthy, Otsuka, Gagne, Littleton, Wilson, Tejeda, and Feldman. Despite some missteps, I think Daniels is doing a solid job identifying and acquiring above-average pitchers, and if you get enough of those guys, you're going to have a good staff, no matter what stadium they call home.

by RCCook on Dec 24, 2006 1:44 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

Millwood

said it best when he pointed out that the opposition has to run a pitcher out there, too.

by t ball on Dec 24, 2006 1:47 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

New acquisitions

Notable that all of the pitchers you mentioned - with the exception of Littleton, Wilson and Feldman - have been acquired in the last year. Obviously Young and Danks are on the negative side of the ledger, but that's a pretty substantial haul for such a short time.

by AZranger on Dec 24, 2006 1:48 PM CST up reply actions 0 recs

You're right and I wish "Ole" JD

get a little credit for the good deals not just harping on the bad one........Millwood, Padilla, McCarthy, Tejeda pretty good front end of a rotation ALL acquired in the last year, along with Otsuka & Gagne.

by tklawless on Dec 25, 2006 9:06 AM CST up reply actions 0 recs