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According to Baseball Prospectus, Angels are the best team to pitch for


KevinJ14

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23. The Los Angeles Angels are the best team to pitch for and Pittsburgh's PNC Park is the best place to pitch.

So said Baseball Prospectus' DRA. Jonathan Judge, one of the creators of DRA, explained in an email what might have placed three Angels pitchers – Garrett Richards, Joe Smith and Hector Santiago – in the top three of pitchers benefitting from DRA factoring in multiple categories for every pitcher

"They have a pitcher-friendly stadium, good defense and above-average catcher framing," Judge said. "Very few pitchers have those three advantages. As you can see from the DRA Runs table, most pitchers have to compensate for below-average performance in at least one of those three areas, and some more than one."

One of the categories is "Stadium." The three pitchers who get the most runs added: Jorge De La Rosa, Chris Rusin and Kyle Kendrick, all Rockies. Pittsburgh's Gerrit Cole and Francisco Liriano, meanwhile, are the two lowest, and Jeff Locke and A.J. Burnett are fifth and sixth, respectively. "Once you control for quality of opposing batters, catcher framing, defense and other factors like DRA does," Judge said, "Pittsburgh is the most pitcher-friendly stadium this year."

One final test for DRA: What does it think of the NL Cy Young race?

Going into Thursday, it had Zack Greinke at 7.31 wins above replacement, Clayton Kershaw at 7.27 and Jake Arrieta at 7.26. Sounds about right

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/25-things-you-didn-t-know-about-baseball--bryce-harper-vs--ted-williams-233507125.html

Edited by KevinJ14
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As a friendly fantasy baseball side note you can sort those catch framers by team and select the pitchers from the teams with great pitch framers and pitcher friendly parks.

 

Padres, Pirates, and Mariners pitchers have best of both worlds (and actually the Angels aren't too shabby either with Iannetta this year).

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Theres a good nucleus there, Richards and Heaney, I think, could still be good #2's and #3's. I think Shoemaker could be a solid backend starter. I'm on the side of adding an ace this winter.

The defense is pretty solid when you think about it, Perez is good behind the plate, Pujols is usually pretty dependable at first, second needs an upgrade so I won't count Giavotella, Aybar is usually dependable at shortstop (although he's seemingly had an off year), Cowart taking over at third will be big, Trout and Kole are great in the outfield, left field is still a mystery beyond 2015.

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The really amazing part is that despite all those things helping to mask a bad pitching staff the Angels team ERA+ is 95.....

ERA+ accounts for the stadium, and I don't see guys we've put out for much of the year like Joyce/Featherston/Giavotella/Cron as being good defensively. Only point is the catcher framing.

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Shoe, I am concerned, may be an eventual TJ surgery candidate.

He's had two different forearm soreness/tightness issues this season alone. 

The splitter is seemingly not meant to be thrown so often by a starting pitcher, and some in the industry have alluded to that.

 

He could potentially become a great set up guy in the pen, though.

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Adding Price, as expensive and risky as that would be, would give us even more LHO depth and paves the way for the Angels to deal one, even two, of Skaggs/Santiago/Heaney/Deloach/Smith/Newcomb which should be an attractive package for a good, young bat.

So, instead of seeing it as the Angels dumping a mega-contract on a luxury like starting pitching, see it as a way for the Angels to buy a young, talented cost-controlled position player.

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Adding Price, as expensive and risky as that would be, would give us even more LHO depth and paves the way for the Angels to deal one, even two, of Skaggs/Santiago/Heaney/Deloach/Smith/Newcomb which should be an attractive package for a good, young bat.

So, instead of seeing it as the Angels dumping a mega-contract on a luxury like starting pitching, see it as a way for the Angels to buy a young, talented cost-controlled position player.

I'm wondering what Cueto will get with his poor second half and checkered injury history, that could be a nice fallback. But maaaan an ace would be nice, I would be totally content adding minor pieces to the offense and making rotation, bullpen, and defense lights out. Sign Price/Cueto, sign O'Day, trade Santiago (perhaps include Cron) for a decent prospect or two, dump CJ, sign Uribe or re-sign Freese.

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I'm not nearly as impressed with Cueto as Price, and Santiago would be a nice piece for the bullpen.  I'd try to resign Freese, and I wouldn't dump CJ Cron.  He's young, cost controlled, and hasn't yet reached his potential ceiling.  We nned him to back up Pujols, who continues to break down physically during the season.  My dream list would be Gordon in LF, Zobrist at 2B (for two years, max three), and Price.  That's too much to count on I'm sure.  We do need another veteran bullpen guy if Smith has another year like this one, someone who could be a strong 7th inning guy with potential for setup.

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Alex Gordon concerns me, because he turns 33 in 2016.    

The Halos need to get away from signing age 30+ FAs to bigger contracts.

 

Now, someone like O'Day with his smooth submariner delivery could possibly pitch effectively for another 4-5 seasons. 

He's a 33 year-old that I would give 3 or 4 years for $8-10 million/season.

Shortening games is a big factor in post-season success. 

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And yet Jered Weaver still sucks.  In all seriousness though, the Angels are in a good position for the future.  Richards, Heaney, Newcomb and Ellis make 4 particularly solid options.  Whoever they decide to go with as far as the 5th starter, there could be worse options.  It'll be interesting to see which pitchers are shipped off in trades for bats, because the Angels don't have a lot of those en route. 

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I'm not nearly as impressed with Cueto as Price, and Santiago would be a nice piece for the bullpen. I'd try to resign Freese, and I wouldn't dump CJ Cron. He's young, cost controlled, and hasn't yet reached his potential ceiling. We nned him to back up Pujols, who continues to break down physically during the season. My dream list would be Gordon in LF, Zobrist at 2B (for two years, max three), and Price. That's too much to count on I'm sure. We do need another veteran bullpen guy if Smith has another year like this one, someone who could be a strong 7th inning guy with potential for setup.

All three? Fat chance.

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ERA+ accounts for the stadium, and I don't see guys we've put out for much of the year like Joyce/Featherston/Giavotella/Cron as being good defensively. Only point is the catcher framing.

 

 

 

I know you think you made a point, but you hammer home the problem, even if you can't see it.    

 

Despite the ERA (which in turn is already being lowered by the other factors is being lowered), the team ERA+ after park adjustments is 95.   That means if it werent for those other factors it would be higher..  Pretty simple concept.   As far as the team defense goes...  every team is being graded the same way, so try as you might to imply the numbers are wrong they are wrong for everyone.  The Angels get no greater benefit from defensive metrics that any other team.

 

 

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