17
2011
If The Team Values Innings Pitched, Why Do They Let Pelfrey Pitch So Many Of Them?
An article by Craig Lerner
While reading about a rumor that the Mets and Rockies discussed a potential Mike Pelfrey for Huston Street swap on MetsBlog, I came across this comment by Matt Cerrone regarding Pelfrey. It’s something he never fails to say whenever he mentions Mike Pelfrey:
“The team values innings pitched and, at the very least, he delivers them and with potential.”
What does that even mean?
I can assure you that Sandy Alderson would never make such a statement without first making certain it read that he values “QUALITY” innings pitched.
To say Pelfrey’s value lies in his innings pitched (which is less than six innings per start for the record), is as asinine a statement as saying Jeff Francoeur’s value lies in his ability to give you at-bats. Something once said by the GM formerly known as Omar Minaya, in 2009.
Did we already forget the lesson of what happens when you give too many at-bats to bad hitters?
The same principle applies to pitching.
Compared to all starters in the National League, the value of Pelfrey’s innings pitched were about the same as the value of Mike Nickeas’ at-bats in 2011. In other words, they were both unbelievably bad.
The more innings you give Pelfrey, the more he jeopardizes the team’s chances for a win.
I’m sorry to hear that the Mets will be tendering him.
As for the Pelfrey for Street rumor, I wouldn’t even think twice about doing it.
About the Author: Craig Lerner
I'm a data analyst and researcher for a leading news agency who loves life and is hooked on the Mets. I love following the Amateur Draft and have a particular fondness for the Mets Minor Leagues who I follow each day. Give me a cold beer, a summer day, and a Mets game, and I'm good to go.
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I really would like him to be off the tteam. I hate his loser head, his loser grin and his loser comments. I hate the fact that he has no out pitch./ But they will keep him because Johann might go out there next year and be throwing 85 in the third inning.
We cant trade our ace for Street that would be insane! lol
I would make the trade for Street’s father…just to get rid of that head case
Please don’t trade Pelfrey , Just give him his walking papers.soon
Craig — Every inning Pelfrey pitches is an inning less for our bullpen and ‘bridge’ pitchers. Pelf is mediocre but our late inning pitchers are sometimes terrible. Net value with Pelf going long is a plus in my book.
A real concern to me is that when Pelf is on the mound, Josh Thole or Ronnie Paulino will be catching. Last year, 29 out of 31 attempted steals were successful when Pelf was on the mound with Thole/Paulino. This is worse, far worse, than mediocre. It’s terrible. Nickeas has a career CS% of 38. That’s pretty good. Either get an experienced catcher with a good arm behind the plate to catch Pelf or use Mike Nickeas. With Mike, our offense would be hurt — but those decisions are why we pay managers some pretty big bucks.
How does Pelfrey save the bullpen when he usually leaves before the seventh and when he does we’re usually down by at least 4 runs?
There are 1450 innings or so in a season. Pelf absorbs about 200 innings. It’s simple math. The Mets had 23 pitchers during the season, some for bit roles.
The Mets had five heavy duty starters for the 2011 season:
Dickey
Pelfrey
Capuano
Gee
Niese
All starters averaged LESS than 7 innings per outing. If Pelf goes, who provides the innings?
The problem is, Pelf puts the relievers in high stress situations. Mike constantly leaves the game with (at least) a running in scoring position and less than two outs.
When innings like that are developing, the Pen has to get up and warm up fast, and many times have multiple relievers throwing. Then the reliever has to come in and be perfect, trying to clean up the mess Mike left behind.
Not to mention, it’s hard to tell if Mike will bomb out in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or 5th innings so many times we got the pen going earlier than the 5th even though they don’t come into the game at that point of the game.
Now you add in the fact that Pelf usually gives up his runs in the first or second inning and puts the team down by 3-4 runs early, it very easily deflates the team, especially knowing how hard it is to score runs.
Most people would say that Cappy had a better season than Pelf even though their final results are similar. The difference was Cappy pitched well until the 5th inning or so and kept the team in the game. Mike always seemed to put the team in a big hole early.
Cerron’s getting lazy…..just reposts the same threads over and over.
We need to come off the notion that pitching 5.8 innings per game constitutes an INNING eater!
Roy Halladay is an inning eater! 7.2 Innings per game on average!
Truth of the matter is Innings pitched says nothing about the Pitcher and everything about the Manager’s confidence in him.
Which says to me if your not above 7.0 IP on average then stop thinking of the guy as a bull pen saver!
Because he is burning one BP arm a day more than the guys who get you to the 8th where your setup and closer take over.
Nolan Ryan has the right idea.
And if we truly are just playing because we have to next season not because we are trying to compete then we should start by letting these guys get out of their own troubles and make them get out of innings. Make them pitch till the 7th regardless of their troubles in the 5th and 6th.
If they give up 10 Runs then their desire to get paid well will cause them to work harder to fix their problems!