Which San Diego Padres Players Have Helped or Hurt Themselves This Spring?
March 17th, 2010 | Published in Daniel Gettinger, Mat Latos, San Diego Padres, baseball | 4 Comments
by Daniel Gettinger
The HotStove.com guys asked: “Bearing in mind that Spring Training stats are essentially meaningless, who among the Padres’ players have helped or hurt themselves the most with their performances this spring?”
My response:
The San Diego Padres most interesting spring battle is for the fifth slot in the rotation. Of the candidates for that role, Wade LeBlanc has probably helped himself the most. Thus far, he has a 2.00 ERA, five strikeouts, and only one walked allowed in nine innings pitched. Sure the sample size is small, but the Padres will need to base their decision on something. If LeBlanc continues to pitch well, he may very well earn a job in the rotation.
Honestly, I am not sure any player can really help or hurt himself via spring performance. The sample sizes are just too small, and spring statistics hold almost no predictive power. Sure Matt Antonelli has an 0.825 OPS in TWENTY-FOUR plate appearences, and Wade LeBlanc has a 2.0 ERA in his NINE innings, but those numbers are essentially meaningless.
LeBlanc may earn a job in the rotation, but so too might Sean Gallagher, Tim Stauffer, or Mat Latos. Regardless of who wins the job coming out of the spring, all of those guys will get a chance at some point during the season. Injuries happen. People are ineffective. Teams use more than five starters over the course of a season.
March 17th, 2010 at 5:31 pm (#)
I’ve apparently been asleep for a long time. Who are the guys guaranteed spots in the rotation?
March 17th, 2010 at 5:43 pm (#)
Richard-All indications are Young, Correia, Garland, and Richard have guaranteed spots in the rotation. Gallagher, Stauffer, LeBlanc, and Latos are battling for the fifth spot.
March 17th, 2010 at 8:58 pm (#)
One part of the Padres’ rotation discussion that hasn’t been discussed much is the pitching order. I’ve been watching baseball for a long time, but I admit I’m no expert on assembling the optimal pitching order.
I know the order will change during the season, but if the order is as described, Young, Correia, Garland and Richard, and the fifth starter is LeBlanc, there would be two starting lefties in the Padres rotation for the first time in a long while, and they’d be pitching back-to-back.
What would a manager, who was himself a lefty starter and nine year pitching coach, decide is the optimal pitching order with that cast of pitchers?
March 18th, 2010 at 9:36 am (#)
Larry-That’s a very good question and something I do not know the answer to. There are a number of considerations.
One, as you suggested was whether there is a benefit to splitting up leftys so that a team that a strong lefty hitting team won’t get lucky and face more than one in a series.
Another is whether you might want to split up your good pitchers in an attempt to allow the bullpen to get more rest.
Then of course, we might wonder if it is a good thing to try and match up your best pitchers with other team’s best pitchers.
I’m sure there are a lot of otherr things I am not even considering. That said, my gut is that even if there is an “optimal” pitching order, the marginal benefit of sticking to that order is little–perhaps even less than half a win per season. Something to look into though.