The Week That Was
A 3-3 week against the Dodgers and Padres. The Rox currently stand at 51-57. Ten games behind the Giants for the division lead in third place. Currently 26-26 at home and 25-31 on the road, the Rox have been outscored by its opponents 494-483 (expected wins is 53 versus historical wins at 50). On pace for 77 wins with 725 runs scored and 741 runs against. Playoff indicator (Runs scored/Runs Against ratio) is 0.98 (1.16 indicates high playoff potential).
Rox concluded their nine day West Coast swing with a 4-5 record. With all the trade talk and stress of traveling, I guess Rox should look at this trip as a positive. The frustration has got to be in their play at home. To have only one more win at home then the road pretty much sums up the Rox this year. In additon to their miserable home play, I think this quote by Tulo also suggests why home as been so frustrating, "There have been a couple of times where I thought we were going to get momentum and go on a run, and we weren't able to win, it's kind of the story of the season." Home is where hot streaks start and if you can't get it done there, doing it on the road can be tough.
Ubaldo Jimenez
And now to the hard part. If this team is going to get back to 0.500 this year, then it is going to be done without their ace. Traded on Saturday to the Cleveland Indians for 4 prospects (3 pitchers and utility man), O'Dowd is once again betting that he can roll the dice, trade a gem in Jimenez, and get something more.
As a fan I hate this deal, but as someone who also understands the landscape of the baseball world this deal is exactly what small market clubs do to stay afloat. Twins did it with Santana, Indians did it with Sabithia and Lee a few years back...it is finger crossing move on both sides hoping that what transpires in this year for the Indians is positive and next year and year after for the Rox. Face it, this trade was the result of Rox management failing in the draft especially in pitching. Four high end pitchers have been taken from 2006 - 2009 and not one is in the big leagues. This year with the loss of de la Rosa, it showed that a high level draft pick couldn't be slotted in the rotation and instead they had to go with an undrafted AA pitcher to fill in (Nicasio). How much do Rox have invested in these drafted four pitchers (Reynolds, Weathers, Friedrich, and Matzek) and have yet to see any (if any?) return in .
I criticized O'Dowd for the Holliday deal. I thought it was just plain awful but time seems to heal the wounds as Street and CarGo have been a pretty good return. Hopefully in couple years we can say the same for this trade.
So thank you Ubaldo for being a pitcher who helped us get to the World Series in 2007, threw the team's first no hitter, made us proud in the All Star game, and had a heck of a start last year. Here are some other numbers:
1) Owns three of the ten best starts in Rox history:
4/17/10 no hitter in Atlanta:
The Chief dominates
Throws the Rox first no hitter
Dexter saves the day!
6/1/11 start this year in LA 4 hit shutout 106 pitch 7 K game:
Return of U-Ball
Ace goes nine, shuts out Dodgers
Ends game with strikeout!
and 5/31/10 in San Fran allowing 4 hits and 9 K:
Take that Halladay
Cy Young in Colorado?
His name, Jimenez
2) 56 - 45 overall record with a team record when starting at 69 - 68 (also went 47 - 29 in the minors). He spent 10 years in the Rox organization.
3) Fourth in team history for WAR (at 17.4).
4) 24 - 22 against the NL West (team went 32 - 31 in his starts against the West) Rox going to miss this!
5) Only allowed 55 homers in 851 innings pitched.
6) Faced 3,592 batters and struck out 773 of them
7) Good thing going to the AL has he only had 37 hits in 370 plate appearances. Never hit more than a single in those 37 hits
8) Pitched 67 games at home (30 - 19) and 71 on the road (26 - 26) and amazingly surrendered 189 runs at home and 186 runs away.
9) Was not a tight game pitcher. When Rox only scored 0 - 2 runs went 2 - 27 but 26 - 2 when team scored 6+ runs. Was 28 - 16 when Rox scored between 3 - 5 runs.
10) Got most of his strikeouts on 1-2 and 2-2 counts (478).
11) ERA in first three innings (3.79), innings 4 - 6 (3.69), and final three innings (2.95).
12) Only got 48 batters out in foul territory...
13) Threw 14,048 pitches has a starter...8,516 for a strike
14) He has never thrown in Cleveland. Owns a 6-4 record against the AL...1-2 against the Tigers
15) And finally 26 - 17 against teams with less than 0.500 record and 30 - 28 against teams greater than 0.500
Rox concluded their nine day West Coast swing with a 4-5 record. With all the trade talk and stress of traveling, I guess Rox should look at this trip as a positive. The frustration has got to be in their play at home. To have only one more win at home then the road pretty much sums up the Rox this year. In additon to their miserable home play, I think this quote by Tulo also suggests why home as been so frustrating, "There have been a couple of times where I thought we were going to get momentum and go on a run, and we weren't able to win, it's kind of the story of the season." Home is where hot streaks start and if you can't get it done there, doing it on the road can be tough.
Ubaldo Jimenez
And now to the hard part. If this team is going to get back to 0.500 this year, then it is going to be done without their ace. Traded on Saturday to the Cleveland Indians for 4 prospects (3 pitchers and utility man), O'Dowd is once again betting that he can roll the dice, trade a gem in Jimenez, and get something more.
As a fan I hate this deal, but as someone who also understands the landscape of the baseball world this deal is exactly what small market clubs do to stay afloat. Twins did it with Santana, Indians did it with Sabithia and Lee a few years back...it is finger crossing move on both sides hoping that what transpires in this year for the Indians is positive and next year and year after for the Rox. Face it, this trade was the result of Rox management failing in the draft especially in pitching. Four high end pitchers have been taken from 2006 - 2009 and not one is in the big leagues. This year with the loss of de la Rosa, it showed that a high level draft pick couldn't be slotted in the rotation and instead they had to go with an undrafted AA pitcher to fill in (Nicasio). How much do Rox have invested in these drafted four pitchers (Reynolds, Weathers, Friedrich, and Matzek) and have yet to see any (if any?) return in .
I criticized O'Dowd for the Holliday deal. I thought it was just plain awful but time seems to heal the wounds as Street and CarGo have been a pretty good return. Hopefully in couple years we can say the same for this trade.
So thank you Ubaldo for being a pitcher who helped us get to the World Series in 2007, threw the team's first no hitter, made us proud in the All Star game, and had a heck of a start last year. Here are some other numbers:
1) Owns three of the ten best starts in Rox history:
4/17/10 no hitter in Atlanta:
The Chief dominates
Throws the Rox first no hitter
Dexter saves the day!
6/1/11 start this year in LA 4 hit shutout 106 pitch 7 K game:
Return of U-Ball
Ace goes nine, shuts out Dodgers
Ends game with strikeout!
and 5/31/10 in San Fran allowing 4 hits and 9 K:
Take that Halladay
Cy Young in Colorado?
His name, Jimenez
2) 56 - 45 overall record with a team record when starting at 69 - 68 (also went 47 - 29 in the minors). He spent 10 years in the Rox organization.
3) Fourth in team history for WAR (at 17.4).
4) 24 - 22 against the NL West (team went 32 - 31 in his starts against the West) Rox going to miss this!
5) Only allowed 55 homers in 851 innings pitched.
6) Faced 3,592 batters and struck out 773 of them
7) Good thing going to the AL has he only had 37 hits in 370 plate appearances. Never hit more than a single in those 37 hits
8) Pitched 67 games at home (30 - 19) and 71 on the road (26 - 26) and amazingly surrendered 189 runs at home and 186 runs away.
9) Was not a tight game pitcher. When Rox only scored 0 - 2 runs went 2 - 27 but 26 - 2 when team scored 6+ runs. Was 28 - 16 when Rox scored between 3 - 5 runs.
10) Got most of his strikeouts on 1-2 and 2-2 counts (478).
11) ERA in first three innings (3.79), innings 4 - 6 (3.69), and final three innings (2.95).
12) Only got 48 batters out in foul territory...
13) Threw 14,048 pitches has a starter...8,516 for a strike
14) He has never thrown in Cleveland. Owns a 6-4 record against the AL...1-2 against the Tigers
15) And finally 26 - 17 against teams with less than 0.500 record and 30 - 28 against teams greater than 0.500
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