Manager Scorecard Post Script
Dave Martindale sent an e-mail in response to my last article, in which I wondered why Ken Macha issues so many intentional walks, given his great pitching staff. Dave replied:
The answer is because while Macha’s starters are very good, his bullpen is a joke. Through Sunday June 6, A’s starters had issued a combined 8 IBBs, with the “Big Three” issuing only 3 (Zito 2, Hudson 1, Mulder 0). The bullpen has issued 13.
Which is a great point. And it also made me curious about all major league managers, and whether they’re more likely to intentionally walk a batter with their starters or relievers on the mound. So here’s a table of all 30 major league teams, with the number of intentional walks per 100 innings pitched for their starters (100% of games are games started), relievers (no games started) and swingmen (have both started and relieved):
Team Starter Relievers Swingmen Total Colorado 6.8 7.9 12.5 7.5 Arizona 3.1 14.7 3.6 7.2 Pittsburgh 4.6 7.8 - 5.8 Philadelphia 4.3 6.5 - 5.1 Montreal 3.1 7.2 13.1 5.0 Atlanta 3.9 5.6 - 4.4 Florida 5.1 5.0 0.0 4.3 Cleveland 0.8 9.6 5.2 4.3 Houston 1.0 10.1 3.8 4.2 Toronto 1.5 10.4 0.0 4.2 New York Mets 3.0 5.7 4.0 4.0 Cincinnati 3.2 5.7 3.2 4.0 Oakland 1.9 9.2 - 3.9 Chicago Cubs 2.2 6.3 2.6 3.4 Baltimore 1.3 7.2 0.0 3.2 Detroit 1.8 5.8 1.8 3.0 Tampa Bay 0.7 7.2 0.6 3.0 New York Yankees 0.0 9.5 0.0 2.9 Kansas City 3.0 4.9 1.3 2.8 San Diego 1.6 4.3 2.6 2.6 St Louis 1.4 5.4 - 2.5 San Francisco 1.9 3.4 5.2 2.5 Los Angeles 1.5 4.4 2.4 2.5 Minnesota 1.8 3.3 2.2 2.3 Milwaukee 1.1 3.2 2.5 2.2 Anaheim 1.5 2.7 3.4 2.2 Boston 0.4 5.2 1.7 2.2 Seattle 0.3 5.4 0.0 2.0 Chicago White Sox 0.6 4.8 0.0 1.6 Texas 0.0 2.1 0.0 0.6 Total 2.2 6.4 2.4 3.5
In all, relievers are three times more likely than starters to have issued intentional walks, which makes a lot of sense. And Ken Macha does display a big differential between the two (1.9/9.2), but not the biggest. The Yankees, Houston, Toronto and Cleveland all have bigger differentials.
On the other hand, Clint Hurdle and Jack McKeon show no real difference between starters and relievers. They just like to walk batters!
Walt Davis sent an e-mail, suggesting that I include pitching changes in the chart. Which is another great idea. So here’s a repeat of Monday’s table, with number of pitching changes per game added to the total number of moves.
Here’s the American League:
Team Manager SBA SacA IBB PChngs Total Games Ratio CLE Wedge 49 15 21 149 234 51 4.59 BAL Mazilli 64 15 14 136 229 50 4.58 DET Trammell 55 21 15 148 239 53 4.51 MIN Gardenhire 55 12 11 156 234 53 4.42 TBD Piniella 67 9 13 131 220 52 4.23 KC Pena 36 13 13 144 206 51 4.04 SEA Melvin 40 15 10 144 209 52 4.02 TOR Tosca 26 12 19 156 213 54 3.94 CHW Guillen 46 22 7 124 199 51 3.90 ANA Scioscia 58 17 9 116 200 53 3.77 NYY Torre 33 12 13 137 195 52 3.75 TEX Showalter 40 11 2 137 190 51 3.73 BOS Francona 33 4 11 140 188 53 3.55 OAK Macha 25 6 20 119 170 52 3.27 AL Average 45 13 13 138 209 52 4.02
Like stolen bases, pitching changes may be dictated more by the quality of the players than the manager’s inherent tendencies. But it is interesting to see the spread between Macha and Scioscia on the bottom, and Gardenhire and Tosca on the top.
And the National …
Team Manager SBA SacA IBB PChngs Total Games Ratio PIT McClendon 42 33 27 157 259 50 5.18 COL Hurdle 28 29 31 164 252 52 4.85 STL LaRussa 60 27 13 155 255 53 4.81 SFG Alou 20 28 11 191 250 53 4.72 HOU Williams 28 41 20 155 244 52 4.69 ARI Brenly 33 20 32 168 253 54 4.69 MIL Yost 52 22 11 149 234 51 4.59 NYM Howe 38 22 20 161 241 53 4.55 MON Robinson 45 30 23 131 229 52 4.40 FLO McKeon 50 23 22 142 237 54 4.39 LAD Tracy 45 20 12 146 223 51 4.37 CIN Miley 30 20 19 157 226 53 4.26 PHI Bowa 39 22 25 135 221 52 4.25 CHC Baker 25 27 17 149 218 52 4.19 ATL Cox 30 23 22 139 214 53 4.04 SDP Bochy 29 19 11 150 209 53 3.94 NL Average 37 25 20 153 235 52 4.49
Wow. Felipe Alou has gone to his bullpen an awful lot. The Giants’ bullpen has the second-worst ERA among all National League teams, too. On the other hand, Frank Robinson, who seems to take an active stance in many categories, has stuck with his starters the most. Makes sense, given the relative quality of his starters and bullpen.
That’s the lastest on major league managers. We’ll revisit these stats later in the year.