Evaluating the Pitching Staff

By Ken Dynamo
Posted Thursday, June 26, 2008

Since we all had so much fun last week dissecting the lack luster Mets lineup with the handy dandy Win Percentage Added stat, I figured we could keep the good times rollin' by turning our attention to the pitching staff this week. All the stats, and the explanation of said stats, can be found here, at the wonderferifical website, Fangraphs (please don't make me bore you by explaining it myself).

First up on the docket are the starting pitchers who are like to rock out with their socks out.

Johan Santana: 1.27 WPA

Santana (not to be confused with the musician Rob Thomas helped popularize) has been everything he has been paid to be, so far. Despite being only 7-6, Santanman has been pretty dominant. 95 Ks to just 28 BB. Of course, he's still got five and a half more years on his contract, so let's all hope he stays 'supernatural'. (now quickly, click here!)

Claudio Vargas is actually next on our WPA leader board. I guess that kind of makes this column look pretty stupid, huh? Thanks, Claudio, thanks a lot. Moving on...

Mike Pelfrey: 0.27 WPA

Big Pelf is another bit of a shock here. Pelfrey's been, well, not so good this year, but not an abject failure either. His WHIP is still a rather gross 1.60 but he's also been able to toss 81 close to average (95 ERA+) innings. Stretch gets a pass so far.

John Maine: 0.20 WPA

Another quiet yet effective year from John 'State and' Maine. 88 innings thus far with 76 Ks and only 37 BB. If I were John Maine, and someone asked me how I spelled my last name I'd just say, 'It's Maine, you know, like the steak,' because I really love a good steak.

It obviously hasn't been all peaches and daises for the rotation this year so here now are the jerks that have been sucking harder than H.W. Plainview on some dude's milkshake.

Pedro Martinez: -0.35 WPA

Good old Peter Martinson may have been a landmark signing for the franchise, but upon closer examination it turns out that he was actually a great big waste of money. Pedro has made only five starts this year, has a 1.70 WHIP, a 6.57 ERA and front row seats to a cock fight in the Dominican Republic this off season. All of those are bad things.

Nelson Figueroa: -0.55 WPA

Figgy blows. Duh.

Oliver Perez: -0.67

How aggravating is this guy? I'm sick of the alternating good and bad starts, the alternating good and bad years. I do not want to deal with it anymore. I hope he is not resigned. And personally, I blame NAFTA for this mess.

The real punchline for our starters is El Duque is getting paid six and a half millions dollars for his contribution this season. El Duque, more like, El Puque. (CLICKY CLICKY!)

The reliever WPA leader board is kinda all over the place, though Wagner, Joe Smith and Duaner Sanchez have been our best relievers and they all have positive WPAs. They've also been used the most in highly leveraged, or clutch situations, so at least Randolph was managing the bullpen a little better this year. Someone send him an email telling him that. I'm sure it would make him feel better.

The real stinker has been Aaron Heilman. I don't know what this dude's problem is but he sure does blow this year. He leads the pitching staff in negative WPA with a malodorous -1.23. Woof. He also needs a new tailor. Am I the only one who thinks 'Zeig' Heilman really needs to loosen his pants?

Man did that ever come out wrong.

Anywho, the final loser worth mentioning is Matt Wise. I kind of had high hopes for Wise this year but injuries and seven lousy innings make him one of the most useless players on the payroll this year. If it were up to me (and thankfully for everyone it is not) I'd bring him back for the last series against the Braves and see if he can work some of his patented 'magic' on Larry Jones. Ouch!

To sum up, I think it's worth mentioning that Pitching hasn't been as big of a problem this year as our Triple A-tastic offense. The Mets overall pitching WPA is a positive 1.37, while the hitting's cumulative has been a caca poo poo-esque -2.85. Not so good.

I think it's also important to remember is that it could all be worse. We could have signed Barry Zito.

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Ken Dynamo follows the Mets from Washington, DC and is not proud of the horrible jokes he's just written. You can find more of that garbage but with way more swearing on his tastefully named blog GO METS DIE BRAVES.