Quote:
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Originally Posted by Mister Coaster
Numbers, numbers, numbers! OK, how about this... As a fan of an AL West team, I was surprised to see the moves made by the A's on their pitching staff. Apparently these moves were made in a effort to improve it in one way or another. It would appear to a casual onlooker that these moves did not work, as the A's are now below .500 and doing their best to stay out of the AL West basement. However, if they were only looking to improve their top 3 pitcher's ERA's, and looking for quality starts, then they succeeded on that and have been failed by their offence.
Fair statements?
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No, because it completely ignores the offensive numbers I posted. When your pitching is better and your offense is worse then another season, and you are losing more games then another season, which do you think has more of an effect?
Here are the top starters for this season and last season on offense:
2007
Code:
Pos Player Ag G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS GDP HBP SH SF IBB OPS+
---+-------------------+--+----+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
C Jason Kendall 33 80 292 24 66 10 0 2 22 12 27 .226 .261 .281 3 1 7 3 2 3 0 46
1B *Dan Johnson 27 83 291 36 68 17 1 11 41 52 50 .234 .350 .412 0 0 9 2 0 4 4 104
2B Mark Ellis 30 105 401 51 106 20 1 15 52 30 65 .264 .327 .431 7 2 7 9 2 3 0 102
3B *Eric Chavez 29 90 341 43 82 21 2 15 46 34 76 .240 .306 .446 4 2 9 0 0 4 2 99
SS Bobby Crosby 27 93 349 40 79 16 0 8 31 23 62 .226 .278 .341 10 2 11 2 0 0 1 66
LF Shannon Stewart 33 101 392 54 117 13 0 9 35 35 43 .298 .360 .401 10 1 12 3 1 0 0 105
CF *Mark Kotsay 31 51 190 19 43 14 0 1 20 18 17 .226 .292 .316 1 1 4 0 0 1 2 64
RF *Travis Buck 23 75 257 36 71 18 4 7 31 36 64 .276 .367 .459 3 1 9 3 2 4 2 121
DH *Jack Cust 28 77 238 36 62 11 0 17 51 55 98 .261 .397 .521 0 2 4 1 0 3 0 145
2006
Code:
Pos Player Ag G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG SB CS GDP HBP SH SF IBB OPS+
---+-------------------+--+----+----+----+----+---+--+---+----+---+----+-----+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+----+
C Jason Kendall 32 143 552 76 163 23 0 1 50 53 54 .295 .367 .342 11 5 19 12 4 5 2 89
1B *Dan Johnson 26 91 286 30 67 13 1 9 37 40 45 .234 .323 .381 0 0 6 0 0 5 2 85
2B Mark Ellis 29 124 441 64 110 25 1 11 52 40 76 .249 .319 .385 4 0 13 8 4 7 1 85
3B *Eric Chavez 28 137 485 74 117 24 2 22 72 84 100 .241 .351 .435 3 0 19 1 0 6 6 106
SS Bobby Crosby 26 96 358 42 82 12 0 9 40 36 76 .229 .298 .338 8 1 11 0 2 2 1 68
LF #Nick Swisher 25 157 556 106 141 24 2 35 95 97 152 .254 .372 .493 1 2 13 11 2 6 7 126
CF *Mark Kotsay 30 129 502 57 138 29 3 7 59 44 55 .275 .332 .386 6 3 18 2 4 6 1 89
RF #Milton Bradley 28 96 351 53 97 14 2 14 52 51 65 .276 .370 .447 10 2 13 2 0 1 1 115
DH Frank Thomas 38 137 466 77 126 11 0 39 114 81 81 .270 .381 .545 0 0 13 6 0 6 3 141
So, there has been a drop-off at catcher, third base, shortstop, all three outfield spots, and DH. Plus, Nick Swisher went from 35 home runs and a .865 OPS to on-pace for 21 home runs and an .823 OPS.
Like I said, better pitching vs. worse offense. Which is more at fault?