Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Trade Reactions - Wandy Rodriguez


Not too long ago, going from the Astros to the Pirates would be a sideways move.

Wandy Rodriguez to Pirates, Rudy Owens & Robbie Grossman & Colton Cain to Astros

It's great to see the Pirates as buyers, because not only does it show that the team is doing well after years of ineptitude, but it shows that their management believes in them too.

I'm not a big fan of Wandy Rodriguez, as his career WHIP of 1.339 is a tad high, but he's sure to make a nice addition to a rotation that already has James McDonald and AJ Burnett in it. For the record I didn't want to see the Yankees trade for him, as I don't see Wandy fairing as well in the American League. He would probably make a good #4 or #5 starter, but I wouldn't want him to start a pivotal game for my team at all.

Anyway... are the Pirates for real?

So far this season the Pirates own a team wOBA of .302, which is ranked 11th in the National League. Pittsburgh's pitching has a FIP of 3.89, which ranks 6th in the National League. Going by those stats alone I'd say that they are, at least in the National League Central, where the Reds have a team wOBA of .316 (8th) and FIP of  3.68 (13th), while the Cardinals have marks of .336 and 3.69.

This just doesn't look right. I mean... good catch, but... ouch.

Those numbers would make you think that if the Bucs have a chance to win the division, it's on the coat tails of their pitching. But looking at their team BABIP of .289, which is well below the league median of .295, I'd say that this team could start scoring more runs than we've seen so far in 2012. On that note, the Cardinals own the highest team BABIP in the NL at .321, while the Reds BABIP is at .295.

Oh, and the Pirates own the 2nd best wOBA in the NL over the last 30 days... .346.

What does this mean for the Yankees?

I believe the Pirates can take one of the two Wild Card spots in the National League. I see the Nationals taking the NL East, St. Louis coming back and taking the NL Central, and the Dodgers taking the NL West, while the two wild card spots will be taken by two of the Reds, Braves, and Pirates.

"Hey, what about us?" - Stop allowing so many runs against and maybe I'll include you.

The real question to me is not whether Pittsburgh can get to the NL Championship Series, but whether or not they can beat the Washington Nationals. I already showed through stats that the Pirates can hang with the Cardinals and Reds, but neither the Dodgers or Giants are that good either. And so far, in 5 meetings this season against the Nats, the Pirates have won 3 games.

By the way, if the Nats don't have Stephen Strasburg throughout the playoffs (which would be stupid on their part), then we could see them in the World Series.

Which leads back to my belief that Wandy isn't "all that", and would not be that big a help against the Yankees. But while this trade, I don't think, has much of an affect on the Yankees, the Pirates could be around for a while.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)