Blangraphs

Most horrific pun ever?
From the Phillies website-
"Oswalt's return to Phils still up in the air"

Do Joe proud, Vance!

In preparation for his next start against the Mets Joe Blanton decided to take the day off and...

Went snorkeling!

Browsing the wins above replacement leaders today I noticed something interesting. MVPolanco has exactly the same WAR as Alex Rodriguez. According to the first thing I googled MVPolanco is making $ 5,416,666 this year whereas Rodriguez is making $ 32,000,000.

Using my stellar math skills this means that the Yankees are paying nearly 6 times as much for the same production from the same position, and as I recall Rodriguez is signed for that salary for another 6 years.

Yikes.

This isn't exactly a small deviation actually- Going back to 2010 to present Rodriguez has been worth only .1 wins more than MVPolanco and played only 1 game less, (and 34 fewer plate appearances). I think a lot of MVPolanco's value is derived from his superior fielding over that period of time but still- impressive.


Does this mean by the transitive property that MVPolanco has made 12 Allstar teams, won 3 MVP awards, 10 silver sluggers, 2 gold gloves, and 1 2007 Pepsi Clutch Performer of the Year award (He was an April nominee)? Maybe, but it definitely means the Phillies have made a wise investment over the past couple seasons bringing Polly back to play the hot corner.

Does it sometimes seem like when you sit down to watch Blanton pitch that he always gives up lots of runs?
Yeah we noticed that, too. As great a pitcher as Blanton is there are somethings that even he really can't control such as the bloopers that fall in and the "clutch" hits that other teams get against him. Blanton really has had some bad luck to start the year.

 First let's look at his BABIP- which is 3rd highest in the league at .357 I think a usually BABIP hovers around .300. The ball is finding the hole more often than expected when Big Joe is on the mound resulting in more hits and more baserunners.

Next let's look at LOB% which is 63.5% for Blanton right now. A league average LOB% is ~72%. Meaning that 8.5% more runners have scored than we would expect. His Hr/Fb rate is almost exactly league average which means he isn't leaving especially juicy meatballs up there.

It's not like he's Kyle Kendrick up their with K's either. Joe has a respectable 6.29 K/9 and a good BB/K rate of 2.22 (for comparison Cliff is 1.11, but it's never really a fair comparison with Cliff.). Also Joe's groundball rate is among the leaders with a GB% of 55.6%. More than half of the balls hit off Joe are grounders.

So somewhat unexpectedly Blanton is putting together the peripherals for a very good season. He has already put together .4 more WAR than fan favorite JA Happ has for Houston this year and posted an xFIP (basically expected ERA) lower than Tim Hudson, Yovanni Gallardo, and Matt Cain.

Also word on the street is that he has developed an ABP.

By the hammer of Blan!

Even though this is a stats-oriented blog, it's worth covering something that exists outside of the realm of widely accepted metrics. Once or twice a game, Joe Blanton will be in a difficult situation, maybe the bases are jammed with batters who reached on seeing-eye singles or there's a fleet-footed runner on third who hit a triple in Petco. In these times, Blanton can look sweaty, nervous, even overmatched, but he is actually reaching for the legendary Amazing Blanton Pitch (ABP). The ABP is used only in these one or two situations per game ("let this be a light in dark places") but it is unmistakable when it comes around. For those who have their doubts about Blanton, look for the ABP and set your mind at ease.

Blanton looks to mow down the Padres tonight

Blanton goes again tonight against the Greinke-less-Gallardo-floppers. Joe is looking to rebound a bit from his last 2 starts that as we all know have not gone according to plan. The Brewers are anchored by a strong offense, and also someone named Mcgehee which I'm pretty sure he just spelled wrong on his contract. Liveblog at game time.

Joltin' Joe will brew his own beer, thank you very much

TONIGHT! LIVE coverage of Kentucky Joe (projected season record: 24-1, projected ERA: 1.84) against Shaun Marcum (2-1, 2.55). SEE the liveblog here as the national television audience gets their first look of the year at the MVP favorite on ESPN at 7:05.

Joe has discovered a mechanical problem that is causing him trouble out of the stretch. Presumably he'll work this out and go back to being practically unhittable for the rest of the season. Rich Dubee doesn't agree, but he of all people should know not to question the judgment of The Great One. Don't you know that Joe has a posse, Rich?
pitching mechanics photo from drivelinebaseball.com

Friends tonight is a very special night. Two of the greatest pitchers of our generation are going at it in a battle for the division crown. Livan v. Blanton. An epic battle of 80 something mph fastballs vs. the "Blanton Blazer" coming in at 89.4 mph. Set your alarms for 7:05 est. It truly is a clash of the titans tonight.

Blanton to the left, Livan to the right

This graph demonstrates Kentucky Joe's malice with the stick at the plate relative to other well known stars of the diamond. I think the graph pretty much speaks for itself.

Joe Blanton (First start of season, 3-1 career vs. Mets) and the Phillies (3-1) against Mike Pelfrey (opening day starter, 0-1) and the Mets (3-1) in a battle for first place. Be here for the liveblog!

With the Phillies off today, excitement is growing about the first Joe Blanton start of the season. The Mets have skipped a beat in their rotation in a panicked attempt to make Wednesday's contest a fair fight. Opening day starter Mike Pelfrey (0-1, 10.38 ERA) is set to oppose Blanton. In other Blanton news, a compilation of recent Joe quotes can be found on Google.

Blanton fact of the day: #2 hitters have a worse slugging percentage against Blanton (.313) than #9 hitters (.314). Watch out, Willie Harris.

Oswalt v. Bud