August 8, 200322 yr What do y'all think of this set of comments from an article on the MLB Sox site? ***************** Ed Farmer, one of the astute White Sox radio announcers, has mentioned on the air that Wright has the stuff to become an All-Star closer. Both Wright and Cooper aren't giving up quite yet on his career as a starter. But veteran catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. sees Wright's pitching style as a reminder of former teammate Jose Mesa. The veteran right-hander started 75 games in three seasons for Cleveland, pitching 208 2/3 innings in 1993, before becoming one of the premier closers in baseball. "He has the similar repertoire as Jose Mesa, who was converted into a closer," said Alomar of Wright. "Early in the game, (Mesa) had great stuff but would then get in trouble later. Danny has a good quality to be a closer, and the same kind of velocity and pitches." "There are some thoughts that (Wright) can pick up a couple more miles per hour coming in for one or two innings, and that might be true," Cooper added. "But the bottom line is he showed us 14 wins last year as a starter, and he didn't do that with mirrors." *************** With Neal Cotts available to fill Danny's starting job for the few remaining starts #5 will get this year, why not move Wright to the pen right now and get those couple of extra miles on his fastball??
August 8, 200322 yr yikes...... the mention of jose "table" mesa in the same sentance as wright for comparison scares the hell out of me.........didnt mesa blow the series for the tribe ???????? lol.. im sure sandy has found memories of that.. omar did ..........
August 8, 200322 yr Some numbers on DW that might be interesting in relation to the pen. His first inning of work batters have only hit .205 against him in 2003, with 12 K's in 44 AB's. Within his first 15 pitches of an outing he only has been hit at a .231 clip. These are in 2003 while he has been pounded to the tune of .272 BAA and a 6.18 ERA Over the last 3 years his first inning of work has resulted in a .241 BAA with 39K's in 170 AB's against. Hit first 15 pitches of an outing result in a .223 BAA with 29K's in 130 AB's.
August 8, 200322 yr Some numbers on DW that might be interesting in relation to the pen. His first inning of work batters have only hit .205 against him in 2003, with 12 K's in 44 AB's. Within his first 15 pitches of an outing he only has been hit at a .231 clip. These are in 2003 while he has been pounded to the tune of .272 BAA and a 6.18 ERA Over the last 3 years his first inning of work has resulted in a .241 BAA with 39K's in 170 AB's against. Hit first 15 pitches of an outing result in a .223 BAA with 29K's in 130 AB's. That ain't bad at all Certainly the numbers you'd like to see if you want to make him your closer However the question remains, why in the hell can't he keep his 1st inning pace (or near it) over 5, 6 innings?
August 8, 200322 yr Some numbers on DW that might be interesting in relation to the pen. His first inning of work batters have only hit .205 against him in 2003, with 12 K's in 44 AB's. Within his first 15 pitches of an outing he only has been hit at a .231 clip. These are in 2003 while he has been pounded to the tune of .272 BAA and a 6.18 ERA Over the last 3 years his first inning of work has resulted in a .241 BAA with 39K's in 170 AB's against. Hit first 15 pitches of an outing result in a .223 BAA with 29K's in 130 AB's. That ain't bad at all Certainly the numbers you'd like to see if you want to make him your closer However the question remains, why in the hell can't he keep his 1st inning pace (or near it) over 5, 6 innings? Ask Eric Gagne.
August 8, 200322 yr Some numbers on DW that might be interesting in relation to the pen. His first inning of work batters have only hit .205 against him in 2003, with 12 K's in 44 AB's. Within his first 15 pitches of an outing he only has been hit at a .231 clip. These are in 2003 while he has been pounded to the tune of .272 BAA and a 6.18 ERA Over the last 3 years his first inning of work has resulted in a .241 BAA with 39K's in 170 AB's against. Hit first 15 pitches of an outing result in a .223 BAA with 29K's in 130 AB's. That ain't bad at all Certainly the numbers you'd like to see if you want to make him your closer However the question remains, why in the hell can't he keep his 1st inning pace (or near it) over 5, 6 innings? Ask Eric Gagne. Thats a great point. However, DW is no gagne. Gagne has killer stuff.
August 8, 200322 yr Some numbers on DW that might be interesting in relation to the pen. His first inning of work batters have only hit .205 against him in 2003, with 12 K's in 44 AB's. Within his first 15 pitches of an outing he only has been hit at a .231 clip. These are in 2003 while he has been pounded to the tune of .272 BAA and a 6.18 ERA Over the last 3 years his first inning of work has resulted in a .241 BAA with 39K's in 170 AB's against. Hit first 15 pitches of an outing result in a .223 BAA with 29K's in 130 AB's. That ain't bad at all Certainly the numbers you'd like to see if you want to make him your closer However the question remains, why in the hell can't he keep his 1st inning pace (or near it) over 5, 6 innings? Ask Eric Gagne. Thats a great point. However, DW is no gagne. Gagne has killer stuff. I think DW doesn't pace himself enough, is evident by his numbers. He either needs to work harder in off season conditioning, or he needs to learn to pick his spots better. And I would be willing to bet that Wright's stuff would be a whole lot nastier out of the pen where he didn't have to save it for later, and could pitch balls to the wall.
August 8, 200322 yr My guess is we'll see him out of the pen this weekend so we won't have long to wait to find out.
August 8, 200322 yr By the way, here are my current choices for sox closer. 1 Wright 2 Koch 3 Marte What about Koch for the last month makes you think he can close?
August 8, 200322 yr By the way, here are my current choices for sox closer. 1 Wright 2 Koch 3 Marte What about Koch for the last month makes you think he can close? You mean: What about Koch for the last 4 months makes you think he can close?
August 8, 200322 yr By the way, here are my current choices for sox closer. 1 Wright 2 Koch 3 Marte What about Koch for the last month makes you think he can close? Gee i dunno, i prefer past history. Mark my words. Koch will be back and closing by september, UNLESS DW comes in and takes the job.
August 8, 200322 yr Author Thanks for the numbers Southsider. I expect those numbers could be improved if he wasn't "pacing" himself for a 5-6 inning outing. Also, do you have his right/lefty splits? With 3 lefties, we may not need him except to get out some critical right handers. I wouldn't make him closer, but he could make a nice power pitching right handed option.
August 8, 200322 yr By the way, here are my current choices for sox closer. 1 Wright 2 Koch 3 Marte in that order? yikes
August 8, 200322 yr By the way, here are my current choices for sox closer. 1 Wright 2 Koch 3 Marte What about Koch for the last month makes you think he can close? Gee i dunno, i prefer past history. Mark my words. Koch will be back and closing by september, UNLESS DW comes in and takes the job. i don't think you take a division contending team and try to experiment with a new closer in the last 2 months of the year, but that's just me...then again we don't have an established closer really, so it's not like he'd be taking anyone's job....
August 8, 200322 yr Thanks for the numbers Southsider. I expect those numbers could be improved if he wasn't "pacing" himself for a 5-6 inning outing. Also, do you have his right/lefty splits? With 3 lefties, we may not need him except to get out some critical right handers. I wouldn't make him closer, but he could make a nice power pitching right handed option. He fairly evenly split vs righties and lefties: http://bigleaguers.yahoo.com/mlbpa/players...r&type=Pitching
August 8, 200322 yr Thanks for the numbers Southsider. I expect those numbers could be improved if he wasn't "pacing" himself for a 5-6 inning outing. Also, do you have his right/lefty splits? With 3 lefties, we may not need him except to get out some critical right handers. I wouldn't make him closer, but he could make a nice power pitching right handed option. I just grabbed some quick and dirty numbers from ESPN. They don't break down lefty/righty for pitch counts and innings. I wouldn't be sure where to find them. This is the template I used. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...8&type=pitching Actually looking at his numbers again one thing really jumps out at me, big time. Look at his numbers against the 3-4 hitters, and then against the 7-8-9 hitters. #9 hitters have more HR's and RBI's against Danny then do #4 hitters! I take back what I said about pacing himself, he seems to have somekind of an intensity problem, where he lets down against the not-so-good hitters. Being a closer could be better for him than I thought, as he would constantly be in intense situations where he has to be intense the whole time.
August 8, 200322 yr By the way, here are my current choices for sox closer. 1 Wright 2 Koch 3 Marte What about Koch for the last month makes you think he can close? Gee i dunno, i prefer past history. Mark my words. Koch will be back and closing by september, UNLESS DW comes in and takes the job. i don't think you take a division contending team and try to experiment with a new closer in the last 2 months of the year, but that's just me...then again we don't have an established closer really, so it's not like he'd be taking anyone's job.... Uh yeah, we have no choice but to experiment. We HAVE no closer right now.
August 8, 200322 yr I think one of Danny's problems is he tries to get too cute sometimes. He has to realize he's not Greg Maddux. He's a power pitcher. He needs to go right at fools with his power stuff. As a set-up man or closer he can do this . He could go right at fools and not worry about them figuring him out or getting tired later in the game. I don't agree with experimenting with closers in August during a pennant race. But we desperately need some help from the right side of the pen. And like somebody else said. it's not like he would be taking anybody's job...
August 8, 200322 yr By the way, here are my current choices for sox closer. 1 Wright 2 Koch 3 Marte What about Koch for the last month makes you think he can close? Gee i dunno, i prefer past history. Mark my words. Koch will be back and closing by september, UNLESS DW comes in and takes the job. i don't think you take a division contending team and try to experiment with a new closer in the last 2 months of the year, but that's just me...then again we don't have an established closer really, so it's not like he'd be taking anyone's job.... Uh yeah, we have no choice but to experiment. We HAVE no closer right now. well, marte has done the job closing games, as has gordon for the most part. both are used to closing. and, even koch knows how to close. has wright ever had experience closing? that's what i mean by experimenting. i know we have no real sure fire closer right now, but this is something you pull off in spring training, not in a division race, IMO
August 8, 200322 yr Thanks for the numbers Southsider. I expect those numbers could be improved if he wasn't "pacing" himself for a 5-6 inning outing. Also, do you have his right/lefty splits? With 3 lefties, we may not need him except to get out some critical right handers. I wouldn't make him closer, but he could make a nice power pitching right handed option. I just grabbed some quick and dirty numbers from ESPN. They don't break down lefty/righty for pitch counts and innings. I wouldn't be sure where to find them. This is the template I used. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/spli...8&type=pitching Actually looking at his numbers again one thing really jumps out at me, big time. Look at his numbers against the 3-4 hitters, and then against the 7-8-9 hitters. #9 hitters have more HR's and RBI's against Danny then do #4 hitters! I take back what I said about pacing himself, he seems to have somekind of an intensity problem, where he lets down against the not-so-good hitters. Being a closer could be better for him than I thought, as he would constantly be in intense situations where he has to be intense the whole time. I think you may be on to something. I think Wright could most definately be an All-Star closer.
August 10, 200322 yr My guess is we'll see him out of the pen this weekend so we won't have long to wait to find out. .....And Wright pitched in relief last night, hhhmmmmm.........
August 10, 200322 yr We have a closer: Marte. Look at his #'s: opp A: .194, opp OPS 568 ( 598 v RH, 534 v LH ). non: 521 OPS, non/0 out: 472 OPS, non/1+ out: 560 OPS ron: 615 OPS risp: 590 OPS, risp/2 out: 497 OPS 1-15 pc: 605 OPS, 16-30 pc: 468 OPS, 31-45 pc: 661 OPS vs lineup: 469 OPS, 766 OPS, 374 OPS, 465 OPS, 339 OPS, 725 OPS, 775 OPS, 713 OPS, 740 OPS That's dominating stuff! You could make a strong argument that the SOX should stretch him out next yr & make him a starter.
August 10, 200322 yr From the Southtown: Dan Wright, who pitched a scoreless inning out of the bullpen in Saturday night's game, has struggled when used as the fifth starter. Wright (0-5) will get another opportunity for redemption Tuesday night when he opposes Anaheim's Ramon Ortiz. The Sox have announced that their game on Aug. 24 against visiting Texas, which had been listed as having a starting time to be determined, will begin at 1:05 p.m.
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