I like him a lot. He reminds me a little of Mike Stanton in his build and pitching style, which may sound like faint praise but Stanton’s about to start his eighteenth Major League season and is one of the few pitchers to make the All Star Game as a middle reliever. McBride’s ERA last season wasn’t very good (5.79) but four of the nine runs he allowed came in one disastrous outing against the Cards, and he allowed only one of 21 inherited runners to score. He struck out 22 men (in 14 innings) and walked but seven, and didn’t allow a home run. Of the 27 hitters who did put a ball in play against him, eighteen hit the ball on the ground. But he allowed eighteen hits, hence the high ERA. According to the The Hardball Times Baseball Annual
McBride had huge platoon splits, so extreme that I’m not sure that a measure like FIP that looks at all batters as a group really tells the whole story. He faced righthanders 35 times and allowed a .433/.486/.467 line; he faced lefties 30 times for a .172/.226/.207 line. Fifteen of the strikeouts were against lefties — in other words, lefties struck out half the time against him. Seven strikeouts, five walks in 35 PA against righthanders isn’t actually too bad, especially for a rookie, but they got thirteen hits (all but one a single), hence the high OPS.
Barring injury, this thing’s going to go one of two ways. One is, he never does get a handle on righthanders and merely becomes the best lefthanded specialist in the majors for the next decade. The other is he does get a handle on them, holds them to a reasonable batting average, and with his groundball tendencies becomes one of the majors’ best all-around relievers. I’m not saying it’s going to happen in 2006, and young pitchers do get hurt a lot, but I think he’s going to be special.
Macay Mcbride – Baseball Statistics – Biography, Minor League Stats and Baseball Cards
He K’ed HALF the lefties he faced last year? 8-o
I think it’s safe to say the middle of the bullpen should be a lot stronger this year than it was last year, even if we don’t have a definite solution at the top by April.
I agree about the other spots in the pen really look stronger. Wasn’t McBride a starter in the minors? Is that still a possibility in the future or is the bullpen where he’ll spend his career?
He’s not going to start. He was converted in the high minors, and has pitched much better (especially his control) since.
Agreed. I like McBride too. He strikes out a lot of batters and I am sure he’ll get a handle on righties. I so hope he is the middle reliever that we need to shore up the 2006 pen.
I hope he sticks for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that coming up with the nickname K-Mac was one of the greatest baseball related moments in my life. That and seeing RJ’s perfect game against the Braves in person. They’re neck and neck.
He will at least be the LOOGY. He may become more. It looks like he has a good approach and does go after guys. That’s half the battle.
Give the Natspos one thing — their new pitching coach was a much better pitcher than our new pitching coach.
he’s just the bullpen coach though, right?
Well, yes. Actually, I’m not sure what bullpen coaches do.
This is from Ken Rosenthal’s latest article on foxsports.com.
“Something to watch over the next several years: Whether Coco Crisp would have been a better addition for the Braves than shortstop Edgar Renteria. The Indians first showed interest in Marte at the winter meetings, before the Braves traded him to the Red Sox. The Braves, needing a leadoff hitter to replace Rafael Furcal, briefly entertained their own Marte-for-Crisp notions, but instead dealt Marte for Renteria. Crisp, 26, is under the Red Sox’s control for the next four years. Renteria, 30, is signed with the Braves for the next three.”
I remember reading that the indians balked at our offer for crisp. wasn’t estrada the main piece of the package?
Crisp really isn’t all that. If I know what the Red Sox are thinking like I think I do, they’re primarily interested in him for reasons of defense. The Braves really don’t need that, because they have Andruw in center already and two other good outfielders in the corners. He’s a good hitter but not the sort of guy you go hard after because he’s not that much of an upgrade on Langerhans. The Indians know that, that’s why they were asking about Langerhans and traded for Michaels.
Crisp’s OBP last year was .345, and that’s a career high driven by a career high .300 BA. He doesn’t have big-time power and really isn’t a plus basestealer, or at least wasn’t before this past season (15 SB/6 CS; his career line is 54/29).
He might get better; some of the players with similar statistics did get better in their late twenties. But if this is all there is, he’s going to get overpaid for 110 percent of the production that the Braves can expect from Langerhans getting paid the minimum. And I think Kelly Johnson might blow past that to being a .400 OBP/500 SLG guy. Crisp is a lot more valuable to the Sox because (a) they don’t have any real financial constraints and (b) they don’t have anyone else who can play center. The Braves are a lot better off with Langerhans/Renteria than with Crisp/a neifi.
Though if they’d held off on the trade they might have picked up another player in addition.
I’ll just add that the Indians might be scary good. If Marte is just average they will have greatly improved their play at third base, their only weak position last year. If Gutierrez flops, they have Michaels and Dubois who can step in. They add Shoppach, whom they don’t even need because they have Martinez, and whom they can flip for whatever.
I’ll note too that when the Indians tried Crisp in center, he didn’t do all that well. They actually brought Sizemore up a little bit faster than they expected mostly because they needed better CF defense. His bat being ready that soon was just a very pleasant surprise.
I’m happy about the marte/crisp trade. but only because i don’t have to hear red sox fans talk about marte anymore. sorry jenny but red sox fans suck. when i lived in new york, i thought yankees fans were the worst but that quickly changed when i moved to boston. some of the things i’ve heard on the subway, at work and in an ATM line:
-“mahhh-te!!!!!! the man!!! the best prospect in all of baseball! go sawwwxx! sawx! sawx! sawx!”
-“mah-te’s gonna be a holla-fama. we gotta 3rd baseman for the next 10 yeees. he’s good for like 40 dingas a yee.”
-“i can’t wait to see mah-te develop in the sox system. he’s a real stud.”
-the 1st one was a drunk guy in a bar
-the second, a grandma
-the third, a girl who was maybe 12 and was wearing a johnny d jersey.
i wish marte the best in cleveland. now everyone in boston can go back to talking about theo.
And don’t forget, the Indians were pretty damn good last year. Great lineup, killer bullpen & good starters. A bizarre choke at the end, but still…
Also from the Rosenthal article:
Marte isn’t a certain star ? some scouts and executives are concerned about holes in his swing and the possibility that he might develop a thick body. However, Marte possesses superior makeup and offers a rare combination of skills in an industry short on both third basemen and right-handed power hitters. An official with the Braves predicts that he could hit .240 to .250 with 20 home runs if he played every day this season, then develop into a .280 hitter with 25 to 30 homers. Others, however, believe that Marte needs more time at Class AAA. He’ll get it with the Indians while Aaron Boone completes his contract. …
I would have thought that the best prospect in all of baseball would be capable of hitting more than .280 with 30HRs a season
“I would have thought that the best prospect in all of baseball would be capable of hitting more than .280 with 30HRs a season.”
johnb, those stats are already better than many third basemen did last season.
The way Marte was traded this offseason was pretty similar to how Wainright was traded in couple years back. Something just doesn’t smell right…
Obviously, Wainright still hasn’t developed into a major league pitcher as many people had predicted. We will see how good Marte will be in two seasons.
KC – great point. My concept of an average third baseman is a little skewed by Chipper!! It will be interesting to see how Marte develops over the next few years.
Also 8 of his 9 earned runs were on the road. Largely thanks to the St. Louis game …
Wainwright had an injury plagued year in ’04 and bounced back very well last year, if I recall correctly. I think we will end up missing him and Marte both. The Indians are quickly becoming my favorite non-Braves team, with Milwuakee and Toronto close behind.
I think Crisp is a solid outfielder and a good hitter, with great speed. I went to a game at the Jake last year and saw him hit an inside the park HR. He was flying around the bases. I would say he is a half a step slower than Furcal, if that.
I agree with smitty on Crisp. He may not hit 30 hrs, steal 40 bases, or win a batting title. But he does everything well and is still young.
Not that young. He’s 26. I’m not saying he’s a bad player, but he was a player that the Indians didn’t really need anymore and whose salary wasn’t worth the small upgrade for the Braves.
i agree with mac that the team (imho anyway) is better off with renteria at ss and langerhans/johnson in lf than with crisp in lf and betemit at ss. i guess we’ll find out if that was the right decision over the next few years.
My only thing with the Marte dealing the Sox have been doing is are they better off now or would they have dont better to just GIVE Renteria to the Braves and instead spent that $11 million they’re giving us on Jonny Damon? Obviously Damon’s career will be petering off over the next four years and Crisp’s will be peaking, but Damon’s already a significantly better hitter, so I think it’s about a wash as to who will perform better. Oh, and if they do it my way, the Yankees don’t get an all-star CF. 🙂
Crisp is an upgrade in the field over Damond
Smitty, is that true? Is it true that Crisp is a better center fielder than Damon?
Is that what the defensive stats seem to indicate?
Speaking of defensive stats, Pinto just released his PMR for third basemen, and Betemit scores well. Chipper doesn’t rate badly.