Back in January, I wrote a post title “The World Baseball Classic And The Affects On Starting Pitching.” I wrote the post to show that most pitchers who pitched in the WBC in 2006 had a worse era that season than they did in 2005. Now that we are over 30 games into the season and the WBC is well behind us, I think is now a good time to see how some of the WBC pitchers are fairing this season.
Cueto is off to a good start
Pitcher-Record-ERA
Jose Arredono – 1-0 5.51 era
Johnny Cueto – 4-1 1.93 era
Felix Hernandez – 4-2 3.53 era
Ubaldo Jimenez – 3-4 4.73 era
Rafael Perez – 0-1 15.19 era. Optioned to Triple A in May.
Daisuke Matsuzaka – 0-1 12.79 era. On the DL since April with Shoulder Fatigue.
Ian Snell – 1-5 4.93 era
Roy Oswalt – 1-2 4.50 era
Ted Lilly – 5-2 3.27 era
Jonathon Sanchez – 1-3 5.06 era
Jake Peavy – 2-5 4.30 era
Jeremy Guthrie – 3-3 5.21 era
Scot Shields – 1-3 7.90 era
JJ Putz – 1-2 3.86. Is currently pitching with a bone spur in his right elbow.
Joakim Soria – 1-0 2.08 era and 7/7 in saves. Currently on the 15 Day DL because of a sore shoulder. Royals GM, Dayton Moore wonders if the WBC led to Soria’s issue. ”I don’t think it helps,” Moore told the Kansas City Star. “We couldn’t control his work. If you can’t control a pitcher’s workload and you can’t script their preparation during spring training, it’s a problem.”
JP Howell – 0-2 2.81 era
Joel Hanrahan – 0-1 5.51 era and 3/6 in saves
Jonathon Broxton – 4-0 1.50 era and 9/11 in saves
Matt Lindstrom – 1-1 5.40 era and 7/9 in saves
Heath Bell – 1-0 0.00 era and 9/9 in saves
LaTroy Hawkins – 1-1 2.70 era and 5/7 in saves
Brad Ziegler – 0-0 3.86 era 4/5 in saves
Perez is having a terrible 2009
John Grabow – 1-0 5.29 era
Oliver Perez – 1-2 9.97 era. Placed on the 15 Day DL because of a knee injury. In reality it was because he is terrible.
So that is 24 pitchers with a combined 37-41 record on a 5.08 era. Now can all these poor starts be solely attributed to the WBC? Absolutely not. That wouldn’t be fair saying that was the case. However, I do believe there is some connection between these poor starts and pitching in the WBC. Out of those 24 pitchers, it seems only Johnny Cueto, Heath Bell and Jonathon Broxton have pitched in the WBC and have pitched exceptionally well in 2009.
There is no evidence to suggest that the WBC is going away any time soon. So when the next WBC comes around and if you see a pitcher on your favorite team on the roster, don’t expect a good year out of him.
*Please note all stats were calculated prior to Sunday’s games.
Tags: J.J Putz, Oliver Perez, World Baseball Classic, Johnny Cueto, Jake Peavy, Scot Shields, Matt Lindstrom, Joakim Soria, Jonathon Broxton, Brad Ziegler, Joel Hanrahan, JP Howell, Roy Oswalt, Jeremy Guthrie, Ted Lilly, LaTroy Hawkins, John Grabow, Heath Bell, Jose Arredondo, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Felix Hernandez, Ubaldo Jimenez, Rafael Perez, Ian Snell, Jonathon Sanchez
