After we got done watching Strasburg — cough — we mean the Yankees, we started to aimlessly search the internet for some interesting baseball material.
With the Joe Girardi bullpen debacle from Saturday still fresh on our minds, we decided to check out Fangraphs’ Game Leverage Index, which can be used to determine how important a situation is when a pitcher enters the game. The higher the number, the more high-leverage a situation is.
Here’s your AL Top 11 (you’ll see why we made it 11):
Jonathan Papelbon, BOS, 2.15
Daniel Bard, BOS, 2.10
David Aardsma, SEA, 2.09
Neftali Feliz, TEX, 2.00
John Rauch, MIN, 1.97
Kevin Gregg, TOR, 1.85
Chris Perez, CLE, 1.83
Andrew Bailey, OAK, 1.78
Rafael Soriano, TAM, 1.76
Ryan Perry, DET, 1.70
God, NYY, 1.68
Papelbon and Bard make sense being at the top of the list. Boston has played in 22 one-run games so far this season, which is tied for most in the league with Texas. In comparison, the Yankees have only played in 9 one-run games, which is lowest in the AL.
Mariano does have the highest leverage number on the Yankees staff. Joba is second with a 1.41. Marte is third with a 1.32. D-Rob is 4th with a 1.14.
13 Comments
Kevin S. June 9, 2010 00:44
Sooo… Girardi isn’t a complete ‘tard?
huktonfonix June 9, 2010 01:20
So in their most important innings the Yankees use their best reliever the most, their second best reliever the second most, their third best reliever 3rd, and their fourth best reliever 4th?
Sounds about right to me.
Jim Leyritz's Cellmate June 9, 2010 07:28
Now lets look at meltdowns and shutdowns!
Tommy Chong June 9, 2010 08:16
Looks more like the “high” leverage situation, huh huh huh, yeah, man.
Chris June 9, 2010 10:38
Has anyone regressed xFIP to leverage index?
should give an idea on how well each reliever is being used, and maybe an indication on how well a manager is at utilizing his ‘pen.
Walt June 9, 2010 10:51
what do you mean by that, Chris? Could you explain more?
After seeing the Yankees’ numbers, I wonder what the distribution of the leverage index should be. Don’t know if I’m saying that correctly.
For example, Mo has the highest LI which is good. But should it be even higher? Should the spread between him and Joba be larger?
The leverage index seems to give a good idea if managers are using their top relievers in most dicey situations, but it doesnt really show if they’re “maximizing” his relievers.
Or maybe what I’m saying doesn’t make sense.
Chris June 9, 2010 11:02
I’m just saying that I would think that the closer the correlation between xFIP and LI is to -1, the more the manager is maximizing the pen.
DavidRiccio June 9, 2010 12:28
Does anyone want to go splisty with me on this ebay listing?
http://bit.ly/dfhLSR
PennyStocks June 9, 2010 14:09
Hi Dave!
Phieleblunt June 10, 2010 02:59
This sounds like a bad TNT commercial…Girardi knows drama
Small Sample Size June 11, 2010 06:11
It’s all Girardi’s fault for not managing more 1 run games so Mariano could be higher on the list.
Landon Filgo February 21, 2011 21:57
The informative summary encouraged me very much! Bookmarked the blog, very excellent topics everywhere that I read here! I like the information, thanks.
Isela Branche June 1, 2011 15:25
This great summary encouraged me very much! Bookmarked your website, extremely interesting topics just about everywhere that I read here! I appreciate the information, thank you.