It was not a great start to the 2009 Astros in their first week's worth of games. 1-6 is our worst start since 1984, and age/injury concerns are weighing down the optimism even more than would be the case for most clubs.
Using Fangraphs, I'd like to keep track of where the Astros rank against the other 29 teams in some pertinent statistical categories. We may end up seeing nothing unexpected, but I think it's going to be interesting to compare and contrast the teams in MLB. If the Astros seem to make a big jump either up or down in a particular category in any given week, I'll be sure to include that in the post.
Offense:
BB/K:
| 24. | Texas Rangers |
.43 |
| 23. | Washington Nationals | .43 |
| 22. | Minnesota Twins |
.45 |
| 21. | Chicago White Sox |
.45 |
| 20.. | Houston Astros | .46 |
(The Astros 2008 BB/K ratio was .43)
OBP:
| 30. | KC Royals | .275 |
| 29. | AZ Diamondbacks | .282 |
| 28. | Houston Astros | .290 |
| 27. | SF Giants | .301 |
| 26. | Colorado Rockies | .307 |
Hitter Value (in terms of $)
| 30. | KC Royals | -$3.3 |
| 29. | Houston Astros | -$1.5 |
| 28. | AZ Diamondbacks | -$.8 |
| 27. | Oakland Athletics | -$.6 |
| 26. | SF Giants | $.2 |
Pitching:
FIP:
| 27. | Philadelphia Phillies | 5.91 |
| 26. | Cleveland Indians | 5.79 |
| 25. | Houston Astros | 5.62 |
| 24. | Boston Red Sox | 5.60 |
| 23. | Texas Rangers | 5.58 |
Value (in terms of $):
| 27. | Philadelphia Phillies | -$.3 |
| 26. | Cleveland Indians | -$.1 |
| 25. | Houston Astros | $.1 |
| 24. | SF Giants | $1.1 |
| 23. | Minnesota Twins | $1.6 |
Fielding:
Using UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating), which is the number of runs above or below average a fielder is in both range runs and error runs combined
| 24. | Baltimore Orioles | -2.1 |
| 23. | St. Louis Cardinals | -.9 |
| 22. | Houston Astros | -.7 |
| 21. | Kansas City Royals | -.7 |
| 20. | Pittsburgh Pirates | -.6 |
The Astros were 5th last season, with a UZR of 42.4
0 recs | 1 comments
I usually look at the UZR/150 games for defensive comparisons...
and the Astros are rated +1.7 on that basis, which ranks them 12th.
Link.
How you get from a negative raw UZR to a positive final result per 150…I don’t know. Someone asked a question on fangraphs to the effect that the raw numbers didn’t fit the UZR/150, and the answer from fangraphs was that all of the data used to calculate the UZR/150 isn’t shown there. Perhaps it has something to do with position weightings or something.
In any event, it’s too early for UZR results to mean much. If that’s not the case, the Astros are headed for the best 3d base defensive platoon in history (Blum 61.6 and Keppinger +65.5). :) The early UZR results also confirm that Matui has been good so far (21.4).
clack - April 15, 2009
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of The Crawfish Boxes to post a comment.