4 thoughts on “Rotation set – Bondo on Opening Day”

  1. Although previous stats have little (if any) bearing on how a starter will perform that particular day, I agree with some other managers that juggling your rotation can win you a few more days if done correctly. I like the righty lefty righty lefty lefty, but I hope Leyland looks at stats like I’m about to show…

    Key:
    Dominates ERA of 3 or under
    Success against ERA of 3-4
    Mediocre ERA of 4-5
    Poor against ERA of 5-6
    Dreadful against ERA of 6+

    Jeremy Bonderman
    Dominates: Devil Rays
    Success against: Angels, White Sox, A’s, Mariners and Blue Jays
    Mediocre against: Royals, Red Sox
    Poor against: Yankees, Rangers
    Dreadful against: Orioles, Indians, and Twins

    Kenny Rogers
    Dominates: Twins
    Success against: Royals, Rangers, Blue Jays and Devil Rays
    Mediocre against: Orioles, Red Sox, Angels, White Sox, Athletics and Mariners
    Poor against: Indians,
    Dreadful against: Yankees

    Justin Verlander (min of 10 innings)
    Dominates: Kansas City, Twins, A’s, Angels
    Success against:
    Mediocre against: Rangers, Devil Rays
    Poor against: Indians
    Dreadful against: White Sox

    Nate Robertson
    Dominates: Mariners, Rangers
    Success against: Orioles
    Mediocre against: Royals, Twins, and Yankees
    Poor against: White Sox, Indians, A’s, Blue Jays and Tampa Bay
    Dreadful against: Red Sox and Angels

    Mike Maroth
    Dominates: Orioles, Indians
    Success against:
    Mediocre against: White Sox, Royals, Twins, Yankees, A’s
    Poor against: Angels
    Dreadful against: Red Sox, Mariners, Rangers, Blue Jays and Tampa Bay

    OK now what does this tell us?
    To me you have to take this stuff with a grain of salt, pitchers improve, lineups vary from year to year (some more so than others), some pitchers like Verlander have started 32 games in the bigs; whereas guys like Kenny have over 400. Even though all of that’s true, how can you use this to your advantage?

    I would look at it and say OK, do I really want Nate pitching the final game at the Jake? Maybe flip him and Maroth and let Mike pitch against the Tribe who he dominates and let Nate pitch against the Rangers who he dominates (and who Mike is dreadful against) this will actually happen in the beginning of June. Little stuff like that could have us 2-0 instead of 1-1 or 0-2…

    I’m not saying doing anything drastic, but when a guy has a career ERA over 5 against a particular team and another guy has one under 4 it’s only common sense to switch the two even if one goes on short rest…

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