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Baseball-Reference.com, the authoritative online location for comprehensive baseball stats, has posted the final 2002 statistics, including those of your Toronto Blue Jays. Here's a few observations:

* Skydome played as a virtually neutral park last year, very slightly favouring pitchers. This is a turnaround from last year, when the Dome favoured hitters more strongly, but it's in line with many of the previous seasons. The stadium is not the Coors North some have taken it for, though I do think it's more prone to giving up HRs, making GBers like Halladay all the more valuable. I'm not sure where HR/park numbers would be kept, though.

* If you needed any statistical evidence that the Ricciardi Blue Jays operate by a whole new philosophy, consider this: Shannon Stewart led the team with 14 stolen bases. And get this: Hinske was second with 13. But together, they were only thrown out 3 times. That kind of percentage base-stealing is what you can come to expect.

* My Lord, but that was a terrible pitching staff last year. Chris Carpenter's 5.28 ERA was the third-best among starters. Oy gevalt.

* Dan Plesac has been very good to the Blue Jays. He was the only good thing that came out of the infamous Pittsburgh megatrade, and in two separate deals since, he's brought back Tony Batista and Cliff Politte. The man deserves a spot on the Level of Excellence, which in turn, deserves to have a much less stupid name.
The 2002 Numbers | 6 comments | Create New Account
The following comments are owned by whomever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
_Justin B. - Tuesday, December 10 2002 @ 11:06 PM EST (#101559) #
Just look at all of those overvalued contracts that have been removed. It's incredible how much better shape the Jays are in now than they were at this time last year. Lots of work needs to be done though. The pitching numbers are scary, and Wells', Phelps' and Lopez's BB/K rates need to improve. To get rid of the contracts of Loaiza, Parris, Fletcher, Mondesi, Bush, Gonzalez, and Plesac/Borbon is incredible though.
Dave Till - Wednesday, December 11 2002 @ 09:40 AM EST (#101560) #
I'm not too worried about Wells' and Phelps' walk rates - they're not walking much because they're getting good pitches to hit and are hitting them. I'd worry if they start chasing bad pitches.

I agree that the Jays are in good shape - better shape than a lot of people think. If J.P. can dig up another starting pitcher from somewhere, this team could take a huge leap forward.
_Kent - Wednesday, December 11 2002 @ 11:27 AM EST (#101561) #
Is there a statistical comparison of SkyDome with the lid closed (where I think it's a hitter's paradise) to open, where it seems to favour pitchers? I'm not surprised it's neutral overall, but it's two distinctly different parks to this observer.

How can you not like Dan Plesac? He's a Standardbred horseman; they're almost all good guys. And echoing the opinion of Toronto's young pitchers, this from the Philly Daily News the other day:

"He was great with our kids," Bowa said. Certainly, with a new pitching coach coming aboard in Joe Kerrigan, Plesac will help familiarize the coach with the pitchers.

It's a short article, linked here for 'Sac' fans only.
Craig B - Wednesday, December 11 2002 @ 01:22 PM EST (#101562) #
What this really hammers home to me is the parlous state of the team when the 2001 season closed, which was something I was almost compeltely oblivious to at the time.

Also, the youth of the 2002 team is very promising. The hitters were the third-youngest group in the league; the pitchers were tied with Oakland for third-youngest. Not only that, the Jays offense was better than both groups of hitters (Minnesota and Tampa Bay) that were younger than they.
_dp - Wednesday, December 11 2002 @ 02:13 PM EST (#101563) #
"I'm not too worried about Wells' and Phelps' walk rates - they're not walking much because they're getting good pitches to hit and are hitting them. I'd worry if they start chasing bad pitches."

Wells I'm worried about- that OB% is way too low, and he only managed 7 BB in the second half. That's 3 games for Carlos. And he didn't hit that well to compensate. Good enough for a rookie CF making the league minimum, but I think's he going to have to improve his walks to have a serious impact.

Phelps walked about as much as he did in the minors. I don't think we'll see a real improvement, but I doubt he'll drop off much either. He did seem to be struggling recognizing pitches when I saw him in September (took a lot of hittable strikes, then swung though some bad balls), but as long as he recognizes enough he'll be fine.
_Kent - Wednesday, December 11 2002 @ 05:34 PM EST (#101564) #
dp, my impression is that Josh swings through a lot of slow stuff, and "taking hittable strikes" can be a telltale sign of guessing. It's reasonable to expect him to get better at this stage, and he is capable of using a lot more of right-center and right field. Only Carlos hits them with the same pop; Phelps turning on fastballs is going to produce many more 500-level moonshots, and he may someday hit the Jumbotron or its equivalent on the road.

Jordan mentioned the Jays' SB reduction, which was disappointing to some fantasy owners, but I noticed they ran well in late innings and close games. Part of the high percentage might be attributed to surprise, as opponents stopped expecting them to steal, but I recall many of Hinske's as "big" in the situation. That's what any manager wants -- guys who hit well enough that they don't have to "manufacture" runs, but can play little ball for one in a tight spot.
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