2005 Season

Edition No. 32

October 25, 2005

Brethren:

            As advertised, this week’s issue of From the Bullpen brings you a smorgasbord if not cornucopia of facts, figures, lies, damn lies, statistics, and keen observations from this cub reporter.  I’ve got so much information for you this week, I hardly know where to begin.  We’ll start with a listing of the team pitching and hitting totals across the league from the 2005 season, and after that, we’ll follow my meandering mental processes.

TEAM HITTING TOTALS

FOR 2005

The team with the top batting average for the season was the Chiefs, who clocked in at .286.   The Wahoos brought up the rear in this department with a collective batting average of .270.  The Irates scored the most team runs with 6557, while the Tribe had the fewest with 5920.  The Skipjacks hit the most long balls on the season with 279, while the Tribe managed 90 fewer, or 189, on the year.  The Cubs* led the circuit in RBIs with 985, while the punchless Senators had the fewest RBIs with only 802.  The Redbirds were the swiftest team on the base paths with 191 steals, while the slow-footed Reds had the fewest steals with 69.  The Cubs* had the most free passes with 740, while the circumspectless Senators had only 551 bases on balls on the season. 

            The Chiefs, Cubs*, Redbirds, Skipjacks and Tigers had the highest points-per-game average among hitters at 3.4 PPG.  The Senators, Tribe, Bombers and Blues had the lowest PPG average with 3.2.  The Wahoos, Irates and Reds fell in the middle with 3.3 PPG. 

TEAM PITCHING TOTALS

FOR 2005

            The Senators staff had the most pitching wins with 105, while the Cubs* hurlers had the fewest with 77.  The Tribe throwers had the most losses with 96, while the Cubs* had the fewest losses with 70.  The Bombers had the highest winning percentage at .566, while the Irates had the worst winning percentage of .488.  The Skipjacks staff had the best ERA of 3.51, while the Irates had the worst with 4.35.  The Bombers relievers had the most saves with 95, while the Tigers closers had the fewest saves with 46.  The Senators middle relievers had the most holds with 59, while the Tribe middlemen had the fewest with 6. 

            The Tribe led the circuit in innings pitched with 1753, while the Cubs* staff had the fewest innings with 1210-1/3.  The Tribe staff also gave up the most hits with 1784, while the Cubs* hurlers gave up the fewest with 1199.  The Irates staff gave up the most walks with 515, while the Blues staff gave up the fewest free passes with 410.  The Tribe tossers had the most strikeouts with 1347, while the Cubs* hurlers again trailed the field with 826. 

            In terms of points per game averages among pitching staffs, the Skipjacks hurlers blew away the rest of the pack at 9.1 PPG.  At the other end of the spectrum, the Cubs* pitchers averaged only 7.1 PPG, far and away the lowest among the twelve teams.

SKIPPER’S KEEN OBSERVATIONS

            CONCLUSION:  It takes great pitching, not great hitting, to win this league.  Over the course of a 162-game season, the difference between the best hitting team (3.4 PPG) and the worst hitting team (3.2 PPG) is a far cry from the difference between the best pitching team (9.1 PPG) and the worst pitching team (7.1 PPG).  You can win with mediocre hitting, but you can’t win without superior pitching.   End of story, amen. 

HALF ‘N’ HALF

            Let’s look at how the teams did during the first half of the season, and then during the final 13 weeks:

FIRST HALF

SECOND HALF

            LESSON:  It’s great to get out of the gate fast, but better yet to finish strong.  Just ask the Quintessential Closer, Brother Itchie, or our perennial HSL Bridesmaid, Tirebiter.

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

            Let’s take a look now at the top fifty hitters and top fifty pitchers for 2005, including their PPG averages, the spot where each was drafted, and their original drafting team:

TOP 50 HITTERS

TOP 50 PITCHERS

SKIPPER’S AWARDS

And the winner is:  Morgan Ensberg, who was originally drafted by the Chiefs in Round 21, immediately banished from the team, and then snapped up by Magpie in the Free Agent Draft and finished with an impressive total of 573 points, 3.8 PPG, second behind ARod among all third basemen, and 29th among al hitters.  Screech had better hope that B.T. doesn’t read this issue of From the Bullpen (the odds are pretty good), or he may be looking for a new squad during the off-season.  

DISTRIBUTION

            Because the time constraints of managing my team are now over and I have plenty of free time on my hands, I decided to plot the top 25 hitters and top 25 pitchers on our original Draft roster to see where the high point-getters came from.  Some interesting, although perhaps predictable, results.  Among the 25 hitters who scored the most points this season, 19 were drafted in the first five rounds of the Draft.  Three players, Furcal, Lee and Kent, were drafted during Rounds 6 through 10.  The remaining three hitters among the top 25 scorers, Jason Bay, Brian Roberts and Chase Utley, were all drafted in either Round 11 or Round 12.  In summary, we were collectively smart enough and prepared enough to draft the top 25 hitters during the first 12 rounds.  In addition, the 26th, 27th and 28th ranked hitters, Rollins, Konerko and Burrell, were all drafted by Round 11.  We have to get down to the 29th ranked player, Morgan Ensberg, who as aforementioned was drafted in the 21st round by the Chiefs, to find a hitter who was not drafted in the first 12 rounds.  We have to go all the way down to the 34th ranked hitter, Grady Sizemore, to find a hitter who was not drafted at all in the initial Draft but picked up in the Free Agent Draft.   Pretty good work.

            But the story on pitching is far different.  Among the 25 highest scoring pitchers, only 13 were picked during the first five rounds of the Draft.  Three pitchers, Billy Wagner, Mark Buehrle, and Bartolo Colon, were picked during Rounds 6 through 10.  Three more Top 25 pitchers, Chad Cordero, Andy Pettitte and B.J. Ryan, were drafted during Rounds 11 through 15.  Two more, Scot Shields and Dontrelle Willis, went during Rounds 16 through 20.  One pitcher, Danny Baez, went during Rounds 21 through 25.  And one pitcher, Bob Wickman, was picked during the final three rounds of the Draft.  In sum, although we managed to draft 23 of the Top 25 scoring pitchers during the initial Draft, missing out only on Derrick Turnbow and Todd Jones, only 16 of the top 25 pitchers went during the first 12 rounds of the Draft, compared to all 25 of the hitters who were selected during that same part of the Draft. 

            I also found it of interest that when we expand the list to look at the pitchers that finished between 26th and 40th among all pitchers, 8 of these additional 15 pitchers came from the Free Agent Draft, for a total of 10 pitchers out of the top 40 from the Free Agent Draft. 

            The take-home point:  drafting pitchers is darned hard work, but well worth the effort.  And as we know, you have to have good pitching to win this thing. 

            Now for one final bit of fun, let’s take a look at how the juiciest part of the Draft – those exciting and pressure-packed first two rounds – panned out for the lot of us:

TOP TWO ROUNDS AND RESULTS

ROUND 1

* DK = Don’t Know (because too low)

BUSH LEAGUE BANTER

            Most of the following thoughts are neither here nor there, but I’ll include them here:

IN CLOSING

            And in closing, fellas, let me just say that, as always, it’s been my pleasure to serve you.  No thanks are necessary.  Really, I mean it. 

                                                                                    Skipper

P.S. Seriously, don’t worry about it.