Thursday, August 07, 2003
A totally unexpected trade from the Yanks last night: I was shocked that the Seattle Mariners would send away one of the most consistant middle relievers in the game (Jeff Nelson) for a shaky ex-closer. Yes, I know Armando Benitez has actually pitched very well in the past three years, but his confidence isn't what it used to be.
I tried to figure out the reason behind the trade, and ESPN's Tim Kurkjian reported that the Mariners were looking for someone to shut down lefties, who were batting .190 against Benitez this year. Well, apparently that stat is actually .234 for the entire year (I think .190 is the average lefties had with the Yanks), which is better than left-handed hitters against Nelson (a robust .284), but I've always noticed something very strange about Benitez's delivery to lefties: he doesn't want to throw his fastball down the middle, so it comes all the way outside and high. And that only happens against lefties. To put all that together, I wondered why lefties weren't batting higher against him. It turns out he's walked 21 lefties as opposed to 9 BB to righties. So that might account for why the Mariners think he's better against lefties (since the average doesn't account for BB). Now, I'm very far from being a major league scout, so correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't a scout see the difference in how Benitez handles lefties, both in watching him pitch and looking at his stats? Whatever happens in Seattle, one fact is definitely certain: the Yanks stole this one right under Pat Gillick's nose.
posted by Charles Curtis 1:32 PM
