Welcome to the NL Mr. Santana

by Phil Gurnee on Jan 30, 2008 7:49 AM PST in News

The Mets just made a great great trade but this was a team who needed Santana more then anyone. Other then the fact they have the best left side of the infield in baseball and a great centerfielder they don't bring much else to the table. Delgado is way past his prime and a liability at 1st base. Castillo has also seen his best days and they weren't that good to begin with once his speed deserted him. Catching is Schneider and Castro. Beltran is surrounded by a brittle and declining Alou and Ryan Church. Yikes

So they needed help at 1st, 2nd, LF, RF, C and they went out and got the best pitcher in baseball. Santana should excel in Shea which is the best strikeout park in baseball but according to Nate Silver we aren't looking at huge improvement. They still only have a rotation of a gimpy Pedro, an inconsistent Oliver Perez, the oldest Hernandez, and a ship that will sink just like it did in 1898.

So yeah, the Mets just got better, did they get better enough to scare Dodger fans? Not this one.

On the plus side it is great to finally see a great player move into the NL instead of moving out of the NL.

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Santanadana

Looking at some of the 2007 park factors numbers, the following sticks out.

At Shea stadium LHP tend to...
Link

Give up more homeruns
Strikeout less batters
Walk less batters
HR and SO trends are reversed for a RHP

At the Metrodome, LHP tend to...
Link

Give up less home runs
Strikeout more batters
Walk less batters

So if you can believe and put trust in these numbers, Santana is going from an environment where he strikes out more batters due to park effects to an environment where he will strike out less batters. And an environment where he gives up less homeruns to an environment where he gives up more homeruns.

vr, Xei

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by xeifrank @ True Blue LA on Jan 30, 2008 10:55 AM PST reply actions

This seems problematic.

Points 2 and 3 cannot be determined by park factors, albeit mildly indirectly (e.g. foul territory being a small cause). However, any trends will be almost entirely coincidental, and if Santana continues this trend, it will also be entirely coincidental. Unless, of course, I'm missing something. Maybe perhaps wind factor, which might explain less K's, but would not explain less walks. Any thoughts?

by Rich @ True Blue LA on Jan 30, 2008 3:46 PM PST reply actions

foul territory

I am thinking it's foul territory. With less foul territory you will have more foul balls going out of play that could've been caught, and the pitcher will throw more pitches which will lead to deeper counts, which will lead to more walks and perhaps more strikeouts. There also could be some problems with shadows and hitting backdrops which could affect strikeouts too. Not 100% sure, but those would be my guesses.
vr, Xei

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by xeifrank @ True Blue LA on Jan 30, 2008 10:06 PM PST up reply actions

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2012 Dodgers Payroll

Italics denote estimates
Pos	No	Player	2012 Salary
C	17	Ellis	$500,000	team control
1B	7	Loney	$6,375,000
2B	14	Ellis	$2,500,000
3B	5	Uribe	$8,000,000
SS	9	Gordon	$485,000	team control
LF	21	Rivera	$4,000,000
CF	27	Kemp	$10,000,000
RF	16	Ethier	$10,950,000

IF/OF	6	Hairston	$2,250,000
OF	10	Gwynn	$850,000
2B/3B	3	Kennedy	$800,000
C	18	Treanor	$850,000
IF	12	Sellers	$485,000	team control

SP	22	Kershaw	$6,000,000
SP	58	Billingsley	$9,000,000
SP	29	Lilly	$12,000,000
SP	35	Capuano	$3,000,000
SP	44	Harang	$3,000,000

CL	54	Guerra	$485,000	team control
RHP	74	Jansen	$500,000	team control
RHP	55	Guerrier	$4,750,000
RHP	60	Coffey	$1,000,000
RHP	66	MacDougal	$650,000
LHP	57	Elbert	$485,000	team control
RHP	36	Hawksworth	$500,000	team control

TJ	41	De La Rosa	$485,000	team control

		Manny	$8,087,432	deferred
		Andruw	$3,375,000	deferred
		Pierre	$3,050,000	deferred
		Furcal	$3,000,000	deferred
		Kuroda	$2,000,000	deferred
		Garland	$1,500,000	option buyout
		Blake	$1,250,000	option buyout

Totals			$112,162,432
For more detailed information, click here.
Players on 40-man roster used as roster fillers until moves are made. Current 40-man roster count: 40 (not including Belisario)

2012 Non-Roster Invitees

No	Player	Age*
63	Jose Ascanio rhp	27
61	Alberto Castillo lhp	36
56	Matt Chico lhp	29
33	John Grabow lhp	33
59	Angel Guzman rhp	30
47	Wil Ledezma lhp	31
72	Shane Lindsay rhp	27
62	Fernando Nieve rhp	29
73	Scott Rice lhp	30
70	Will Savage rhp	27
71	Ryan Tucker rhp	25
28	Jamey Wright rhp	37

30	Josh Bard c	34
82	Griff Erickson c	24
81	Matt Wallachc	26
67	Jeff Baisley 3b/1b	29
65	Luis Cruz ss/2b	28
37	Josh Fields 3b	29
64	Lance Zawadzki if	27
56	Cory Sullivan of	32

*Age on June 30, 2012
NRI count: 20 For more info, click here.

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Welcome to the NL Mr. Santana

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Santanadana

This seems problematic.

foul territory

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