Mets Sabermetrics 2006: pitching

Craig Turner at Mets Head takes a look at the entire 2006 Mets pitching staff by the numbers. He sorts them into groupings by the number of innings pitched between starters, relievers (over 50 innings) and all others. Each pitcher is then ranked within their grouping:

How good were the Mets pitchers in 2006? We are going to use some standard baseball statistics and some Sabermetrics in order to analyze just how good the Mets pitchers were last season. Before we jump into the analysis we need to understand how the players are grouped and what stats we will be using.

The Starters:

#1) Pedro Martinez was the best Met starter when he was healthy. He led the starters with an ERC of 3.20 and a DICE of 3.91. His ERA was 4.49 last years, but it was inflated due to his last 4 outing when he was pitching injured. Pedro’s ERA before his injury was 3.42. Martinez had the highest K/9, lowest W/9 and the best WHIP among all the starters. Quite simply, Pedro was on fire before his injury woes, and the numbers suggest he will be the Mets best pitcher when healthy in 2007.

The Bullpen:

#1) Billy Wagner was the best bullpen pitcher, which should not be a surprise. In 72 innings he had a 11.73 K/9 and a 2.62 W/9. Outstanding. Throw in the 1.11 WHIP and you know why he is a dominant closer. Wagner had a 2.24 ERA, 2.84 ERC and a 2.69 DICE. Wagner’s ERC and DICE are a bit higher then his ERA, but since he throws so hard he does give up the long ball a little bit more then the rest of the Met bullpen (except for Oliver). Wagner give up 1 HR per 9 innings pitch, which can explain the slight elevation in DICE and ERC. I don’t think there is anything to worry about here.