Crooked Pitch

Over the past few weeks, I’ve briefly mentioned Santiago Casilla here and once more here. The Oakland A’s reliever is having a fantastic year as he’s got a 0.00 ERA and a 0.69 WHIP in 17.1 innings of work. His strikeout to walk ratio is good at 7.00 (21:3) and he’s got one win and, last night, recorded his first save.

He’s not going to be taking Huston Street’s job, just yet. But now, you have to take notice to Casilla’s fantasy baseball value, as his role has been upgraded to set-up guy and first to fill in for Street when Street needs a breather. This also may give Billy Beane ammunition to pull off one of his favorite moves; trading an established closer for talent and replacing the closer with someone cheaper from within the organization.

Keep an eye on Casilla and the state of the A’s bullpen. I’ve already recommended that you can sign Casilla for help with your ERA and WHIP. Now that he’s getting spot wins and saves he is signable in just about every fantasy format.

Update [5/7/2008 11:12 AM]: Unsung Setup Guy [Fangraphs]

One of the first statistics that I look for when deciding on a trade or a free agent acquisition that involves a relief pitcher is strikeout to walk ratio (K:BB). The ratio is easy to calculate as it’s just K/BB, but it goes a long way in showing how dominant a pitcher is over the batters he faces. When considering a relief pitcher, you’d like to see more strikeouts than innings pitched, and a pretty high K:BB ratio (hopefully above 10). I’m going to share three relief pitchers with you who meet both said criteria (one might even be available in your fantasy league) and then also the other two remaining relievers who have a K:BB above 10.

Relievers with 10.00+ K:BB and More K’s than IP.

• Jonathan Papelbon | Boston Red Sox -  He has 21 strikeouts with only 1 walk. His K:BB ratio of 21.00 is the highest of any reliever in baseball with at least 10 innings pitched. He’s pitched 15.1 innings of relief.
• Joakim Soria | Kansas City Royals - He has 15 strikeouts with only 1 walk. His K:BB ratio of 15.00 ranks #2 and he’s pitched in 13.0 innings.
• Santiago Casilla | Oakland Athletics - Casilla is the one relief pitcher in this list of three that may be available in your fantasy league. He has 20 strikeouts and only two walks in 16.1 innings of work. His K:B ratio is 10.00.

Relievers with 10.00+ K:BB but fewer K’s than IP.

• Aquilino Lopez | Detroit Tigers - Lopez is an all-purpose reliever in the Tigers bullpen, but not their closer. He has 14 strikeouts and one walk in 18.2 innings. He has a K:BB ratio of 14.00.
• Mariano Rivera | New York Yankees - Rivera, mathematically speaking, has a K:BB ratio of infinity since he hasn’t walked anyone all year. But, fo our purposes, lets give him a 12.00 K:BB ratio since he has 12 strikeouts and zero walks in 13 innings of work.

So, your ERA is ballooning like it’s full of hot air. Instead of playing the free agent spot start game until you find a starting pitcher that you can live with, why don’t you look towards middle relievers to help out with your ERA and WHIP?

To make this work, you will want to find middle relievers who have already pitched at least 10 innings, have a knockout strikeout to walk ratio, and have sub 1.00 ERA’s and WHIP’s. These guys will help bring your ERA down, and if you’re lucky, may get you a few wins mixed in. If you also grab guys who have solid strikeouts per innings pitched ratios (close to one K per IP), you won’t see a drastic drop in your strikeout category.

Here are five guys who fit the bill, and may be available in your league on the waiver wire.

• Aquilino Lopez | Detroit Tigers - He’s notched 18.1 innings of work so far and has a dominant 14:1 strikeout to walk ratio. His ERA is 0.49 and WHIP is 0.81. And for some icing on the cake he’s already been the benefactor of two relief wins. (There are some pretty good starting pitchers out there who aren’t above two wins yet)
• Santiago Casilla | Oakland A’s - In 12.1 innings of work, Casilla has 16 strikeouts and only one walk. That’s super. So is his 0.00 ERA and 0.81 WHIP.
• Ramon Ramirez | Kansas City Royals - Ramirez has a 13:2 strikeout to walk ratio in 11 innings of relief work. His ERA is 0.82 AND HIS whip is 1.00.
• John Grabow | Pittsburgh Pirates - Grabow is a lefty specialist, but he’s still pitched 12 innings so far. His strikeout to walk ratio is 11:2 and he’s got an ERA of 0.00 and a WHIP of 0.75.
• Jorge Campillo | Atlanta Braves - Not all the pitchers in the Braves pen are injured or performing at a sub-par clip. Campillo has a 11:4 strikeout to walk ratio in 11.1 innings of work. His ERA is 0.79 and his WHIP is 0.71.