Other Crap

Ubaldo gets screwed because there is a double standard for the Rockies!

Yes, the author is absolutely right. About a decade ago, sportswriters made absolutely no adjustments for Coors Field. They marveled at the achievements of the hitters and laughed at the poor pitching staffs. Today, they have gotten smart enough to look at the splits for hitters, but not for pitchers, so Carlos Gonzalez may get penalized in award balloting, while Ubaldo Jimenez will not get any compensation.

Randy Johnson had a lifetime ERA of 4.01 at Coors, and he was a demigod compared to Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens and Pedro Martinez, whose lifetime ERAs in Coors were 5.19, 4.97 and 4.71, respectively. And, well, those are the best four pitchers in recent memory, so what else is there to say, except that Ubaldo's lifetime 3.39 at Coors is superhuman.

Hey, give sportswriters credit for at least getting half of it right. That's better than the 0% adjustements they made in the old days, and it's better than the 0% they make for the players at Petco. I guess they just think that the Padres always have deadball stats because they always have great pitching and awful hitting. In other words, Ubaldo is not the only one who gets the shaft from park effects. Ask poor ol' Adrian Gonzalez. It's even worse for Adrian, because it affects him not only in the balloting, but in the pocketbook as well. He is probably the second-best hitter in the league after Senor Sluggo, but he's making only $4.8 million per year. Ryan Howard, with comparable abilities and approximately the same number of major league at-bats as Gonzalez, makes $19M. Matt Holliday, who's not as good a hitter as Gonzalez, but has about a year's more experience, makes $16M.

So, yeah, Ubaldo gets screwed by lazy sportswriters. But he's not the only case, or even the worst.

By the way, I believe that he still has a good case for the Cy Young. If he wins 20+ and the Rockies make the post-season, he'll be on everyone's short list, and could win the award if none of the other candidates do anything overwhelming this month. Ask me that question when the season is over, but he might be my choice if the season ended today. If you look at the road stats, he's probably the top gun. Second in wins, best ERA. And the guy ahead of him in road wins is not a Cy Young contender (it's Ricky Nolasco, of all people), so Ubaldo is the top gun in both of those categories among the contenders, and he's second in WHIP behind Latos.

The great season from Latos is not a Petco illusion. (Well, maybe a little bit.) He's just good. Sure he has a 1.99 at Petco, but he also has a 2.36 on the road, second only to Ubaldo. That kid can pitch a little.