January 30, 2007
Walk Year
Athletics Nation is carrying on their yearly interview with Billy Beane. It looks like Beane is using a pitcher's walk year to his advantage (emphasis added):
Blez: You mention Joe Kennedy when you brought up the rotation. Does he go into camp as the front runner for the fifth spot in the rotation?
Beane: Oh yeah, we would like to give Joe the first opportunity. He's been groomed as a starter most of his career even though he was great in the bullpen last year. Joe is a year away from free agency. He's got a lot of talent and I think he'll be very motivated. And getting another left hander in there will be nice. We think Embree can fill in and do a similar job to what Joe did last year. I'd say going in he would be the front runner.
Does Beane think players perform better in their walk years? There's some evidence that they do, but can anyone point to a longer term study? It certainly worked for Bowden with Soriano last season.
Posted by David Pinto at
03:08 PM
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If I recall, the chapter in Baseball Between The Numbers showed a gain of about a half of a win, but Birnbaum showed nothing of any significance.
The thing that obviously makes it fuzzy is that most guys up for free agency are in their decline phase anyway.
Another thing to consider is that if Kennedy performs okay in the rotation, it'll maximize his potential as trade bait in July.