Tag Archives: Jonathan Broxton

November 28, 2012

Broxton Signs

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The Reds lock up Jonathan Broxton from three years and $21 million.

Broxton’s deal pays him a $4 million base salary in 2013, $7-million in 2014 and $9-million in 2015. There’s a club option for another year at $9-million with a $1-million buyout. He also got a limited no-trade provision.

Now the Reds could move the left-handed Chapman back to the rotation.

If indeed Aroldis Chapman is moved to the rotation, the deal is okay. Broxton no longer dominates as he did early in his career, and a short stint in which he pitched well for the Reds doesn’t change that. I’d rather see him as a set up man, but that price is a bit too high for that job.

Also, what happens if Chapman decides he doesn’t want to start? A few years ago, the Red Sox decided to move Jonathan Papelbon to the rotation. Like Chapman, Papelbon wanted to be a starter, but circumstances forced him into the bullpen. By the time Boston got around to moving Jonathan, he had fallen in love with the closer role. We’ll see what happens in spring training.

April 12, 2012

Every Batter has a Strength

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Christina Kahrl notes a Jonny Gomes strength that helped Oakland to a win on Wednesday. He won the game by getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded:

Unusual? Of course. While Broxton’s pretty wild on his career, he’s not even in MLB’s top 1000 pitchers ever when it comes to plunking people. Yet according to ESPN Stats & Info, Broxton became the first pitcher to lose a game by hitting consecutive batters since Stu Miller achieved the feat in 1966 for the Orioles. I’m sure that’s one he’ll tell the grandkids.

Gomes may not be Carlos Quentin or Ron Hunt or the immortal Hughie Jennings when it comes to taking one for the team, but he does rate 58th all-time among batters with 1,200 or more career plate appearances by getting hit by a pitch 2.2 percent of the time. So maybe, if anyone dreamed the impossible dream of being a winner by taking one for the team, it might just be the transiently heroic Jonny Gomes.

Broxton walked two in the inning in addition to the two hit batters. Gomes’s strength collided with Broxton’s weakness yesterday.

November 29, 2011 April 26, 2011

Dodger Management on Different Pages

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Ned Colletti and Don Mattingly gave slightly conflicting statements on Jonathan Broxton:

“(Mattingly) told me I’m still the closer,” Broxton told the Los Angeles Times.

Earlier Tuesday, Colletti told the Dodgers’ flagship radio station, KABC, that the team could use a closer-by-committee approach until Broxton returns to All-Star form.

“I think I can’t help but be concerned,” Colletti told the station. “I’m one of those people who’s pretty much concerned about everything.”

I don’t think this is such a big deal. Colletti didn’t say they were going to a committee, and Mattingly basically said no. They should probably talk about these things first, however.

April 19, 2011

Defending Broxton

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Jon Weisman defends Jonathan Broxton:

The anti-Broxton corps is feeling validated, on the theory, I guess, that the confidence problems they perceived early on have spread to his entire game. (There’s also a theory that Broxton’s repertoire was so simplistic that it was inevitable he’d be solved by opposing batters, though this seems to ignore that Rivera has essentially been throwing the same single pitch for about a decade and a half.)

I won’t be so arrogant that I’ll insist they’re wrong, but I will offer what I still believe to be a more logical explanation: relief pitchers, like NFL running backs, have inherently short shelf lives – I’ve been providing analysis of this for nearly the entire life of Dodger Thoughts – and Broxton is looking more like someone who is simply having the arc of a reliever. It’s the job.

I’m still not even convinced this is the end for Broxton as a topflight reliever – it’s still April. Are we giving up on Kenley Jansen, who has had an even worse month?

Broxton turns 27 in June, and should be at the peak of his performance. He’s lost some speed on his fastball, and is throwing more sliders this season. Broxton needs to make an adjustment, and he’s not quite there yet.

June 28, 2010

Opposite to Form

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Jonathan Broxton came into a non-save situation in the ninth inning Sunday night. The Dodgers held a 6-2 lead over the Yankees, but New York scored four runs in the ninth and two in the tenth to win the game 8-6. There’s a line of thought that closers don’t pitch well in non-save situations. Broxton is the opposite of that. During his career, he’s posted a 4.01 ERA in save situations, 2.34 when the game is not on the line. Broxton strikes out two more batters per nine innings when he’s going for a save, but also gives up home runs at nearly twice the rate.

Of course Broxton didn’t become a closer until 2008. In that period, his ERAs are almost identical in save or non-save situations, 2.32 when he’s going for the save, 2.45 when he’s not. He still gives up about twice as many home runs in the save situations however. Either way you slice it, last night’s blown game was unusual for Jonathan.

May 17, 2010 December 24, 2009

Players A to Z, Jonathan Broxton

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Jonathan Broxton pitches as the closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Broxton 2009 season ranks as the finest of his career. He improved over his career strikeout, walk and home run rates through 2008, which were already excellent.

Jonathan Broxton Through 2008 In 2009
Strikeouts per 9 IP 11.4 13.5
Walks per 9 IP 3.6 3.4
Homeruns per 200 IP 12.4 10.5

Broxton delivers in all aspects of the game as far as a pitcher is concerned. It should be noted, however, that he greatly benefits from pitching in Dodger Stadium. For Jonathan’s career, opponents post a .184/.260/.239 slash line against him at home, .238/.320/.384 on the road. There’s nothing wrong with the latter, but it’s his home park that makes him a superstar closer.

Jonathan Broxton

Jonathan Broxton shows off the dreaded inverted W as he pitches against the Rockies to clinch the NL West title for the Dodgers. Photo: Icon SMI

If you follow the previous link down further, you’ll also see he’s been fairly devastating against his NL West opponents. The Diamondbacks, Padres and Rockies all hit .200 or less against him with poor OBPs and low power. The Giants, however, do get to him a bit (.265/.341/.393 slash line), which I’m sure adds to the rivalry. As you can see, his stirkeouts, walks and home runs are all worse than his overall career averages when he pitches against San Francisco.

Broxton is just just the kind of pitcher who a team wants closing games. His high strikeout rate means he limits hits, so even a few walks aren’t going to bother him much. He’s also not going to give up the big, game changing hit very often. I suspect that he’s going to get a very big raise going into his second year of arbitration.