Arthur Rhodes’ excellent season
Posted by Andy on June 18, 2010
Arthur Rhodes is 40 and fabulous. Apparently for him, 40 is the new 27.
Rhodes now has the most scoreless appearances in a season, age 40 or older, team's first 67 games of the season:
| Rk | Player | Year | #Matching | W | L | SV | IP | H | ER | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arthur Rhodes | 2010 | 30 | Ind. Games | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 28.0 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 26 | 0.82 |
| 2 | Doug Brocail | 2008 | 28 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 2 | 29.0 | 14 | 0 | 6 | 26 | 0.69 |
| 3 | Mike Remlinger | 2006 | 27 | Ind. Games | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 2 | 17.1 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 0.92 |
| 4 | Kent Tekulve | 1987 | 26 | Ind. Games | 2 | 1 | .667 | 1 | 33.2 | 16 | 0 | 6 | 19 | 0.65 |
| 5 | Roberto Hernandez | 2005 | 26 | Ind. Games | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 24.1 | 14 | 0 | 8 | 24 | 0.90 |
| 6 | Hoyt Wilhelm | 1964 | 25 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 11 | 40.0 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 32 | 0.50 |
| 7 | Jeff Fassero | 2003 | 25 | Ind. Games | 0 | 1 | .000 | 3 | 18.0 | 8 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 0.78 |
| 8 | Orlando Pena | 1974 | 24 | Ind. Games | 4 | 0 | 1.000 | 1 | 23.0 | 13 | 0 | 8 | 12 | 0.91 |
| 9 | Doug Jones | 1998 | 24 | Ind. Games | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 12 | 26.1 | 18 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 0.84 |
| 10 | Roberto Hernandez | 2006 | 24 | Ind. Games | 0 | 0 | 2 | 23.1 | 15 | 0 | 10 | 18 | 1.07 |
The record for most such appearances in a full season is 67 by Kent Tekulve in 1987. Rhodes has a legitimate shot at breaking that record too.
Here's a mini-poll: if Rhodes has a few bad outings in a row this year and I post on it, should the title be "Rhodes Implodes" or "Rhodes Squalor"?
June 18th, 2010 at 5:36 pm
Rhodes Squalor! I like it.
June 18th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
I like Rhodes Implodes, but how about some alliteration...Rhodes Run Regresses
Arthur's stats look very similar to Joba Chamberlin circa 2007. After watching Joba stink it up, and Yankee fans excuse his performance away, is it too early to say the pinstripe faithful fell victim to the small sample size when basically dubbing this dud the heir apparent to Mo?
June 18th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
My first thought would be to call in "Downhill Rhodes"
June 18th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Is this the same Arthur Rhodes who was so awful with the Phillies a few years ago?
June 18th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
XZPUMA, it's a fair question about small sample size, but I don't think it's applicable. Yes, it was only 24 IP, but I watched nearly all those IP, and from a scouting standpoint, his results were absolutely supported by his stuff. He had a 98 mph fastball, a devastating slider that he could break in different directions, and a nice curve. He didn't just luck his way into 24 good IP, he was blowing batters away. Nobody got excited by Matt Smith's 12 scoreless IP to start his career in 2006 -- I'd venture to guess most Yankee fans don't even remember the name, just four years later -- because they weren't supported by peripheral numbers or stuff of similar quality. Obviously Joba wasn't going to continue pitching to a 0.38 ERA forever, but I think the hype was absolutely warranted. Unfortunately, he got hurt, and he's not the same guy right now. His stuff is still plenty good to be an effective pitcher, but he apparently needs to make some adjustments.
June 18th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Truth be told I was just ribing do to the Mets and Yankees playing tonight (me be a Met fan), and you are 100% acurate as I too watched many of his innings. Do you think the way the Yankees have handled Joba has led to his inconcistancies. I know it's really hard to quantify, but how much does not having a defined role affect a pitcher's mentality?
June 18th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
It would be bitter sweet to see Rhodes break the record. I always thought Tekulve's 67 scoreless appearances in a season after age 40 would stand forever.
June 18th, 2010 at 8:27 pm
Laugh, Alvaro. You folks are starting to carry a lot of comments from one post to another...keeping me on my toes.
June 18th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Tough question PUMA. This is the first season there was really a question about his role, and obviously he's not pitching well. He knew when he came up in '07 he'd be in the pen. Although there was a lot of sparring from both sides about where he should go next, I think it was pretty-well decided in '08 that he would start in the pen, and then move to the rotation in an efforts to keep his IP down. And last year he was a SP from the beginning. This year there was ostensibly a battle for the 5th starter spot in spring training, so he didn't know where he would be. It's hard to blame that for his problems but it could have an effect.
I wonder if they should send him down to AAA to figure things out. Let him start down there (unless they don't think his shoulder can handle starting), learn how pitch again with his reduced velocity, gain some confidence, and see if he looks like a rotation candidate for 2011.
But it's odd...his K and BB rates are still pretty good. He's giving up a .370 BABIP. I'm not sure if that's some bad luck or if balls are getting ripped. He's only given up 1 HR in 28 IP, so it doesn't seem like he's getting crushed, but I just haven't seen enough of him to be sure.
June 18th, 2010 at 9:37 pm
There's no room in rotation, in the forseeable future, for Joba. Though Vazquez is in the last year of his contract, I think.
Completely off topic...
I keep hearing how the Mets are so and so when Jose Reyes scores a run. I hear it so much so, that, as a Met fan I get anoyed. Tonight, they showed the most anoying stat of them all. The Mets are 129 - 32 when Jose Reyes scores a run AND drives one in. I have to believe that the major league average is above .500% when almost any league average player scores a run and drives one in, in the same game.
Is there a way to search for this?
June 18th, 2010 at 9:47 pm
What about 'Rocky Rhodes'?
June 18th, 2010 at 10:19 pm
Vazquez is a free agent, Pettitte threatens to retire every season, Sabathia can opt out after next season. There's always room eventually...no one makes it through a season with 5 starters.
I think you have to do multiple game finder searches to find the team's record when a player does something. Yankees are 9-2 this season when Brett Gardner scores and drives in a run.
Mets are 1-2 when Alex Cora does it. Clearly, they need to make sure he doesn't play well to have a chance.
Who is the most average player in baseball? I don't know...how about someone like David DeJesus. In his career, the Royals are...99-68 when he scores and drives in a run.
June 18th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
Did Arthur Rhodes ever match-up against Darren Holmes????
I would be interested in seeing the Holmes-Rhodes splits.
June 19th, 2010 at 12:59 am
Collapsus of Rhodes?
June 19th, 2010 at 5:19 am
Having given it a little thought it just seems a lot easier to come up with negative titles for Rhodes than positive ones. I did LOL at Holmes/Rhodes splits, though, which is neither. Rocky Rhodes is good too.
Any more ideas?
June 19th, 2010 at 9:03 am
Johnny, PUMA, take a look at Joba's home/road splits and his game log. People always look at the averages, and that sometimes obscures frequency...
Joba has been two different pitchers this year. One is lights out, mostly on the road. He's been so damn good at times, the numbers are unbelievable. The other, mostly at home, has been positively hideous a handful of times, occasionally getting lucky enough to end up without allowing more runs (nice D and Rivera cleaning your mess helps). Team those numbers up, and you get very good K/BB and HR numbers and a lousy ERA.
Chamberlain has allowed runs in eight of 30 appearances. But when he's allowed them, he's really been hit hard, giving up three or more four of those times. In half a season, four such blowups can wreck your ERA. Just ask Javy Vazquez. Time will tell if those are the exception or just part of who he is. He's had streaks of five and eight scoreless appearances. I think he'll turn out to be a (mostly) dependable eighth inning guy, and possibly a B or B+ closer if he inherits Rivera's job. But then, I've been wrong a time or ten.
June 19th, 2010 at 9:49 am
Chamberlain is so young, still, and has really been jerked around in terms of roll. If he's given a steady role and proper instruction, he clearly has the stuff to be a top pitcher. But talent and performance are not the same thing.
June 19th, 2010 at 11:44 am
[...] Noticed by Steve Price on June 19th, 2010 in 2010 Reds Arthur Rhodes has been noticed by the baseball-reference.com blog for his exceptional performance: Arthur Rhodes is 40 and fabulous. Apparently for him, 40 is [...]
June 19th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
...can Sabathia really opt out after next year...?
June 19th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Yes he can. This was one of the major criticisms of the contract in terms of the Yankees conceding too much. It seems unlikely Cc will opt out though unless he hates NY since pitcher salaries haven't inflated much in the interim.
June 19th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
@10 - You can use the batting game finder.
Set the parameters R>=1, RBI>=1
The do 2 separate searches one for wins and one for losses. The total number of game will be on the bottom of the page. Of course you need to decide if the overlap (multiple players in a game) bothers you.
Since 2003 we get 46,451-20,021 for the league as a while. So yes, 130-32 is much better than that.
June 20th, 2010 at 12:12 am
Arthur's lapse headline?
Gotta be
RHODES TO HELL
No?
June 20th, 2010 at 3:18 am
Andy, it may not be so much about the salary as the years. I'm not sure how many more years he'll have if he doesn't opt out (3 or 4?), but if he can get more years at at least a similar salary, then he'll probably do it.
June 24th, 2010 at 9:51 am
What's the record for consecutive appearances without allowing a run? Rhodes is above 30 since allowing one run in his second start.
June 24th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Found it:
The team record for consecutive scoreless innings is 30 by Ted Abernathy in 1967, and the MLB mark for consecutive scoreless appearances is Michael Myers’ 37
June 29th, 2010 at 9:25 pm
[...] the way, I'm not actually excited about Rhodes getting hit. I am just excited about the post title. See here for [...]