2008 Player Reviews: Trever Miller

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 9, 2008 10:23 AM EST

For all the grief Miller got, he was pretty good at getting lefties out.
wOBA v. LHB: .279
wOBA v. RHB: .356

Remember, that's on an OBP scale. To put this into perspective, his performance against left-handers is nearly equal to Kenji Johjima's 2008 season, but against righties he was facing Russell Martin. Unfortunately for Miller, his PAs were only off-set by 20. Of course, most of his RH at-bats came in mop-up time, but his overall stats took a beating because of it.

Another reason for his down coming was his salary and type-B status. If the Rays offer him ARB and he declines the team stands to gain a supplemental pick.
Unless of course he accepts and feels he can't earn more on the open market, to which the Rays may or may not get Miller for 2 mil. Perhaps there's a wink-nod agreement, but the downside to Miller accepting is taking up a larger chunk of salary.

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this is even more impressive than it looks cause in reality, he wasn't just facing tough lefties, he was mostly facing the toughest lefties....the lefties that are so good they won't bring in a right-handed hiter.

by walkoffwalk on Nov 9, 2008 10:26 AM EST reply actions

Rheinecker's career wOBA v. LHB: .271.

Want.

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 9, 2008 10:28 AM EST up reply actions

is there a stat that shows the quality of hitter that the lefty faced? Cause it seemed like Miller was always and only facing top lefties.

by walkoffwalk on Nov 9, 2008 11:22 AM EST up reply actions

Yes, BP keeps track of it.

Quality of batters via OPS, non starters:

Price 0.792
Bradford 0.773
Howell 0.764
Miller 0.763
Balfour 0.759
Wheeler 0.753

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 9, 2008 11:25 AM EST up reply actions

so the average ops Price faced was .792 ?

by walkoffwalk on Nov 9, 2008 1:17 PM EST up reply actions

Apparently.

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 9, 2008 1:19 PM EST up reply actions

Do these numbers include postseason?

Because, since a disproportionate share of Price’s innings were in the postseason (because he pitched so few innings total), that would explain why Price’s quality of batters was higher than the others.

This.

by Blicks on Nov 9, 2008 8:15 PM EST up reply actions

No.

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 9, 2008 8:19 PM EST up reply actions

Mmmm. Interesting.

This.

by Blicks on Nov 9, 2008 8:25 PM EST up reply actions

Stop making me fall in love with this Rheinecker guy.

His name is awesome enough.

This.

by Blicks on Nov 9, 2008 2:45 PM EST up reply actions

I would call him The Rheino.

Plus your team had him once, let us love him and his shaggy beard. : <

by R.J. Anderson on Nov 9, 2008 2:53 PM EST up reply actions

I like that nickname.

I want to see him on the Rays. It fits well. Love his name, love his beard. And he’s F.A.T. which just adds to the awesome.

This.

by Blicks on Nov 9, 2008 3:03 PM EST up reply actions

Sounds like he's named after a beer

Vogt early, Vogt often.

by Brickhaus on Nov 9, 2008 8:50 PM EST up reply actions

I always think that

evaluating relievers, especially short relievers, by any sort of rate stats over 1 season is potentially misleading. One bad outing can dramatically affect a reliever like Miller. Theoretically, someone like Miller can do his job perfectly 9 straight times covering 5 innings only to give up 3 BBs and a grand slam in his 10th without getting an out which would make his overall performance look terrible but is misleading.

As a matter of fact, in Miller’s case it is not theoretical. I figured out his work based on specific outings once but don’t have time now to revisit it. What I do remember is that his overall numbers are significantly affected (adversely) by a stretch of 3 or 4 mid-season outings when he simply could not get anyone out, and was incredibly wild. Given that he pitched just 43.3 innings all year, those few failures disproportionately skew his stats. Otherwise, he was generally pretty effective in doing what he was expected to do.

by bobr on Nov 9, 2008 12:25 PM EST reply actions