NL Rookie of the Year?
Straining while carrying the Cubs.
On Monday, Randy Wells pitched another solid game for the Cubs in their 4-2 win over the Reds which propelled them into first place in the AL Central.
Wells pitched 7.1 innings, allowing one earned run while striking out five. More importantly for Wells and his candidacy for NL Rookie of the Year, Kevin Gregg and Carlos Marmol didn’t screw it up for him.
Wells notched his eighth win in his last nine starts and lowered his ERA to 2.73. This kind of performance should be closing the door on the rest of the NL competition but Wells has the bullpen and the slow-starting offense to thank for keeping him from running away with the NL ROY award. If the rest of the team had performed up to reasonable expectations in his first month in the league, Wells would be sitting with a 12-3 record rather than his ho-hum 8-4.
As it stands right now, Wells is second on the team behind Ted Lilly in wins, and depending on how much longer Lilly is out, could wind up leading a hot playoff team in wins heading into the bullpen. Add to that the fact that Wells has had only 3 starts where he has failed to go 6 innings, and racked up 12 quality starts in 16 outings.
Of teams that remain competitive in their divisions (See ya Andrew McCutchen) Wells’ competition appears to be Colby Rasmus (STL) and J.A. Happ (PHI and former Northwestern Wildcat).
Looking at the head to head comparisons with Happ, here’s how Wells stacks up.
W-L record (Overall Team Record)
- Wells 8-4 (57-48)
- Happ 7-2 (59-45)
ERA
- Wells 2.73
- Happ 2.97
K/BB
- Wells 65/23
- Happ 120/55
While Randy Wells isn’t the big strikeout pitcher (which sometimes hurts in these competitions), he compares favorably to Happ. Throw in that Happ maybe demoted to the bullpen when Pedro Martinez is added to the Phillies’ rotation and Wells might have the opportunity to lock down the NL Rookie of the Year award.
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Comments
Comment from South Side Sheik
Time August 5, 2009 at 8:54 am
Agreed, but that’s what I read in one of the most recent articles about him. Not sure of his history and how many innings he has built up in previous seasons, but it may be a smart move by the Phillies to save this young guy’s arm for the playoffs. It may only be a short term demotion as I give the over/under on Pedro starts at 4.5 before a) his arm falls off or b)the rest of the league realizes that this Pedro only throws 86 mph fastballs.
Comment from Mike
Time August 6, 2009 at 3:32 pm
As of today, Phillies GM is saying Happ is staying in the rotation, and they haven’t completely ruled out a 6 man rotation.
PS… the only thing that Happ has going that Wells doesn’t: 2 complete game shutouts. That makes a helluva statement as far as rookie of the years go. Most veteran pitchers don’t get 2 complete game shutouts in a season, let alone a rookie. The kid threw 127 pitches last night too, and was still hittin’ 91 on the radar in the 9th inning. It proves that he’s a workhorse on top of it all.
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Comment from Andrew
Time August 5, 2009 at 8:51 am
Happ has arguably been one of the Phillies’ best pitchers this season with the lowest ERA and WHIP on the staff until they acquired Cliff Lee. Why would they even consider moving Happ to the bullpen to accommodate Pedro, who has been a shell of his own self since he left the Red Sox?