Baseball Toaster: Mike's Baseball Rants : “Halls of Relief”

Tm	Yr	RWin
Los Angeles Dodgers	2003	13.79
Oakland Athletics	1990	12.77
Texas Rangers	2004	11.96
Boston Red Sox	1982	11.89
Atlanta Braves	2002	11.78
Cincinnati Reds	1999	11.53
Cleveland Indians	1995	11.40
Cleveland Indians	2005	10.91
Texas Rangers	1979	10.66
Montreal Expos	1987	10.43
Anaheim Angels	2002	10.24
Houston Astros	2003	10.18
New York Yankees	1985	9.73
Detroit Tigers	1984	9.71
Colorado Rockies	1998	9.60
Baltimore Orioles	1997	9.51
Boston Red Sox	2000	9.31
Oakland Athletics	1989	9.27
Minnesota Twins	2005	9.11
San Francisco Giants	1998	9.04
Los Angeles Dodgers	2004	9.01
Los Angeles Dodgers	1983	8.98
Milwaukee Brewers	1997	8.92
Chicago White Sox	2000	8.85
St. Louis Cardinals	2004	8.83

That seems to favor more recent teams who tended to give more innings to their bullpens. Next, I adjusted the numbers by the average bullpen totals for that season.

First, however, I should explain that a bullpen's worth has been exploding. Take a look at the average per decade:

Decade	Team Avg RWins
1870s	-0.06
1880s	-0.07
1890s	-0.12
1900s	-0.08
1910s	-0.11
1920s	-0.11
1930s	-0.14
1940s	-0.01
1950s	0.66
1960s	1.53
1970s	1.66
1980s	1.63
1990s	1.58
2000s	1.98

OK, so here are the top twenty-five adjusted for era:

Tm	Yr	RWin	Team Avg	Adj RWin
Los Angeles Dodgers	2003	13.79	1.99	11.80
Oakland Athletics	1990	12.77	2.24	10.53
Cleveland Indians	1995	11.40	1.00	10.40
Texas Rangers	1979	10.66	0.73	9.93
Texas Rangers	2004	11.96	2.17	9.79
Atlanta Braves	2002	11.78	2.06	9.72
Boston Red Sox	1982	11.89	2.49	9.40
Cleveland Indians	2005	10.91	1.51	9.40
Cincinnati Reds	1999	11.53	2.21	9.31
Montreal Expos	1987	10.43	1.48	8.95
New York Yankees	1985	9.73	1.12	8.61
Baltimore Orioles	1997	9.51	1.16	8.34
Houston Astros	2003	10.18	1.99	8.19
Anaheim Angels	2002	10.24	2.06	8.18
Detroit Tigers	1984	9.71	1.91	7.80
Milwaukee Brewers	1997	8.92	1.16	7.75
St. Louis Cardinals	1995	8.72	1.00	7.72
New York Giants	1954	8.45	0.81	7.64
Minnesota Twins	2005	9.11	1.51	7.60
Los Angeles Dodgers	1983	8.98	1.47	7.51
Boston Red Sox	2000	9.31	1.83	7.48
New York Yankees	1997	8.64	1.16	7.48
Colorado Rockies	1998	9.60	2.18	7.42
Toronto Blue Jays	1985	8.41	1.12	7.29
Baltimore Orioles	1979	7.96	0.73	7.23

Comments

2006-06-19 22:48:46

1. Voxter

Okay, not to nitpick or anything . . . okay, I'm nitpicking:

All of the top, you know, zillion adjusted for era come from the post-DH era and most of them from Eckersley-or-later. Is there an adjustment you're not making, maybe? I mean, it's no secret that pullpens are more prevalent than ever. It's just that, you know . . .

2006-06-19 22:49:34

2. Voxter

. . . and let's just pretend that there were no typos in that.

2006-06-19 23:39:45

3. Ken Arneson

The 2004 Texas Rangers? I would never have guessed in a zillion adjusted eras. But I guess it's hard to notice that a bullpen is great when the starting rotation is worse than the pen is good.

2006-06-21 21:32:05

4. Mike Carminati

I guess I should have pointed out that these are the most valuable bullpens, not necessarily the best. Pens are more valuable when they are used more, and they have been used much, much more in the last 15-20 years than ever before (they are particularly overused when the rotation is abysmal as it was in Texas in 2004).

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