Cristhian Martinez
Cristhian Martinez Minor League Statistics & History – Baseball-Reference.com.
Command-and-control righty. I’m not quite sure what’s going on with Martinez’s first name, or why he wasn’t signed (out of the Dominican by the Tigers) until he was 20. A late growth spurt, maybe? After a bit of rough introduction to the minor leagues in 2003, he pitched well in 2004. He was evidently hurt in 2005, pitching in only three games. (In fact, he either has been battling injuries or babied throughout his career; until a couple of years ago his number of starts per year was very limited.) He put up a 2.56 ERA in 2006, but as a 24-year-old pitching at the lowest levels, it’s not that impressive.
The Marlins took him from the Tigers in the minor league draft after that season, and he was mediocre in A-ball for the next couple of years. He finally had a good year in the higher levels in 2009, going 9-3 with a 2.94 ERA in AA, and earned a callup to the big club. Martinez had been pretty exclusively a starter in the minors, but the Marlins used him out of the pen, where in 15 games he put up a 5.13 ERA. His tendency was to give up runs in bunches, allowing four runs twice and three runs on another occasion, meaning that almost three-quarters of the 16 runs he allowed came in just three appearances.
The Braves took him off waivers from the Marlins in spring training. Following their lead, they made him a full-time reliever. His ERA in 12 appearances in Gwinnett is 5.04, even though his components (7.9 K/9, 1.4 BB/9, one hit an inning) are actually pretty good. He’s still basically fodder, a secondary long reliever.
His first name reminds me of Bethancourt’s last name.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:16 pmSo… Steve Phillips recently argued that the Nats should consider trading Strasburg for Oswalt–and then dug in to explain his reasoning. As someone who is consistently mortified by what passes for “expert” (or even “analyst”) in the sports world, I thought this was worth a mention.
http://mlb.fanhouse.com/2010/05/27/steve-phillips-hot-corner-explaining-strasburg-for-oswalt/
May 27th, 2010 at 2:23 pmwe can probably find work for Chavez and this man, but not Kimbrel?
May 27th, 2010 at 2:24 pm#2 – well that is coming from the man who sucked as a GM and also found one of the well, not so pretty, people to cheat on his wife with
May 27th, 2010 at 2:25 pm@2 He’s got a point in there, somewhere, but refuses to address (or is too dumb to think about) the contractual differences that make the idea ridiculous on it’s face.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:31 pmSteve Phillips is trying, very hamfistedly, to explain TINSTAAPP: There Is No Such Thing As A Pitching Prospect.
It’s not a completely insane argument in the abstract. Strasburg is an incredibly good pitching prospect, but he’s never played in the major leagues, and there are a million things that can go wrong for any young pitcher, so you have to discount his value by taking his risk into account.
It’s the specifics that make the argument stupid. Roy Oswalt is 32, he’s no longer an ace, and he’s owed $47 million from 2010 to 2012 — while Strasburg will be making something like $1 million during the same time period.
Phillips has a history of saying dumb things, and this is no exception. As on so many previous occasions, the argument he’s making could be correct — just not in this situation.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:35 pmIs this an isthmus, Cristhian?
May 27th, 2010 at 2:36 pmYonder, lies the castle of my father, the Caliph!
May 27th, 2010 at 2:39 pmhis argument would be valid to trade Strasburg for Lincecum or something like that
May 27th, 2010 at 2:40 pmBraves lineup at FLA, 5/27: Prado 4, Heyward 9, Jones 5, Hinske 7, Glaus 3, Cabrera 8, Escobar 6, Ross 2, Hudson 1
May 27th, 2010 at 2:43 pmIt’s like he’s still trying to justify Kazmir-for-Zambrano.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:45 pm@6 – I agree with everything you said with the exception of ‘Roy Oswalt is 32, he’s no longer an ace’. Have you seen his numbers this year? 69IP, 69K, 17BB, 53H, 2.35 ERA, .209 BAVG, 1.01 WHIP. That is some major ace stuff there (better than Wainwright, but just barely – they are almost identical). In fact, I’d easily put him in the top 10 this year, and that’s while playing in a hitters’ ballpark.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:46 pmWhen the Kazmir deal was done, I remember catching the end of the radio report as I was getting out of the car at Yankee Stadium. I walked into the game thinking, “Wow, Carlos Zambrano? Not bad.”
Of course, on the way home, when I heard that it was the wrong Zambrano, I burst out laughing & just thought, “Oh, the Mets…”
And as has been mentioned, let’s just hope Oswalt doesn’t end up in Philadelphia.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:50 pmActually, Oswalt is pitching better than Halladay to this point.
May 27th, 2010 at 2:53 pmJoshua, he’s pitching brilliantly this year, but his ERA was over 4.00 last year, and his BABIP is .257 this year. He’s still probably a #1 starter, but I’m not sure that he’s one of the ten best pitchers in the league.
(Right now he’s 11th in FIP, behind Halladay, Wainwright, Lincecum, Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Johnson, Tom Gorzelanny (!), Clayton Richard, Jaime Garcia, Anibal Sanchez, and Barry Zito. In fairness, he’s 5th in xFIP, behind Lincecum, Halladay, Haren, and Johnson.)
May 27th, 2010 at 2:57 pmIf Chipper is indeed coming off the books next year, we need to find a way to acquire Oswalt before someone in the NL does.
Assuming we can make the payroll work, what would it take to get Oswalt?
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Against righthanders, shouldn’t Conrad be getting the occassional start at 3B? I’m sorry, but you just can’t have your #3 hitter performing this way.
——————–
What? No one liked “Yasser’s Virgins”?
May 27th, 2010 at 3:00 pmKind of hard to believe that he is 3-6 with those kind of numbers. Are the Astros really that bad?
May 27th, 2010 at 3:01 pm@16 – with the pitchers we have coming up, we definately need to look at getting a bat first.
May 27th, 2010 at 3:01 pm@15 – Forgive me, I don’t know about all the stats that are out there. Could you please explain FIP and xFIP? I’m trying to figure out how Halladay could be higher in anything when considering he gives up more H/9, has fewer K/9, and has a WHIP that is .09 higher (unless BB/9 are given a really high value).
@17 – Yes, yes they are.
May 27th, 2010 at 3:06 pmJoshua, http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/statpages/glossary/
May 27th, 2010 at 3:09 pmFIP and xFIP are basically component-centric. FIP just measures homers, strikeouts, and walks, and xFIP neutralizes home run rates to some extent. They’re definitely not be-all end-alls, but they are more predictive of future performance than ERA.
May 27th, 2010 at 3:10 pmAnd as if on cue….
http://sportsradiointerviews.com/2010/05/27/chipper-jones-may-walk-away-from-20-million/
May 27th, 2010 at 3:14 pmI didn’t give any thought into the ERA, which is why I said he is having a better year than Halladay despite having a higher ERA. All of his components appear to be better than Halladay with the exception of walks, which is really close. Is it possible that list doesn’t include Oswalt’s last start (he was absolutely dominant)?
May 27th, 2010 at 3:23 pmProbably HR…
May 27th, 2010 at 3:29 pmI don’t understand how xFIP became popular. It substitutes some measure HR/outfield flies for home runs. But though pitchers have some control over overall home run prevention they don’t have much ability to influence HR/outfield fies. I just use simple rules for DIPS: K/BB >2 is good, and the HR/G < 1 is good. The bigger the deviation the better/worse the pitcher is.
May 27th, 2010 at 3:37 pmThe only guys who could do something and are available this summer are Pena, Crawford and Werth.
Werth might not be a bad pickup.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:30 pmWould the Phillies really trade Werth to a division rival? I seriously doubt it.
I was thinking Magglio Ordonez would be a good fit, but I know his contract situation is kind of a hang-up.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:32 pmOne of my friends who is a Yankees fan feels confident Werth will end up with his team. He doesn’t have any inside information, just that enormous sense of entitlement (not unearned, I’m afraid) that Yankees fans enjoy . . .
May 27th, 2010 at 4:35 pmI get to see Magglio tomorrow night at Comerica. Once again, he’s mashing like a madman.
It’s Sheets vs. D-Train. There was a time when that would’ve been a top-shelf matchup. (During last year’s visit, I got Porcello vs. Jimenez.)
Now it’s just a high-end matchup: Oft-injured $10 M guy with a 5.00 ERA vs. really wild $12 M guy with a 5.00 ERA.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:39 pm#27, my bad, still in football (or soccer if you like) thinking, I meant winter.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:44 pmFor what it’s worth, Dave Cameron engages Phillips’ argument in much the same reasoned way as others have above, particularly AAR: each point he makes is fine on its own, in the abstract, but even when leaving aside the finances the argument is preposterous once its applied to real-world situations.
http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/the-oswalt-strasburg-thing/
May 27th, 2010 at 4:47 pmIf Tampa actually lets Crawford leave I don’t see us being able to outbid the Yankees, Red Sox, etc. for that one.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:52 pmWhich is why I doubt seriously the Yankees will trade for Werth unless the situation is dire.
May 27th, 2010 at 4:55 pmif chipper leaves, one’s gotta think the dan uggla talks will begin again.
May 27th, 2010 at 5:09 pmIn light of the Joe West-Mark Buehrle incident, I wrote about the silliness of the balk rule on Fangraphs today. (I even quoted a line Mac wrote a year ago: “Nearly all balks are randomly called by the umpires as far as I can tell, with the odd exception of a pitcher who falls down or drops the ball or something like that.”)
May 27th, 2010 at 5:13 pmIt just occurred to me, after seeing a DOB tidbit, that Señor Gomez may have been signed to babysit Yunel.
May 27th, 2010 at 5:47 pmIn the last thread, I said, “Teheran will NOT be in the majors next year.” Well, apparently Kevin Goldstein disagrees with me:
“Julio Teheran, RHP, Braves (High-A Myrtle Beach): 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K. ERA is now 1.03 in nine starts across Low/High-A; 19-year-old could reach big leagues as early as late 2011.”
May 27th, 2010 at 6:00 pm#32, Tampa are dropping $20m in payroll after this season. Both Pena and Crawford are pretty much gone.
May 27th, 2010 at 6:08 pmThat’s right, Chipper, I trashed you!
May 27th, 2010 at 6:14 pmFor Chipper, it was a hanging curve…just saying
Anyone else hear Hinske drop the f-bomb on the parabolic mic 3 times?
He definitely got his money’s worth too. At least you know he cares
May 27th, 2010 at 6:27 pmMelky??
May 27th, 2010 at 6:34 pmChip: “The Florida Marlins are about 50-50 in the stolen base department. They’ve stolen 20 and been thrown out 10 times”
I wish I was making this up.
May 27th, 2010 at 6:39 pmIf Yunel could have gotten Melky over Ross’ fly ball was a run.
This stuff matters at the bottom of the order, when the pitcher is lurking.
May 27th, 2010 at 6:43 pmLet’s hurry and get five innings in. This rain doesn’t look good.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:22 pmLiving in Florida, it is definitely nice to have a break from Chip, but the Florida guys are douche bags.
I’m not sure how they’re dressed tonight, but these are guys that frequently wear matching sweater vests.
Need I say more?
May 27th, 2010 at 7:24 pmWhen you can hear the rain over the TV, it’s too hard.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:32 pmSo what, are they just going to wait for him to throw one to the backstop before they bring out the tarp?
May 27th, 2010 at 7:32 pmYeah really. It’s looked too hard for almost two innings.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:34 pmIt was starting to look like the end of The Fan
May 27th, 2010 at 7:37 pmThis is preposterous. They don’t want to send it to a rain delay for fear we might not come back out. (That alone should be a clue that you shouldn’t be playing baseball.) But these teams are in the same division, there’s going to be like 4 more trips down here in which to add a make-up.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:37 pmHuddy gave it to Dana after the 4th. I would too. It’s not like he’s probably coming back anyway.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:43 pmThis should have gone to delay after the Braves finished hitting. It was when Yunel was at-bat that the rain started really pouring, and it just got harder from there.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:43 pmWe’re next down a week after the All Star game, so we could line Hudson up to pitch another 5 innings.
May 27th, 2010 at 7:44 pmSo…. who’s worse? Joe ‘The Cowboy’ West or Bill ‘The Mustache’ Hohn? (Poll question maybe?)
May 27th, 2010 at 7:44 pmBucknor.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:10 pmBill Hohn moved to the top of my list after the Red Sox series last year, but I did just find out today that West has a publicist, which is pretty strong ammo in and of itself.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:13 pmWest usually gets the calls right, he’s just a self-promoting so and so. Those balks he called the other day and the following ejections, while technically defensible, were a clear example of his ego and attempt to make himself into a “colorful character” in order to sell his dumbass CDs.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:18 pmEthan, trading 10 outs for 20 bases is about break even in the sense of harm vs good
May 27th, 2010 at 8:23 pmCB Bucknor is just terrible at his job.
Bill Hohn is terrible at his job, and is also a very small, small man.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:26 pm@58, I am sure that is exactly what Chip meant. I mean it’s not like he’s unfamiliar with Run Expectancy percentages.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:27 pmSpike @ 55 is right. Bucknor.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:29 pm58—There is absolutely no chance that Chip is aware of that fact.
May 27th, 2010 at 8:32 pmThe Braves website is crazy!
http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2587411&cp=1452343.1452606
May 27th, 2010 at 8:54 pmThe Braves believe in the Greater Fool theory, Smitty. After all, they managed to unload the real thing.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:01 pmStu @ 62,
I think we may have stumbled upon the answer here. So Chip’s actually extremely intelligent and has a deep and comprehensive knowledge about the workings of the game. However, he’s an extreme sociopath who just hates society in its entirety. So to fulfill his evil goals of bugging the crap out of everyone, he became a baseball announcer, and with graceful talent he walks the line between annoying those who listen to broadcasts and still showing enough knowledge and zest to maintain his job as an announcer. He’s perfect. I mean, consider the facts:
a) He does all he can to make people’s ears bleed on national television- the perfect gig for a sociopath!
b) To show that little knowledge about baseball…. you have to know everything about the game to make sure that you can avoid any ‘gaffes’. It’s akin to getting a 0 on an extremely large and difficult multiple choice test- to do so, you have to know the correct answers so that you purposefully get everything wrong.
He’s amazing!
May 27th, 2010 at 9:02 pmIf Chip actually ever did try explain it as Paul did, I’m pretty sure my head would explode. It’s hurting now from just the concept.
Moylan in the 5th? I guess they do go righty 3-4-5-6, but Moylan’s ROLE is the 7th. Something must be up.
EDIT: 65- I think you give Chip far too much credit. I’d lean more to the statistical anomaly of an idiot just getting a zero on the test.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:13 pmbad night for the umpires
May 27th, 2010 at 9:24 pmFear. The. Prado.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:29 pmWow. It’s a surprise when Heyward doesn’t come through
May 27th, 2010 at 9:35 pmA good fastball like that one makes Chipper look real old.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:35 pmHey, Joe West has a website
http://www.cowboyjoewest.com/
We should forward all of our gripes about umpires to him. It could be a lot of fun.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:36 pmZombie Chipper does what zombies do best.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:36 pmBut pitchers are still petrified of him. Nobody has seen the memo.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:37 pmWow, he still uses AOL.
umpirejoewest@aol.com
May 27th, 2010 at 9:38 pm@71: *giggle* Also, someone should tell “Cowboy Joe” that “Blue Cowboy” sounds like the name of a gay porn.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:40 pmAre you kidding? He probably just opened his account.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:40 pm@73, Well, naturally. He’ll eat their brains.
Nice to see Chipper partying like it’s 1999.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:41 pmI enjoy watching Venters. It might be the high socks.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:43 pmThat 1.00 ERA probably helps.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:44 pmPhils are getting shutout again.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:45 pmBraves are just 1 1/2 games back if we win and the Phils lose.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:46 pmWho is faster: Glaus, McCann, Sid Bream, Damon Berryhill or the corpse of Babe Ruth?
May 27th, 2010 at 9:50 pmWelcome to the Medoza Line Yunel!
May 27th, 2010 at 9:52 pmYUNEL! Maybe he’s snapping out of it.
Smitty, the corpse. Definitely. Babe did steal over 100 bases, after all.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:52 pm@73, wasn’t he two for two with a double just before the walk? Might have been a different memo for that situation.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:52 pmlol…SportSouth’s microphones caught someone saying, “Hey, Escobar? How’s that hitting streak? One game?”
May 27th, 2010 at 9:52 pmHmm. I figured Escobar would’ve made it to third on that one. Shame, too, ’cause he probably scores on Ross’s flyout. Either way, it’s good to see him hitting the ball hard.
May 27th, 2010 at 9:55 pmO’Flaherty’s in trouble, the tying runs are on base, so let’s bring in Chavez!
May 27th, 2010 at 10:03 pmjesse chavez next folks…but yet Kimbrel cant find innings here
May 27th, 2010 at 10:03 pmWouldn’t Saito have made more sense here?
May 27th, 2010 at 10:04 pmnevermind its Saito
May 27th, 2010 at 10:04 pmThis is why you don’t use Moylan in the 5th, Bobby!
May 27th, 2010 at 10:05 pm@91: So GameCast got it wrong? It has Chavez coming in.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:06 pmBobby’s middle name is “Joseph”
May 27th, 2010 at 10:08 pmI move that we refer to him from now on as “Bobby Joe”
@82 Smitty, Berryhill was about the slowest player I’ve ever seen. I believe if some money was on the line Glaus could outrun McCann, so the answer to your question, may just unbelievably be Bream. At least he had enough speed to beat Bonds throw.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:09 pm93 – yep
May 27th, 2010 at 10:09 pmChip Caray makes me wanna puke.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:09 pmwhat in the world has happened to the phils offense?
May 27th, 2010 at 10:10 pmHas anything happened since the pitching change? GameCast seems to have fallen asleep.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:12 pmOkay, Saito’s now relieved O’Flaherty twice and Chavez has once. Gameday’s bugs strike again.
Edit: Fortunately, the good Saito also strikes, and we’re out of the jam.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:13 pmSaito struck everyone out. It’s still 5-3.
Prado singles again to start the eighth.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:13 pmAh, looks like it’s caught up. Saito struck out Uggla and Ross? Nice.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:15 pmWhat was that thing about Diaz and CB Buckner that Joe just referenced?
May 27th, 2010 at 10:15 pmYunel….
“He was the best player on the team,” Escobar said through an interpreter. “A lot of talent with the bat.”
Gomez started in center field on the 2000 Cuban Olympic team in Sydney. Escobar compared him to Boston left fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, a .295 hitter in his fourth season with the Red Sox.
Here’s to hoping that Yunel is a good scout
May 27th, 2010 at 10:15 pmHeyward is having another one of his 20 min at bats.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:16 pmwho was the ump that Estrada blew up on?
May 27th, 2010 at 10:16 pmJust an awesome at bat right there.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:17 pmHo hum AB by J Hey.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:18 pmChipper has 1,377 more walks than Frenchy
May 27th, 2010 at 10:18 pmI can’t believe Chipper has more walks than Aaron or Mathews
May 27th, 2010 at 10:19 pmFun fact: Dan Meyer has 4 errors in 11 career fielding chances. Bunt, Hinske!
May 27th, 2010 at 10:20 pmThat is the first good defensive play in Ugla’s life
May 27th, 2010 at 10:23 pmThat is such a big run, i find the dp trade….barely acceptable.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:25 pmBy the way, I thought Cox was correct in using Moylan in the fifth. Middle of the lineup, all right handed hitters, and we’ll be emptying the bullpen anyway. That was the highest Moylan-leveraged situation possible.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:25 pmMelky’s simulating usefulness. I’m still having trouble believing it.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:26 pmMelky may be showing Nate the bench.
Is it possible that our next manager doesn’t know he has other pitchers in the bullpen?
May 27th, 2010 at 10:27 pmWell we’ve used six already and headed for a seventh, so they must know most of them.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:31 pmMeyer’s fifth walk of the inning. The anti-Frenchy.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:31 pmWow….Meyer really sucks.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:32 pmHaha. Bobby doesn’t think he can throw 3 out of 7 pitches for strikes.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:32 pmfredi isnt doing Meyer any favors here…he may be getting released tomorrow
May 27th, 2010 at 10:32 pmyes Joe, Saito is just like Ichiro with the bat
May 27th, 2010 at 10:33 pmSaito works the count better than Frenchy
May 27th, 2010 at 10:33 pmSaito got his bat on two pitches. Honor has been served.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:34 pmThat was borderline irresponsible by Fredi, wasn’t it?
May 27th, 2010 at 10:34 pm122—He was joking.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:35 pmI know…Chip wasnt sure though
May 27th, 2010 at 10:36 pmif the score holds, the official scorer is gonna have to pick the winning pitcher based on whom he thought was most effective (hudson of course is ineligible.) at this point, i’d have to say saito?
May 27th, 2010 at 10:37 pm@128, I would have to think so.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:39 pmI’d agree if Saito gets through the 8th.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:40 pmim guessing Moylan will get the win
May 27th, 2010 at 10:41 pmHow close was J-Hey’s flyout in the 9th? On GameCast it looked like it was up against the wall.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:48 pmjust shy of the track
May 27th, 2010 at 10:50 pmWagner. Again. With a five-run lead.
May 27th, 2010 at 10:52 pmYou knew Bobby was going to do this, but it doesn’t make it any less annoying
May 27th, 2010 at 10:54 pmno off days for about three weeks also
May 27th, 2010 at 10:55 pmAnd Moylan gets the win.
May 27th, 2010 at 11:02 pmHeyward caught it off the end of the bat.
May 27th, 2010 at 11:03 pmBobby manages his bullpen based on both how important the game is and, less importantly, how big the lead is. That’s why he always kills his relievers.
Wag should be glad that he is retiring!!!
May 27th, 2010 at 11:03 pmRecapped.
May 27th, 2010 at 11:06 pm