Ohlendorf (1-11 record) defeats Pirates in arbitration

[blumj]

Arbitration was the worst thing that the owners gave to the players back when free agency was starting up. They have been paying for it ever since with stupid desicions like this one with a big raises for extremely poor perfromances.

The team's the one with the choice. Everyone knows about what these guys are going to get by now, if you don't think a starting pitcher's even worth $2M for a year, what are you doing offering him anything?

[redsmetz]

Is anyone else's head itching? Ohlendorf is going to make $375,000 more than Edinson Volquez this year.
nb4dandruffjoke

The question actually is whether he should have been paid nearly $400K less than Volquez. His figure was closer to what the market probably would have paid him than the Pirates. Not sure why they chose not to settle, accept that they assumed with a 1-11 record, he didn't stand a chance. Clearly the arbitrator could see more deeply than his won-lost record on a pathetic team.

[kaldaniels]

Nothing more here than a public relations fail for the Pirates. Ohlendorf getting 2 MM is no big deal, and he is well worth it IMO.

[CarolinaRedleg]

The Pirates and losing. Some things just fit.

[dougdirt]

Yeah, I don't mean to say it's unfair or unreasonable. It's just that it's pretty obvious what a talent gap there is between those two. But to your point, it's not like the numbers prior to 2009 would be ignored in an arbitration case. If you look at both of their career numbers, this is what you get:

Ross Ohlendorf
354 IP, 246 SO, 13 wins, 25 losses, 4.40 ERA, 1.390 WHIP, 3.3 WAR (b-r)

Edinson Volquez
388.1 IP, 375 SO, 28 wins, 22 losses, 4.36 ERA, 1.476 WHIP, one All-Star appearance, 4.2 WAR (b-r)

With the exception of WHIP, Volquez is superior in pretty much every way according to the numbers. And if you want to cherry-pick stats to make an argument, let's compare what each has done since 2008 as opposed to 2009.

Eh, innings, ERA and WHIP are all VERY close there. The only major differences is the win/loss record and strikeout numbers.

[camisadelgolf]

[Patrick Bateman]

He's a pretty poor pitchers no matter how you look at it, unless you are just totally on an ERA/WHIP fix.

Better than his W-L record, but the guy is 5th starter/long reliever material.
If he was a free agent right now, would have probably gotten less than that.

[dougdirt]

He's a pretty poor pitchers no matter how you look at it, unless you are just totally on an ERA/WHIP fix.

Better than his W-L record, but the guy is 5th starter/long reliever material.
If he was a free agent right now, would have probably gotten less than that.

And yet his base runners allowed and runs allowed are better than what you suggest. Maybe you are underestimating his skillset just a little bit? A 5th starter type doesn't usually post an ERA under 4 over two consecutive seasons do they? If so, we should really look at finding more of those 5th starter/long reliever types.

[RedsManRick]

You know, I find it funny that when a non-Red puts up a mid 4's FIP and a 4ish ERA, people start asking questions about the sustainability of his performance. But when a Reds starter puts up a mid 4's FIP and a 4ish ERA, people swear up and down that he's just got a special ability to make batters hit the ball weakly.

Just saying, arbitration tends to pay guys roughly 40% of FA value in the 1st year, 60% in the 2nd, and 80% in the 3rd. if Arroyo is a $12M pitcher, then you'd think Ohlendorf getting 17% wouldn't get anybody riled up.