Matt Belisle is gettin' paid

[TRF]

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/75...?eleven=twelve

He's having a nice career rebound in a place that is very tough to pitch in.

[Kc61]

Is Coors that tough to pitch in? It once was, for sure, but now they use that Humidor machine, I'm not sure anymore.

I don't have time to look up the stats now, but I think the degree of difficulty has been reduced.

[LegallyMinded]

Is Coors that tough to pitch in? It once was, for sure, but now they use that Humidor machine, I'm not sure anymore.

I don't have time to look up the stats now, but I think the degree of difficulty has been reduced.

ESPN's park factors have Coors as number 2 in the majors for runs and home runs in 2011. That is down from previous years, when Coors has sometimes been number one in those categories, but it looks like it's still a tough pitching environment.

[RedsManRick]

As of one Belisle's long term cheerleaders, this makes me feel vindicated.

Belisle was one of my first big saber-driven "he's mostly just been unlucky" cases.

[Rojo]

As of one Belisle's long term cheerleaders, this makes me feel vindicated.

Yeah, my first thought was "FINALLY".

[fearofpopvol1]

I always liked Belisle too, but it seemed like he never got a fair shake in the bullpen.

[Degenerate39]

Remember when he was going to be the 3rd pitcher in the rotation?

[OnBaseMachine]

I didn't realize just how good Belisle has been the last two seasons.

2010:

92 IP, 8.90 K/9, 1.57 BB/9, 2.93 ERA, 2.68 FIP, 2.3 WAR

2011:

72 IP, 7.25 K/9, 1.75 BB/9, 3.25 ERA, 3.07 FIP, 1.3 WAR

[edabbs44]

Shouldn't "good" relievers generally have OPS againsts of less than .700? A material amt less?

[757690]

IIRC, Belisle was pretty effective as a reliever for the Reds, but they kept in the rotation where he stuggled, then he ran out of options. I know many here were calling for keeping him bullpen. Glad he's doing well now.

[757690]

As of one Belisle's long term cheerleaders, this makes me feel vindicated.

Belisle was one of my first big saber-driven "he's mostly just been unlucky" cases.

I'm not so sure Belisle is a case of being unlucky and then having having things even out.

He really wasn't that good for years, even according to his peripherals. His K/BB from 2006-2009 was between 1.37 and 2.91 and his HR/9 was 1.13-1.32. His first year with the Rockies his K/BB jumped to 4.40 but his HR/9 was still high at 1.74. Then in 2010-11, his K/BB stayed high at 5.69-4.14 but his HR/9 dropped to .68-.63.

Granted, his BABIP was abnormally high when he was with the Reds, but it's remained high with the Rockies (.327 in 2011). The biggest difference is that he been able to K more, walk less and give up more home runs. To me, that looks more like he just got better, not luckier.

[Phhhl]

Belisle has always had good "stuff". You see it when you go to a ballgame and watch him pitch from behind the plate. Explosive, rising fastball and good slider. The thing is, the league is loaded with arms like his. He has managed to be able to achieve the rare feat of binding his God given ability to the jurisdiction of a sharp mind. I feel the Reds let a good one get away, but they could hardly be blamed considering the chances Belisle had to establish himself when he was here, and failed.

[Blitz Dorsey]

Good for him. I never thought he was garbage. He would just always have one or two bad pitches per game that killed him. Good to see him find his niche as a reliever. We tried to make him a starter. Seemed like a good guy, happy to see him do well.