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SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT RANDY WOLF? By Jason Martinez sdpadrefan.com 3/19/08 Randy Wolf is not pitching for a job this spring. The #4 spot in the starting rotation belongs to him, no matter how bad he pitches. Therefore, his stats don't matter, right? Padre fans shouldn't worry, right? Why am I worried? After struggling in his first few starts (10.79 ERA, 8.1 IP, 15 H) of the spring, Wolf was pulled after just 3.2 innings after getting knocked around in a minor league game on Wednesday. While he claims that he never pitches well in the spring, I decided to do some research to see just how badly he has pitched in his career during the exhibition season. Randy Wolf - Spring Training Statistics (2000-2007) 2007 - LA Dodgers: 4.23 ERA, 17 IP, 17 H, 9 BB, 14 K 2006 - Philadelphia Phillies: DNP 2005 - Philadelphia Phillies: 4.15 ERA, 13 IP, 18 H, 5 BB, 12 K 2004 - Philadelphia Phillies: 4.86 ERA, 16.2 IP, 16 H, 3 BB, 11 K 2003 - Philadelphia Phillies: 6.86 ERA, 19.2 IP, 22 H, 11 BB, 20 K 2002 - Philadelphia Phillies: 6.87, 18.1 IP, 29 H, 2 BB, 12 K 2001 - Philadelphia Phillies: 9.61, 19.2 IP, 26 H, 12 BB, 16 K 2000 - Philadelphia Phillies: 5.23, 20.2 IP, 18 H, 8 BB, 7 K After analyzing the numbers, I have terrific news for Padre fans. While his spring numbers have been comparable to his regular season stats over his last few injury-shortened seasons (2004-2007), he actually was terrible during his first four spring camps as a major leaguer. So why is this terrific news? Take a look at his season average over this time period. From 2000-2003, Wolf had a 3.87 ERA, while averaging 12 wins, 195 IP, 177 H, 69 BB, and 165 strikeouts. I'll take that in 2008. Of course, he was in his early-to-mid twenties when he accomplished this. Now 31 years-old and coming off of another injury, is it realistic that he can have a similar season? Probably not, but if you put enough emphasis on statistics, they are telling us that the worse Randy Wolf is in spring training, the better he will pitch during the regular season. If this is true, then he could be headed towards his finest regular season yet. Maybe Padre fans should hope for a few more poor outings from Wolf before the real season starts. |