SWIP 2004 - Season in Review

SWIP, defined as K-BB/IP, was created to measure the effectiveness of a pitcher irrespective of the myriad of other factors that contribute to a pitchers success. Mirroring WHIP, SWIP attempts to relate the two major results of an at-bat that a pitcher can directly effect (BB and K...we leave out HBP just as WHIP does). For a more detailed description of SWIP see:

Here is the listing of SWIP for all pitchers who threw over 162 innings in 2004.

MLB 2004 SWIP

R. Johnson, Ari 1.00
B. Sheets, Mil 0.98
J. Santana, Min 0.93
O. Perez, Pit 0.81
J. Schmidt, SF 0.77
P. Martinez, Bos 0.76
C. Schilling, Bos 0.74
J. Peavy, SD 0.72
R. Clemens, Hou 0.65
C. Carpenter, StL 0.63
M. Clement, ChC 0.62
R. Oswalt, Hou 0.61
F. Garcia, CWS/Sea 0.57
G. Maddux, ChC 0.56
K. Escobar, Ana 0.55
B. Radke, Min 0.53
B. Arroyo, Bos 0.53
J. Bonderman, Det 0.52
C. Zambrano, ChC 0.51
A. Eaton, SD 0.51
J. Wright, Atl 0.48
J. Lieber, NYY 0.48
M. Buehrle, CWS 0.47
R. Harden, Oak 0.45
J. Vazquez, NYY 0.45
N. Robertson, Det 0.45
C. Lee, Cle 0.45
O. Perez, LA 0.43
E. Milton, Phi 0.43
J. Lackey, Ana 0.42
D. Davis, Mil 0.42
B. Colon, Ana 0.42
D. Wells, SD 0.41
J. Thomson, Atl 0.41
C. Pavano, Fla 0.41
L. Hernandez, Mon 0.40
T. Lilly, Tor 0.40
D. Willis, Fla 0.40
J. Weaver, LA 0.39
J. Contreras, CWS/NYY 0.39
W. Williams, StL 0.39
B. Zito, Oak 0.38
M. Morris, StL 0.37
K. Benson, NYM/Pit 0.36
C. Sabathia, Cle 0.36
D. May, KC 0.35
J. Lima, LA 0.35
J. Marquis, StL 0.34
J. Johnson, Det 0.33
B. Lawrence, SD 0.33
T. Hudson, Oak 0.31
C. Lidle, Cin/Phi 0.31
J. Moyer, Sea 0.31
B. Myers, Phi 0.31
P. Wilson, Cin 0.29
K. Rogers, Tex 0.28
T. Wakefield, Bos 0.28
J. Westbrook, Cle 0.26
M. Mulder, Oak 0.25
J. Suppan, StL 0.24
B. Tomko, SF 0.23
M. Maroth, Det 0.23
M. Hendrickson, TB 0.22
B. Webb, Ari 0.22
R. Franklin, Sea 0.21
S. Ponson, Bal 0.21
C. Silva, Min 0.20
R. Drese, Tex 0.19
D. Lowe, Bos 0.19
T. Glavine, NYM 0.18
K. Lohse, Min 0.18
M. Redman, Oak 0.18
J. Garland, CWS 0.17
S. Trachsel, NYM 0.17
J. Jennings, Col 0.16
R. Ortiz, Atl 0.15
M. Hampton, Atl 0.13
A. Leiter, NYM 0.12
I. Valdez, SD/Fla 0.11
B. Anderson, KC 0.10
J. Fogg, Pit 0.09
S. Estes, Col 0.06
M. Batista, Tor 0.04
K. Ishii, LA 0.01
K. Rueter, SF (0.05)


Here are some of the prominent relievers and how they faired in SWIP in 2004.

M. Gonzalez, Pit 1.14
B. Ryan, Bal 1.00
B. Donnelly, Ana 0.98
J. Rincon, Min 0.90
C. Fox, Fla 0.88
R. Betancourt, Cle 0.88
K. Calero, StL 0.82
T. Gordon, NYY 0.82
A. Otsuka, SD 0.79
D. Miceli, Hou 0.73
J. Valverde, Ari 0.72
K. Farnsworth, ChC 0.68
S. Linebrink, SD 0.68
S. Shields, Ana 0.66
B. Fuentes, Col 0.66
B. Howry, Cle 0.64
J. Walker, Det 0.64
J. Mecir, Oak 0.64
F. Francisco, Tex 0.63
J. Grabow, Pit 0.59
M. Miller, Cle 0.58
T. Miller, TB 0.57
C. Eldred, StL 0.55
T. Worrell, Phi 0.55
L. Vizcaino, Mil 0.54
D. Dreifort, LA 0.54
J. Colome, TB 0.54
L. Ayala, Mon 0.53
M. Remlinger, ChC 0.52
G. Carrara, LA 0.53

A few other relievers who didn’t make the top 30 that you might have expected to see after the seasons they had in 2004.

C. Politte, CWS 0.51
C. Reitsma, Atl 0.51
A. Embree, Bos 0.50
G. Mota, LA/Fla 0.50
M. Timlin, Bos 0.49
D. Marte, CWS 0.46
J. Tavarez, StL 0.45
J. Romero, Min 0.42
M. Herges, SF 0.28
J. Frasor, Tor 0.26

Those of dubious honor…here are the ten worst SWIP performers of 2004 (minimum 5 HOLDS).

C. Bentz, Mon -0.18
J. Lopez, Col -0.15
J. Christiansen, SF -0.11
M. Matthews, Cin -0.03
K. Gryboski, Atl 0.02
J. Lehr, Oak 0.06
J. Grimsley, Bal/KC 0.06
J. Cerda, KC 0.07
J. Riedling, Cin 0.08
T. Harikkala, Col 0.11


Since we are into 3 year trends in fantasy baseball...here are the leaders for the past three years.

MLB AVERAGE 2002-2004: 94023 K, 48357 BB, 129998 IP

lgSWIP = 0.35


STARTER LEADERS for 2002-04

Randy J 0.98
Schilling 0.94
Prior 0.88
Pedro 0.87
Santana 0.85
Schmidt 0.74
Wood 0.67
Sheets 0.66
Clemens 0.66
Ol.Perez 0.65
Beckett 0.65
Mussina 0.64
Oswalt 0.62
Vazquez 0.61
Pettitte 0.57
Clement 0.57
Burnett 0.55
Peavy 0.55
Halladay 0.52
Brown 0.52
Escobar 0.51
Millwood 0.50
Odalis Perez 0.49
F.Garcia 0.49
Wolf 0.48
Morris 0.45
Maddux 0.45
Mulder 0.40
Colon 0.40
C.Zambrano 0.40
Pavano 0.40
Webb 0.38
Hudson 0.37
Zito 0.36
Ru.Ortiz at an abysmal 0.19.

RELIEVER LEADERS 2002-2004

GAGNE 1.24
LIDGE 0.98
WAGNER 0.96
FRod ANA 0.92
DOTEL 0.91
SMOLTZ 0.87
HOFFMAN 0.85
GORDON 0.80
NATHAN 0.76
BJ RYAN 0.75
GURDADO 0.72
EMBREE 0.69
HAWKINS 0.68
IZZY 0.66
RIVERA 0.66
MARTE 0.66
FRNSWRH 0.65
URBINA 0.64
F.CORDERO 0.64
RISKE 0.63
BENITEZ 0.61
Mota 0.55
Percival 0.53
Worrell 0.46
Looper 0.40
Julio 0.39
Baez 0.37
Mesa 0.28
Graves 0.24
Kolb 0.18.