2538085, RE: Was that the one year Hank Blalock was actually healthy/productive?
Posted by Call It Anything, Thu May-12-16 11:19 AM
The 71 win 03 line-up hit .266/.330/.454 with a 96 OPS+. The 89 win 04 line-up hit .266/.330/.457 with a 96 OPS+. So it doesn't look like there was a huge uptick there.
Pitchers had a 5.67 ERA with 969 RA in 2003 (4.90 FIP) and 4.53 ERA with 794 RA in 2004 (4.64 FIP). 175 less run allowed. That's huge. The 2003 team had a .316 BABIP and the 2004 team had a .301 BABIP. So it's probably a combination of better luck and better pitching.
They went from 1 decent pitcher (John Thomson) to 2 decent pitchers (Ryan Drese and Kenny Rogers). The bullpen really had an amazing year though. The top 8 relief guys all had an ERA+ of 118 or better, highlighted by Francisco Cordero. Inherited runners dropped from 325 to 299 but the number that scored went from 120 to 79.
So I'd say it was like 1/3 bullpen, 1/2 starters, 1/12 luck, 1/12 defense.
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