Omaha rotation better than it’s ever been? (44.33)

[niles08]

Without a doubt, the aspect the Niles regime has always overlooked has been the pitching staff. With the closest thing to an “ace” pitcher before this season likely being Carson Stoller, most pitchers in Omaha have fallen in the 3-4 starter category as for where they would pitch in the rotation on most teams in the league.

That’s all in the past as this year, Omaha has the best rotation in the Niles regime by miles, and dare we say, maybe the best rotation the team has ever fielded?

First looking at the numbers:

The team starters for 2044 have a 3.65 combined ERA, which is hard to base things off of because of the inflated offense in today’s game compared to past era’s. Back in the mid 20’s, when the team had 6 straight playoff appearances, the team ERA hovered consistently around the 3.5 range. Runs per game at the time were in the 4.2 range, where today’s game has seen over 5 runs per game, and last year was 4.5 runs per game for the BBA as a whole.

The rotation has allowed just 115 free passes in 641 innings pitched, or around just 1.6 walks per 9 innings pitched. Last season, the team starters gave up 3.1 walks per 9 innings pitched.

The rotation has struck out 519 batters in those 641 innings or 7.28 batters per 9 innings pitched. Last season, the team starters struck out 6.19 batters per 9 innings pitched.

The number that may seem the craziest is that the team rotation has a WHIP of just 1.05 combined! Last year this number was 1.34. Yup, they gave up 1.00 HITS alone per inning.

But how do those compare to one of those great teams from the mid 20s? Well, the team’s all-time lowest ERA is 3.50 for a season. That year was 2022 when the club won 90 games. The entire pitching staff that season including the pen combined for 20.2 WAR.

Just looking at the rotation, in 1,153.9 innings pitched, they allowed 337 walks. That is 2.6 free passes per 9 innings pitched. Advantage: 2044.

They struck out 995 batters that season or 7.76 batters per 9 innings pitched. Advantage: 2022.

Probably the most important is just how many base runners did you allow? The answer to that is 1,326 in those 1,153 innings. A WHIP of 1.15, which is 15% higher than Omaha’s current staff projects at. Advantage: 2044

What do these numbers mean? Nothing really.

Other than that it is very clear that the Niles regime has finally begun to pay attention to their pitching staff. They showed their commitment with the trade for Juan Hernandez this past off-season just weeks before the bombshell signing of Aki Kondo, who makes up 28% of the teams' salary cap on his own.

Omaha’s entire pitching staff has a salary of 48.95 million dollars or 44% of the team’s salary cap. So far that staff has a WAR of 16.7, or approximately $3 million for each WAR spent, right in line with what a good measuring stick some use for evaluating WAR to dollars, however a number that obviously should rise with still over 25% of the season to play.

At this pace, they would rise to just under 21 WAR and move into the range of 2.25 million per WAR added value. A steal for any rotation, considering that 61% of that money is sucked into one player.

The lineup? Well, they have the remaining 59.35 million dollars spent allotted to them. For their allotted salary, they have 22 WAR on the season which is once again less than that $3,000,000/WAR sweet spot checking in at 2.69.

At the offenses current pace, batting WAR is expected to finish at 27.5. That expectation places batting WAR at around $2.1M/WAR.

This would give the team a combined 49.5 WAR, or about a $2.4M/WAR average. With a 0 WAR baseball team expected to win 47 games, that would place Omaha in the 96 win range in expected wins, the second most the club has had since the 2025 season.

But wait, Omaha is currently a ridiculous -6 in expected wins based on “Base Runs”. That’s right, Omaha is currently expected to be 73-48. That’s a far cry from 67-54, and would actually place them above Nashville in the Heartland division.

So, Cyclone fans who are still with me after all that....temper down those 96 win predictions, and let’s just be happy if Omaha finds itself in the postseason come October.

[shoeless.db]

Things looking up in Omaha. Too bad it’s Omaha...

[bigmike13]

Sure do miss Kondo

[RonCo]

This is certainly one of the best all-around teams Omaha has fielded. It can win in a lot of ways.