We've harped on the injuries on this site repeatedly, but I thought I'd take some time today to point out exactly how the injuries have affected the team. I want to do it statistically.
First of all, Duchscherer, Kennedy and Witasick have been replaced in the pen by Keisler, Flores and Casilla.
Duchscherer's career ERA at the big league level is 3.38 and he has a 1.19 WHIP. He also strikes out 7.30 per nine innings. Keisler's career big league ERA is 6.87, his WHIP is 1.76 and he strikes out 5.40 per nine.
Kennedy's career ERA is 4.86, WHIP is 1.47 and his K/9 is 5.65. Casilla's career ERA is 9.82, WHIP is 1.91 and his K/9 is 6.55.
Witasick's career ERA is 4.55, WHIP is 1.53 and his K/9 is 8.01. Flores' career ERA is 2.94, WHIP is 1.80, K/9 is 7.04.
So one place the A's are taking a significant hit right now is WHIP. The average WHIP for the three replacement pitchers in their short stints in the pros is 1.82. The average WHIP for Duke, Kennedy and Witasick is 1.40. Missing Duke is especially harmful.
But you can't stop there because Saarloos and Halsey being in the rotation have statistically brought down those numbers as well.
Harden's career ERA is 3.64, K/9 is 8.14 and his WHIP is 1.26. Los Kirk's career ERA is 4.89, K/9 is 4.53 and WHIP is 1.46.
Loaiza's career ERA is 4.63, K/9 is 5.98 and his WHIP is 1.42. Halsey's career ERA is 4.65, K/9 is 5.05 and his WHIP is 1.47.
Now, the truth is that Halsey is probably a better starting pitcher right now than Loaiza was because of the injury. But the dip from Harden to Los Kirk is very significant in weakening the A's in the rotation and in the bullpen.
The offense, on the other hand, doesn't really have any excuse. It's just been underperforming beyond words. Dan Johnson, Bobby Crosby and even Mark Ellis haven't given the team what it needs. DJ could've been on the verge of a demotion had Barton not hurt himself last night. He still might be whenever Bradley comes back from his injury.
And now Swisher seems to be going into a little bit of a funk. He's now hitting only .256 in May and his OBP was .404 in April, it's been .368 in May. That's still really good, but he isn't sizzling like he was. And over Swisher's last seven days, he's hit .192 with an OBP of .290.
The pitching has the excuse of an obscene amount of injuries. The offense doesn't.
