Daily Dodger in review: the inexplicable season of left-hander George Sherrill

GEORGE SHERRILL, 33, reliever

Final 2010 stats: 2-2, 6.69 ERA, no saves, 25 strikeouts, 24 walks, 1.93 WHIP in 36 1/3 innings.

Contract status: Arbitration eligible.

The good: Left-handed hitters batted just .192 against him, with only five extra-base hits in 73 at-bats. Appeared in a team-high 65 games. When he had at least one day's rest before appearances, fashioned a 2.84 ERA. Clubhouse crossword puzzle champ. Walked in his first career at-bat.

The bad: Just about everything else. He was a mess from the first moment of spring training, when he tried to tell us he typically had poor springs. Right-handed batters hit .427 against him, and unfortunately he pitched against slightly more right-handers.

Allowed a stunning 11.4 hits per nine innings. And he couldn’t strike anyone out. Struck out only 6.2 hitters per nine innings. In a stretch from late May to early July, went through a 21-game stretch when he struck out only two batters.

He allowed only one home run at Dodger Stadium all season, but it was memorable. Almost forgotten in Jonathan Broxton’s memorable ninth-inning meltdown against the Yankees June 27, was Sherrill giving up the game-winning home run in the 10th to the left-handed hitting Robinson Cano.

What’s next: Since he made $4.5 million last season and it was a mega-disaster, there’s no way the Dodgers offer him arbitration by the Dec. 2 deadline. He’ll become a free agent and somebody will certainly sign him, but at a serious pay cut; maybe even to a minor-league deal.

The take: When the Dodgers picked Sherrill up from the Orioles, he arrived with 20 saves and quickly became their left-handed specialist. He excelled beyond expectations, fashioning a 0.65 ERA in 2009.

No one realistically figured he’d keep that up in 2010, but no one saw such a precipitous drop-off either. His turnaround was so stunning as to be unexplainable, not that there wasn’t a litany of excuses -- he had a mechanical problem, he was burned out from being heavily used the previous season, he was injured, he was misused out of the bullpen. I, of course, was partial to the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" theory.

He wasn’t throwing as hard. His pitches often looked flat. His confidence, understandably, was shaken. There is something, however, to the theory that Joe Torre too frequently put him in the wrong kind of situations. He faced 95 right-handed hitters on the season, to 85 left-handed hitters.

And since he was still very effective against left-handers, it’s a disturbing stat. It's also why someone is certainly going to give him an opportunity next season.

The chances that that team is the Dodgers is minuscule, but still there. Assuming Don Mattingly is willing to use him as a middle-inning, left-handed specialist. Left-handed relievers have a life span just shy of the giant tortoise, so he’ll reemerge somewhere, pod and all.

-- Steve Dilbeck

Comments

[68elcamino427]

Happy Thanksgiving Mr. Sherrill.
Looks like Steve has set you up on a tee for turkey day.

[OldBrooklynFan]

Whoever does end up with him, they better keep him as far away from right handed batters as they possible can.
I think a lefty on lefty specialist is the only place to take a chance with him.

[Hollywood Dodger Mark]

Joe didn't believe in spot lefties.

[BlueSangre]

I've never seen a man lose his cojones like George did this season.

[bob cuomo]

Yes, he certainly did have his moments last season...good and bad. He was very good against left-handed hitters, so he'd be a valuable addition for those spots. And yes, Torre didn't always use him in the proper situations. I don't think you should use a left-hander who throws with three-quarters delivery against right-handed hitters.

[William]

The tragedy here is not that Sherrill was ineffective. Rather it was Torre's failure to recognize it, Honneycut's failure to remedy it, and Colletti's failure to insist on a demotion to the minors to attempt to fix it.
Somewhere, next year, Mr. Sherrill will rediscover his effectiveness through the assistance of those more qualified. It will not be with Los Angeles. Good luck, George. We know you tried.

[pardon my smirk]

Sherrill,,, what a loser!
thanks for nothing Ned.
too bad you're not a free agent

[KidKuo]

Maybe Sherrill took some pitching advice from Broxton. You know, the one-two punch, then game blown and lost. This would explain everything.

[HI Dodger Fan]

wow, these stats are amazing. why in the world would torre ignore these indisputable stats? it's absolutely mind-boggling. if i was sherrill, i would have thought torre was trying to kill my career.

[Steve Wimer]

Sherrill isn't worth the big money, but he's still worth having on a team.

[Zen]

There's something to be said for guys that want to play in LA. Lilly, Kuroda, and I believe Bills and Kershaw all want to pitch for the Dodgers.

Never got that feeling about Sherrill, and some of the others Ned brought aboard, though I think Padilla was a gamer, and gave 100%.

[DG]

May get lambasted for this one; maybe not... but bring him back for a look, MiLB or other non-guaranteed with a low-base and see if he can have an 'atypical" spring training. Left handed specialists are not a dime-a-dozen, and Sherrill may bounce back if used effectively as such. Historically, like Kuo, he was never the left-handed situational guy, but an effective all around closer/setup guy, but again, if all the pieces fit back into place, he may well turn into that guy.