With the acquisition of soon-to-be Red Sox closer
Joel Hanrahan, my bosses at FenwayNation have asked me to perform my statistical wizardry on the newcomer. First, I applied my best proprietary measure of pitching effectiveness to Hanrahan's career stats. The measure in question is, of course,
CRAP (Crothers Reduction Above Pitching). Essentially, the formula takes into account: innings pitched, hits allowed, and the frequency of rosin bag application to the pitching hand. Using this formulation, we arrived at a CRAP score of 100.53. The average for
all relief pitchers in 2012 was 73.76. Thus, Hanrahan comes in with a
CRAPS Above Replacements (CRAP-AR) score of 26.77—which means that...uh, we're not exactly sure what that means, but we'll get back to you.
