Question: I’m a fan since 1954. No matter what Pete Alonso’s final WAR is, his impact on the team in addition to his stats leads to this question: Without Pete, would the O’s have won any more than 60-65 games this season? From: Neal Myerberg, Old Greenwich, Connecticut
Answer: Neal, as you may know, I like to use WAR, but like other stats, it’s an imperfect one. Alonso’s WAR was 4.9, and since this year’s roster wasn’t terribly different from last year’s roster, I was initially thinking the Orioles would have won about the same number of games, 75, without him than they did this year, 79.
However, he hit enough home runs to account for the winning margin of games that I’m guessing they would have won between 70 and 72 games without him.
If they didn’t sign him, would Coby Mayo have played first base regularly? We know that Ryan Mountcastle was hurt, and it’s impossible to know what his replacements would have done.
Alonso allowed the Orioles to be on the fringes of contention until the last week of the season. Of course, the entire American League was very weak, and if the Orioles had won 84 games, that would have been good enough for the final wild-card spot.
As flawed as this team was, they wouldn’t have lost 100 games—or close to it—without him.
Question: Maybe I didn’t watch enough games this season, but I feel like Yennier Cano wasn’t the hidden gem people make him out to be. I’m sure the numbers prove me wrong, but I feel like there was always a lot of drama when Cano pitched. Of course, everything is amplified when your team can’t hit or play defense. From: Elliott from Israel
Answer: Elliott, I understand your feeling. Sometimes I felt that way watching Cano, too, but he had some very impressive numbers.
He had a 2.90 ERA, best of the relievers who were with the team all season long.
Cano allowed just two home runs in 49 2/3 innings, which is excellent. He allowed 7.2 hits and 2.4 walks per nine innings, which are also strong stats.
He was often put in in the middle of an inning and allowed eight of 35 inherited runners to score.
Cano was terrific against right-handed batters, holding them to a .170 average. Against left-handers, he wasn’t as good. They hit .289.
He wasn’t used in save situations, converting three and blowing two.
Overall, I think these stats showed that he did a fine job this season.
Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: [email protected]. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.