Using PER to rank the major league bullpens

despite the #1 bullpen, the rays were unable to
make the playoffs

It is commonly known that a good bullpen is a key to a strong season. Now that the season only has one day left I believe that now is a fair time to assess each team's bullpen for the 2012 season. According to PER , Hawks Report's new metric, PER, 7 out of the top 10 best bullpens in baseball have reached the playoffs. The number one bullpen in baseball , the Rays,are out of the Wild Card Showdown by 3.5 games before the last games end . The Diamondbacks also find themselves in the top 10 at spot number 6, they werable to finish 6 games out of the wild card despite also having one of the better offenses in the game. The three playoff teams that were outside the top 10 were the Cardinals (16), Tigers (19), and the Giants (25). Here are your 2012 team bullpen PER rankings. Teams in yellow have clinched the wild card,, blue have clinched the division, and orange have clinched a playoff spot.

Team	IP	TBF	Rating
Rays	462.3	1877	0.246297
Braves	478.3	1968	0.243039
Athletics	505.6	2089	0.24203
Rangers	452.3	1870	0.241872
Diamondbacks	464.6	1930	0.240725
Orioles	542.3	2260	0.239956
Nationals	513	2149	0.238716
Reds	430.3	1804	0.238525
Yankees	442	1857	0.238018
Dodgers	461	1939	0.237751
Mariners	453	1906	0.237671
Red Sox	509	2142	0.237628
Indians	524	2207	0.237426
White Sox	463.6	1958	0.236772
Twins	555.6	2347	0.236728
Cardinals	470.3	1992	0.236094
Royals	559.3	2372	0.235793
Angels	442	1875	0.235733
Tigers	453.6	1926	0.235514
Padres	499	2121	0.235266
Pirates	495.3	2114	0.234295
Phillies	416.3	1782	0.233614
Blue Jays	526.6	2259	0.233112
Giants	449.6	1937	0.232112
Mets	457	1989	0.229764
Rockies	653	2864	0.228003
Marlins	454.3	1997	0.227491
Astros	499.3	2204	0.226543
Brewers	507.3	2252	0.225266
Cubs	488.3	2186	0.223376

NFL Power Rankings Week 4

NFL Power Rankings Week 4

1.       Houston Texans

2.       Atlanta Falcons

3.       San Francisco 49ers

4.       Baltimore Ravens

5.       Arizona Cardinals

6.       New England Patriots

7.       San Diego Chargers

8.       Philadelphia Eagles

9.       Cincinnati Bengals

10.   Chicago Bears

11.   Denver Broncos

12.   Green Bay Packers

13.   New York Giants

14.   Pittsburgh Steelers

15.   Minnesota Vikings

16.   Dallas Cowboys

17.   Seattle Seahawks

18.   Washington Redskins

19.   Buffalo Bills

20.   Detroit Lions

21.   St. Louis Rams

22.   Miami Dolphins

23.   Tampa Bay Buccaneers

24.   New Orleans Saints

25.   New York Jets

26.   Carolina Panthers

27.   Indianapolis Colts

28.   Oakland Raiders

29.   Tennessee Titans

30.   Cleveland Browns

31.   Jacksonville Jaguars

32.   Kansas City Chiefs

Introducing Pitcher Efficiency Rating (PER)

I do not claim to be a great sabretician and I understand that this formula might have been created by someone else without me being aware and that is the case then I am sorry. Pitcher Efficiency Rating is a very simple formula and is just innings pitched/total batters faced. As you would expect, the best pitchers lead this category so there are very few players that jump out of nowhere but I think it helps sort out who is the best among the best. If you would combine both relievers and starters for this statistic you would find that the 10 rated pitchers are relievers while the first starter to appear in this rating would be Jered Weaver at #11. Here we take a look at the top 15 starting pitchers in baseball:

Player	Team	Efficiency Rating
Jered Weaver	Angels	0.255737705
David Price	Rays	0.252392344
R.A. Dickey	Mets	0.251605759
Clayton Kershaw	Dodgers	0.251376147
Matt Cain	Giants	0.249824971
Cliff Lee	Phillies	0.249695493
Justin Verlander	Tigers	0.249058577
Chris Sale	White Sox	0.248704663
Felix Hernandez	Mariners	0.248571429
Cole Hamels	Phillies	0.248096886
Jake Peavy	White Sox	0.246783626
Mike Minor	Braves	0.246016484
Hiroki Kuroda	Yankees	0.245886443
Madison Bumgarner	Giants	0.245111896
Jason Vargas	Mariners	0.24475761

Jered Weaver comes in as #1 in PER

There are no real surprises in that list other Jason Vargas and Mike Minor, neither of whom appear in the top 40 of ERA. This can be accounted to weak defense although I doubt that is the only reason. Johnny Cueto, who is #7 in ERA, falls just outside the top 15. David Price has the best ERA but Jered Weaver beats him out in the Efficiency Rating. This should be no surprise considering Weaver is considered by many as the best pitcher in baseball. Now let’s take a look at the top 10 relievers in baseball.

Player	Team	Rating
Craig Kimbrel	Braves	0.269604
Fernando Rodney	Rays	0.264855
Casey Janssen	Blue Jays	0.260426
Brad Ziegler	Diamondbacks	0.258594
Kenley Jansen	Dodgers	0.258333
Jake McGee	Rays	0.257767
Aroldis Chapman	Reds	0.257143
Kris Medlen	Braves	0.256398
Jason Motte	Cardinals	0.255839
Sergio Romo	Giants	0.255189

Former Dominican Catcher
and current Dodgers closer Kenley
Jansen is one  of the top relief pitchers

Again, there are no surprises here as Craig Kimbrel, probably the best closer in baseball heads the list. The Rays and Braves seem to have the best the best bullpen as they both have two of the top relief pitchers according to efficiency rating. For full ratings you can check out these links.
Just make sure to zoom.
Starting Pitchers
Relief Pitchers