Biographical

Portrait of Joe Saunders

Joe Saunders P

Player Cards | Team Audit | Depth Chart

Career Summary
Years G IP W L SV ERA WARP
13 235 1387.3 89 86 0 4.37 -1.1
Birth Date6-16-1981
Height6' 3"
Weight215 lbs
Age42 years, 10 months, 8 days
BatsL
ThrowsL
WARP Summary

MLB Statistics

Historical (past-seasons) WARP is now based on DRA..
cFIP and DRA are not available on a by-team basis and display as zeroes(0). See TOT line for season totals of these stats.
Multiple stints are are currently shown —Click to hide.
YEAR Team Lg G GS IP W L SV H BB SO HR PPF H/9 BB/9 HR/9 K/9 GB% BABIP WHIP FIP ERA cFIP DRA DRA- WARP
2005 ANA MLB 2 2 9.3 0 0 0 10 4 4 3 93 9.6 3.9 2.9 3.9 0% .233 1.50 7.65 7.71 106 4.40 94.7 0.1
2006 ANA MLB 13 13 70.7 7 3 0 71 29 51 6 103 9.0 3.7 0.8 6.5 0% .302 1.42 4.12 4.71 101 4.77 97.2 0.8
2007 ANA MLB 18 18 107.3 8 5 0 129 34 69 11 99 10.8 2.9 0.9 5.8 0% .330 1.52 4.32 4.44 102 5.65 116.8 0.1
2008 ANA MLB 31 31 198.0 17 7 0 187 53 103 21 103 8.5 2.4 1.0 4.7 0% .266 1.21 4.39 3.41 106 4.45 94.9 2.4
2009 ANA MLB 31 31 186.0 16 7 0 202 64 101 29 103 9.8 3.1 1.4 4.9 0% .286 1.43 5.20 4.60 115 5.69 121.9 -0.3
2010 ANA 0 20 20 120.7 6 10 0 135 45 64 14 100 10.1 3.4 1.0 4.8 0% .304 1.49 4.63 4.62 113 5.44 122.8 -0.2
2010 ARI 0 13 13 82.7 3 7 0 97 19 50 11 94 10.6 2.1 1.2 5.4 0% .314 1.40 4.45 4.25 121 5.94 134.2 -0.6
2011 ARI MLB 33 33 212.0 12 13 0 210 67 108 29 98 8.9 2.8 1.2 4.6 0% .271 1.31 4.74 3.69 117 4.90 113.8 0.4
2012 ARI 0 21 21 130.0 6 10 0 146 31 89 17 100 10.1 2.1 1.2 6.2 0% .306 1.36 4.22 4.22 106 4.81 110.4 0.5
2012 BAL 0 7 7 44.7 3 3 0 49 8 23 4 101 9.9 1.6 0.8 4.6 0% .302 1.28 3.71 3.63 108 4.45 102.0 0.4
2013 SEA MLB 32 32 183.0 11 16 0 232 61 107 25 94 11.4 3.0 1.2 5.3 0% .332 1.60 4.74 5.26 114 6.33 151.6 -3.0
2014 BAL 0 6 0 3.3 0 0 0 3 4 1 1 101 8.1 10.8 2.7 2.7 0% .200 2.10 10.96 13.50 118 8.71 213.7 -0.2
2014 TEX 0 8 8 39.7 0 5 0 62 20 22 8 96 14.1 4.5 1.8 5.0 0% .367 2.07 6.26 6.13 137 7.87 192.9 -1.5
2010 TOT MLB 33 33 203.3 9 17 0 232 64 114 25 98 10.3 2.8 1.1 5.0 0% .000 1.46 4.56 4.47 116 5.64 127.4 -0.9
2012 TOT MLB 28 28 174.7 9 13 0 195 39 112 21 100 10.0 2.0 1.1 5.8 0% .000 1.34 4.09 4.07 106 4.72 108.2 0.9
2014 TOT MLB 14 8 43.0 0 5 0 65 24 23 9 97 13.6 5.0 1.9 4.8 0% .000 2.07 6.62 6.70 136 7.93 194.5 -1.6
CareerMLB2352291387.3898601533439792179999.92.81.25.147%.2991.424.664.371125.36120.2-1.1

Statistics for All Levels

'opp' stats - Quality of opponents faced - have been moved and are available only as OPP_QUAL in the Statistics reports now.
Minor league stats are currently shown —Click to hide.
YEAR Team Lg LG G GS IP W L SV H BB SO HR PPF H/9 BB/9 HR/9 K/9 GB% BABIP WHIP FIP ERA cFIP DRA DRA-
2002 CDR A MDW 5 5 28.7 3 1 0 16 9 27 2 5.0 2.8 0.6 8.5 0% .209 0.87 3.40 1.88 0 0.00 0.0
2002 ORM Rk PIO 8 8 32.3 2 1 0 40 11 21 1 11.1 3.1 0.3 5.9 0% .348 1.58 4.19 3.62 0 0.00 0.0
2004 RCU A+ CLF 19 19 105.7 9 7 0 106 23 76 13 9.0 2.0 1.1 6.5 0% .291 1.22 4.67 3.41 0 0.00 0.0
2004 ARK AA TXS 8 8 39.0 4 3 0 51 14 25 5 11.8 3.2 1.2 5.8 0% .357 1.67 5.26 5.77 0 0.00 0.0
2005 ANA MLB AL 2 2 9.3 0 0 0 10 4 4 3 93 9.6 3.9 2.9 3.9 0% .233 1.50 7.65 7.71 106 4.40 94.7
2005 ARK AA TXS 18 18 105.7 7 4 0 107 32 80 9 90 9.1 2.7 0.8 6.8 0% -.790 1.32 3.86 3.49 92 4.61 91.0
2005 SLC AAA PCL 9 9 55.0 3 3 0 65 21 29 3 73 10.6 3.4 0.5 4.7 0% -1.148 1.56 4.36 4.58 100 5.59 110.2
2006 ANA MLB AL 13 13 70.7 7 3 0 71 29 51 6 103 9.0 3.7 0.8 6.5 0% .302 1.42 4.12 4.71 101 4.77 97.2
2006 SLC AAA PCL 21 20 135.2 10 4 0 117 38 97 12 114 7.8 2.5 0.8 6.5 0% .266 1.15 3.96 2.66 90 3.06 64.3
2007 ANA MLB AL 18 18 107.3 8 5 0 129 34 69 11 99 10.8 2.9 0.9 5.8 0% .330 1.52 4.32 4.44 102 5.65 116.8
2007 SLC AAA PCL 14 14 86.3 4 7 0 89 20 84 10 113 9.3 2.1 1.0 8.8 0% .313 1.26 3.82 5.11 85 3.53 72.4
2008 ANA MLB AL 31 31 198.0 17 7 0 187 53 103 21 103 8.5 2.4 1.0 4.7 0% .266 1.21 4.39 3.41 106 4.45 94.9
2009 ANA MLB AL 31 31 186.0 16 7 0 202 64 101 29 103 9.8 3.1 1.4 4.9 0% .286 1.43 5.20 4.60 115 5.69 121.9
2010 ANA MLB AL 20 20 120.7 6 10 0 135 45 64 14 100 10.1 3.4 1.0 4.8 0% .304 1.49 4.63 4.62 113 5.44 122.8
2010 ARI MLB NL 13 13 82.7 3 7 0 97 19 50 11 94 10.6 2.1 1.2 5.4 0% .314 1.40 4.45 4.25 121 5.94 134.2
2011 ARI MLB NL 33 33 212.0 12 13 0 210 67 108 29 98 8.9 2.8 1.2 4.6 0% .271 1.31 4.74 3.69 117 4.90 113.8
2012 ARI MLB NL 21 21 130.0 6 10 0 146 31 89 17 100 10.1 2.1 1.2 6.2 0% .306 1.36 4.22 4.22 106 4.81 110.4
2012 BAL MLB AL 7 7 44.7 3 3 0 49 8 23 4 101 9.9 1.6 0.8 4.6 0% .302 1.28 3.71 3.63 108 4.45 102.0
2012 DIA Rk AZL 1 1 4.3 0 1 0 3 5 7 0 90 6.2 10.4 0.0 14.5 0% .300 1.85 4.57 6.23 102 3.49 72.6
2013 SEA MLB AL 32 32 183.0 11 16 0 232 61 107 25 94 11.4 3.0 1.2 5.3 0% .332 1.60 4.74 5.26 114 6.33 151.6
2014 BAL MLB AL 6 0 3.3 0 0 0 3 4 1 1 101 8.1 10.8 2.7 2.7 0% .200 2.10 10.96 13.50 118 8.71 213.7
2014 TEX MLB AL 8 8 39.7 0 5 0 62 20 22 8 96 14.1 4.5 1.8 5.0 0% .367 2.07 6.26 6.13 137 7.87 192.9
2014 FRI AA TEX 2 2 9.3 0 1 0 11 2 6 3 100 10.6 1.9 2.9 5.8 0% .276 1.39 6.97 5.79 120 5.55 117.4
2014 NOR AAA INT 10 0 12.0 0 1 0 11 6 8 0 8.3 4.5 0.0 6.0 0% .297 1.42 3.51 1.50 102 5.27 111.5
2014 OMA AAA PCL 4 4 18.7 1 2 0 27 5 6 4 91 13.0 2.4 1.9 2.9 0% .329 1.71 6.64 6.75 123 6.89 145.8
2014 ROU AAA PCL 2 2 12.0 0 1 0 15 5 8 1 94 11.3 3.8 0.8 6.0 0% .368 1.67 4.69 2.25 122 6.57 139.0
2015 TAC AAA PCL 6 0 11.0 0 3 0 11 4 12 1 9.0 3.3 0.8 9.8 0% .323 1.36 3.96 5.73 90 3.18 69.7

Plate Discipline

YEAR Pits Zone% Swing% Contact% Z-Swing% O-Swing% Z-Contact% O-Contact% SwStr%
2008 2860 0.4965 0.4465 0.8379 0.6232 0.2722 0.9040 0.6888 0.1621
2009 2992 0.4756 0.4388 0.8522 0.6142 0.2798 0.9130 0.7312 0.1478
2010 3307 0.4714 0.4188 0.8527 0.5920 0.2643 0.9328 0.6926 0.1473
2011 3202 0.4694 0.4369 0.8449 0.6274 0.2684 0.9205 0.6886 0.1551
2012 2698 0.4533 0.4477 0.8328 0.6271 0.2990 0.9035 0.7098 0.1672
2013 3096 0.4328 0.4170 0.8389 0.5888 0.2859 0.9240 0.7052 0.1611
2014 842 0.4442 0.4252 0.8743 0.6444 0.2500 0.9295 0.7607 0.1257
Career189970.46540.43330.84500.61290.27640.91750.70490.1550

Injury History  —  No longer being updated

Last Update: 12/31/2014 23:59 ET

Date On Date Off Transaction Days Games Side Body Part Injury Severity Surgery Date Reaggravation
2014-04-05 2014-05-28 15-DL 53 48 Left Ankle Contusion Batted Ball - -
2012-08-15 2012-08-15 DTD 0 0 Left Thumb Contusion Fielding - -
2012-06-17 2012-07-14 15-DL 27 21 Left Shoulder Strain - -
2012-03-12 2012-03-12 Camp 0 0 Left Lower Leg Contusion Batted Ball Shin - -
2011-09-28 2011-09-28 DTD 0 0 Left Hand Soreness - -
2011-04-16 2011-04-16 DTD 0 0 Foot Contusion Batted Ball -
2011-03-06 2011-03-19 Camp 13 0 General Medical Illness -
2010-08-19 2010-08-19 DTD 0 0 General Medical Illness -
2009-08-08 2009-08-26 15-DL 18 17 Left Shoulder Stiffness -
2009-02-25 2009-03-04 Camp 7 0 Left Shoulder Soreness -
2008-09-19 2008-09-28 DTD 9 9 General Medical Illness Kidney Stones -
2008-08-17 2008-08-17 DTD 0 0 Left Shoulder Stiffness Player Collision -
2008-05-22 2008-05-22 DTD 0 0 General Medical Respiratory Flu -
2007-03-12 2007-03-21 Camp 9 0 Left Forearm Stiffness -
2006-08-16 2006-08-16 DTD 0 0 Left Shoulder Fatigue -
2003-04-09 2003-09-01 Minors 145 0 Left Shoulder Cartilage Injury Frayed Labrum - -

Compensation

Year Team Salary
2015 SEA $
2014 TEX $500,000
2013 SEA $6,500,000
2012 ARI $6,000,000
2011 ARI $5,500,000
2010 ANA $3,700,000
2009 ANA $475,000
2008 ANA $425,000
2007 ANA $380,000
YearsDescriptionSalary
8 yrPrevious$23,480,000
8 yrTotal$23,480,000

 

Service TimeAgentContract Status
7 y 138 dGreg Genske1 year (2015)

Details
  • 1 year (2015). Signed by Seattle as a free agent 2/20/15 (minor-league contract). Salary of $0.75M in majors. Released by Seattle, re-signed as a free agent 3/31/15 (minor-league contract). Opted out of contract with Seattle 5/1/15.
  • 1 year/$0.5M (2014). Signed by Texas as a free agent 3/5/14 ($0.25M guaranteed). Salary of $1.5M in majors. Roster bonus: $0.5M for 90 days on active roster. Performance bonuses: $0.15M each for 130, 140, 150, 160, 170, 180 innings. $0.25M each for 190, 200, 210 innings. Award bonuses: $25,000 each for LCS MVP, Gold Glove. $50,000 each for All-Star selection, WS MVP, Comeback Player of the Year. $0.1M for Cy Young. DFA by Texas 7/1/14. Released by Texas 7/4/14. Signed by Kansas City as a free agent 7/8/14 (minor-league contract). Released by Kansas City 7/29/14. Signed by Baltimore as a free agent 8/5/14 (minor-league contract). Contract selected by Baltimore 9/1/14.
  • 1 year/$6.5M (2013), plus 2014 mutual option. Signed by Seattle as a free agent 2/11/13. May earn additional $1M in bonuses. Seattle declined 2014 option 11/1/13.
  • 1 year/$6M (2012). Re-signed by Arizona as a free agent 1/17/12. Acquired by Baltimore in trade from Arizona 8/26/12.
  • 1 year/$5.5M (2011). Re-signed by Arizona 1/18/11 (avoided arbitration). Non-tendered by Arizona 12/12/11.
  • 1 year/$3.7M (2010). Re-signed by LA Angels 1/29/10 (avoided arbitration). Performance bonus: $25,000 each for 180, 200 IP. Acquired by Arizona in trade from LA Angels 7/25/10 (Dan Haren deal).
  • 1 year/$0.475M (2009). Re-signed by LA Angels 2/26/09.
  • 1 year/$0.425M (2008). Re-signed by LA Angels 3/2/08.
  • 1 year/$0.38M (2007). Renewed by LA Angels 3/07.
  • 1 year (2006). Re-signed by LA Angels 2/06.
  • 1 year (2005). Contract purchased by Anaheim 11/04.
  • Drafted by Anaheim 2002 (1-12) (Virginia Tech). $1.825M signing bonus.

2019 Preseason Forecast

Last Update: 1/27/2017 12:35 ET

PCT W L SV G GS IP H BB SO HR BABIP WHIP ERA DRA VORP WARP
Weighted Mean?????0.0?00?.0000.000.00?0.00.0

BP Annual Player Comments

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BP Articles

Click here to see articles tagged with Joe Saunders

BP Chats

DateQuestionAnswer
2013-08-08 17:30:00 (link to chat)I'm going for it in our AL only keeper league. Is it time to jettison Straily for help right now? If so how would you order Pettitte, Danks, and JSaunders? Also, is MSaunders a big donwgrade from Colby Rasmus? Thanks very much!
(conjoinedtwins from Orillia ON)		Hi to you both.

Flags fly forever. If Dan Straily can improve your team this year, do it.

Of those three pitchers, you have them in the right order. Andy Pettitte's ERA is high, but his peripheral numbers show a better pitcher lurking in there. John Danks has been OK, but I still have some concerns about how he'll hold up and he is a weaker play against stronger teams. Even in AL-only, Joe Saunders is an at-home play only. He's poison to your chances of winning if you start him on the road.

I wouldn't exactly call Michael Saunders a big downgrade from Colby Rasmus, but he is a downgrade. As Bret Sayre talked about on a recent Towers of Power fantasy podcast, Rasmus' batting average is fueled by a strong BABIP, and his BA isn't even THAT good. You're losing BA/runs/RBI with Saunders, but some of that is luck-dependent. I prefer Rasmus, but if you can improve your team elsewhere, Saunders is an acceptable replacement and isn't a zero. Good luck. (Mike Gianella)
2013-04-18 14:00:00 (link to chat)Thoughts on the Astros manager benching JD Martinez for swining at a high 80s fastball the other day?
(grandslam28 from chicago)		Bo Porter knows his players better than I do, grandslam28, so I think it's fair to side with him on the decision. With Joe Saunders having cruised through the first three innings, Porter had reason to be upset with Martinez for making the second out of the inning on the second pitch. That said, if the benching was heavily influenced by the result, then I'd have some concerns with it. (Daniel Rathman)
2012-08-17 13:00:00 (link to chat)1. Dan Haren WTF happen? 2. Will the Angels pick up his $15.5 million option for 2013 and take the risk that he's just having a really really bad year and will revert back to prior form in 2013... or do they pay out $3 mil, move on, and let some other team figure out whether he's even a viable back-end rotation guy in the future?
(WestCoastMets from The Devil's Waiting Room)		Yeah, so Dan Haren. He's still got an edge on Joe Saunders since the trade in 2010, but it's close; two-tenths of a run of ERA or so. He had four starts in the previous three years in which he walked as many batters as he struck out. He has five of those this year. This isn't really like 2010, when he was getting BABIP'd to death. Very hittable.

Haren had been losing velocity steadily for a few years, and this might just be the year it got to be too much. It's a chat, so anything I say here has been researched for about 14 seconds, so give me a break if this is wrong, but it looks to me like he allowed one home run last year on a four-seamer up in the zone. And this year he has allowed 11. He throws a lot of four-seamers up in the zone, and when the velocity on them drops from 90 mph to 88.5 mph, it's hard to survive. He did OK in the past with less velocity because he developed the cutter on the fly, but I'm not sure what he can develop next. And even the cutter has gotten a little more slidery than he'd like at times this year.

I think the Angels pick up the option. What other choice do they have? Sign a pitcher for four years as a free agent? Almost impossible that that wouldn't be even riskier. As it is, they'll presumably let Ervin walk, may not have a chance to re-sign Greinke, and be looking at two starters plus Garrett Richards, Jerome Williams and ___________. So, yeah, option picked up, and hope it's just his back. Since he acknowledged the back soreness, his ERA is 5.5, but on the other hand who knows. (Sam Miller)
2012-03-26 13:00:00 (link to chat)When do we see Bauer hit the bigs?
(Jquinton82 from NY)		Second favorite Jeff Mathis story is when I accidentally submitted that three times.

I hate to just assume this for every top prospect, but I assume he's up in late June like the rest of 'em. And Wade Miley gets the starts when Joe Saunders or Josh Collmenter goes down early. (Sam Miller)
2010-07-29 16:30:00 (link to chat)Would a package from the Yankees built around Joba and Ian Nova plus two prospects been better than what the Angels gave up?
(Jquinton82 from NY)		I would certainly think so. Joba could become a lot of different things, a bad reliever, or a great starter. His stock has fallen, but it's still gotta be a lot higher than Joe Saunders' who is due to make over $6MM in arbitration next year. (Matt Swartz)


BP Roundtables

DateRoundtable NameComment
2009-06-09 14:30:002009 Draft CoverageOne of the great things about being at BP is having great help just a few keyboard clicks away. I asked Rany, who did his fantastic series on draft history, if he remembers a draft that was better 11-20 than 1-10. Rany jumped into action for me, and found just one in 15 years: 2002.

Top Ten: B.J. Upton, Zack Greinke, Prince Fielder, Jeff Francis.
11-20: Hermida, Joe Saunders, Scott Kazmir, Nick Swisher, Cole Hamels, James Loney, Denard Span.

The best example is 1994, where Garciaparra, Konerko and Varitek went 12-14. Needless to say, the top 10 that boasted Paul Wilson, Ben Grieve, Todd Walker and Jaret Wright wasn't as good. (Bryan Smith)
 

PITCHf/x Pitcher Profile

A Collaboration between BrooksBaseball.net and Baseball Prospectus - Pitch classifications provided by Pitch Info LLC


Although he has not thrown an MLB pitch in 2024, Joe Saunders threw 21,103 pitches that were tracked by the PITCHf/x system between 2007 and 2014, all of them occuring in Spring Training. In 2014, he relied primarily on his Sinker (92mph), also mixing in a Fourseam Fastball (91mph), Slider (83mph), Change (82mph) and Curve (76mph).