Posted by Zach Sanders on Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 6:13 pm

With all the talks about pitchers changing teams this week, it is only appropriate to analyze the change in the defensive ability of the pitchers team. To do so, I mapped out each teams UZR for the players at each position and compared the differences. For the most part, I used the player who had played the most at each position, but in some cases that didn’t work so well because they are no longer with the team, or injured.

The numbers are in reference to the new team, so a positive UZR/150 means the pitcher will have better defense behind him now that he has been traded. I did this for Cliff Lee, Jarrod Washburn, Jake Peavy, and Justin Masterson.

First, let’s look at Cliff Lee’s new defense. You can click on all the images to view them at full size.

Not bad, good enough for a 6.1 UZR/150 team defense (including bench) upgrade. Next, Washburn.

As a flyball pitcher, this doesn’t bode well for Washburn. The team difference is only -1.1, but a huge difference in right and center could be detrimental to Washburn’s game. Now, onto Peavy.

While Peavy won’t be pitching much in Chicago this season, the defense will be a minor help (3.5). Lastly, it’s Masterson time.

This time, we get to see Cleveland from the other side. For a guy who relies on groundball outs with his sinker, this isn’t good. Losing Pedroia at second base really hurts him. 

A pitchers defense is key, and Lee and Peavy came out on top, while we may see problems with Washburn and Masterson.