Bullpen Woes — And What to DO
An interesting stat just popped up in my daily email from Baseball Prospectus:
Top 5 Most Helpful AL Relievers, by Inherited Runs Prevented
Player, Team, Inh Runs Prevented
Grant Balfour, TBA, 5.1
James Johnson, BAL, 3.6
Jonathan Papelbon, BOS, 3.5
Bobby Korecky, MIN, 3.2
Joel Peralta, KCA, 3.2
Wow. Korecky really got the job done in his brief time in the majors. That’s an impressive stat considering he only pitched 10.1 innings in 9 games.
Maybe … just maybe … he’d be a better fit for the club than Boof or Bass. (By the way, considering the fact that Boof never plays anyway, would we really lose much if someone took him on waivers? And it’s his fault that Crain and Guerrier are about to die — they can’t pitch in every game, Gardy!) Also Breslow. Why isn’t Breslow pitching? Because he’s left handed?
Why are left handed starters valuable but left handed relievers can only face one batter before hitting the showers? Especially since Breslow is better against righties than lefties. Consider …
vs righties: .185/.313/.204 in 64 PA
vs lefties: .238/.273/.310 in 44 PA
So … why does he face one guy per week? Those are Neshek numbers. We’re lacking a certain Neshek. Why not let this guy try to get people out, rather than sending Crain and Guerrier out to try to keep their arms connected to their shoulders or Bass to try and keep the other team from scoring 10 runs in an inning?
The bullpen is a big weakness right now, and it seems to me that there are a couple of clear upgrades: Korecky and Breslow instead of Boof and Bass, which in turn eases the pressure on Guerrier and Crain. Solves the following problems:
- Brian Bass is on our team and has pitched more than any other reliever in the league.
- Breslow pitches once per week despite his good numbers and performances.
- Korecky escapes from Rochester back to the big club where he can save inherited runs (left on the bases for him by Reyes).
- Crain and Guerrier are getting overworked because they’re the only non-horrible relievers Gardy is willing to use.
- Boof … continues to take up space in the pen without doing any actual pitching. Oh well.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve had quite enough of these bullpen woes.
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I hear you about Korecky… He should be there instead of Bass. One mopup reliever (Boof) is enough. Also, Breslow has to be used more; he actually is hit less by RH batters than LH batters…
The thing that frustrates me the most is that these are all VERY easy moves. Bill Smith could make them while sitting in his office watching sportscenter and drinking coffee. I would hope there has been lots of internal talks about Brian Bass and Boof. You would think the underuse of Breslow would have come up at some point, too. It just seems to me these moves are just so obvious, and its not like a lot of things have to happen for them to be made. Call the Rochester manager, book a flight for Korecky and Bass, hopefully the car talking Bass to the airport for his outbound flight can pick up Korecky as he lands in KC from Rochester. But who am I kidding, I’m sure the Twins utilize the free shuttle from the Holliday Inn Express to the Airport in any city they stay in.
Heh, I don’t mind if they use the free shuttle from the airport as long as Bass is going one way and Korecky is going the other way.
And you’re right that they’re easy, obvious moves. It confuses me as to why they haven’t been made yet. Something needs to be done to help this bullpen.
Bass is out of options. He has to be cut/DFA’d
Yes. So is Boof. And Breslow.
The “out of options” problem is the reason Bass and Boof are still with the club and Korecky isn’t.
The thing is — Brian Bass was cut by the Kansas City Royals, and we were the only team willing to take a chance on him and take him on waivers. He’s since shown himself to be awful. I doubt someone would take him on waivers … and even if they did, we have guys at AAA who could easily replace his production (um, an ERA of 5 and a WHIP of 1.5 is NOT difficult to replace).
Boof is still young, so it may be risky to try to pass him through waivers. But losing Bass on waivers is both unlikely (who wants him) and meaningless (we don’t need him, now or in the future).
The twins seem to think their players have a greater chance of not clearing waivers than they do (see: Jones, Garrett). People use the out of options excuse for not dumping Bass, who cares if we lose him. He is the most replaceable pitcher in the organization. Why is everyone afraid to lose him, we are one of (if not the) most pitching rich organization in the AL, we’ll find someone who can suck for the big club if we lose Bass. Or better yet, someone WHO DOESN’T SUCK!!
Exactly.
Also, I thought Gardy’s reaction to Jones passing through waivers unclaimed was priceless. He actually thought someone would want a 27 year old career minor leaguer with some power, no plate discipline, no average, and no position (career minor league OPS: .745). Hopefully they learned a lesson from that — namely, evaluate players based on their abilities, not on whether you like them personally.
The Brian Bass Fiasco seems to demonstrate that they have not learned that lesson.
I don’t think the twins organization will ever be able to cut a guy they like personally. Case in point Nick Punto. He should have been at least sent to AAA at some point last season.
But I get keeping him around despite his breathtaking ability to make outs consistently. Fans like him, teammates like him, I hate him (and the Twins love pissing me off), but why keep Bass. He isn’t a product of the system, he’s a relief pitcher so fans don’t care about him. I just don’t get it. from everything I’ve read it doesn’t seem like he stands out as a great clubhouse guy. Not a bad one, but pretty neutral.
Luis Rodriguez. Jason Tyner. Lew Ford. Rondell White.
All liked in the clubhouse and by the team, all cut for sucking at baseball. It seemed like a good step in the right direction.
One possible reason Bass is still around is his ability to “eat” a lot of innings and “keep the stress off” the good guys like Crain and Guerrier. Bass has pitched a lot of innings for a reliever — much to the detriment of the team, of course. Except … he’s not keeping stress off Crain and Guerrier because they’re the only two guys who are both capable of pitching AND allowed to pitch in close games. (Bass is allowed to pitch in close games despite being unable to, Breslow is capable of pitching in close games but isn’t allowed to pitch at all, Boof isn’t capable or allowed, and Reyes … I guess is just too fat to stand up for more than a few minutes at a time.)
By the way, I haven’t actually heard Gardy describe Bass as an innings-eater. I wanted to point that out because there are usually a few very important characteristics of innings eaters that managers abide by:
1) Latino
2) Fat
3) Mediocre
Carlos Silva, Livan Hernandez … these are innings eaters. Johan Santana, despite pitching more innings than both, is not an innings eater. The same goes for Roy Halladay and others. They pitch a lot of innings, but are not “innings eaters;” instead, they are “good pitchers.” Maybe we should stop valuing the ability to “eat” innings and start valuing the ability to “get batters out.” Maybe.