Comments on: How Often Do Good Relievers Have Bad Outings?

By: James

James — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 01:03:13 +0000

My concern with last night was that Collins was even in the position of having inherited runners. I assumed that after Hoch got out of the 6th with nearly 100 pitches, that Yost would send in the relief for the 7th, especially considering the two balks in the 6th. I don’t really see a reason why Hoch got the ball, let Collins or Crow come in to start the inning and we’re only down 2, and a rookie isn’t put into a high leverage/pressure situation.
Granted my only way of following the game is via MLB.com gameday so I didn’t really see what was happening.

By: Ted

Ted — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:42:49 +0000

Or is he being sarcastic? I cannot tell.

This is a nice write up, but I got distracted by the first sentence because for me the most exciting thing about this young season is that Butler, Gordon and Betemit are all hitting extremely well. Having three guys under team control who are already producing at the big league level is terribly exciting. If they keep this up we won’t have to count on so many of the farm kids making it big, and we won’t have to worry so much about DM’s forays into free agency.

By: David

David — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:06:39 +0000

It sounds like benjammin (sic) isn’t a fan of Mr. Collins.

By: benjammin

benjammin — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 21:48:50 +0000

The whole point of your article it seems is to search for a way to justify that Collins is not as bad as his ERA states. You remember all the exciting appearances to start the season, and insist that he cant possibly be a 6.00 era pitcher. He is better, I know he is! …He is not. He allows 6 runs for every nine innings he pitches, and half of the runners on base when he comes in, end up scoring. A terrible strand rate. At this point he is terrible and totally unreliable. He is clearly not ready for the bigs. That little frickin midget can kiss my ass.

By: scott

scott — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:29:51 +0000

I think Soria will be fine also, it took him alittle while last year to get going. Honestly I would have taken Hoch out last night after the second balk that tied the game, his head was not in it then. I don’t think I would have put collins back in that tight situation either, I would have used Crow for the final 2 outs then went to someone else. Yost I think is trying to find his guys and see how they fair night in/night out so maybe(please God) be above .500 at the alstar break

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 16:05:41 +0000

Soria is fine. Shaky early, no big deal. I’m more worried about the middle relievers. The middle innings have looked awful…implosion is the only apt term. Our bats can’t compete with the sort of blood letting we saw last night in the 6th/7th. I have faith in the bullpen, but they need to find a groove. That being said, when Woods releases a pitch, it makes me hold my breath like when Elvis Grbac dropped back to pass. Maybe that’s unwarranted, but it is a physiological response…like hearing nails on a chalkboard….I can’t help it.

By: Bill in Vancouver, WA

Bill in Vancouver, WA — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:40:03 +0000

It makes sense since a SP’s “norm” for strand-rate is 70%…..anything above/below that can point to some luck one way or the other in their overall performace

By: JMGesling

JMGesling — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:20:50 +0000

It might be worth taking a look at those same pitchers and gathering that data in the first two MLB seasons. I agree that these kids are going to be good…but they are just that…kids. Talent gets you to the big leagues, adjustments keep you there. Give them time and applaud the success, cover your eyes in the failures.

By: airgoesit

airgoesit — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:20:12 +0000

As someone who uses middle relievers to win fantasy leagues, (because it’s well known that’s the best way to judge success, tongue firmly in cheek), I think managerial success is completely based on observation and catching lightning in a bottle. These guys are the streakiest of players and past performance isn’t as good an indicator either way. Give me 5-6 guys with power arms and a low WHIP and I’ll find my 6th, 7th and 8th inning pitchers by the end of the first month. One year a guy will be lights out, the next he’ll get lit up and vice versa. eg: our favorite whipping boy Kyle F. He seems to be handling “pressure situations” just fine this year.
The trick is finding the guys who will have a great year early and setting roles for the rest of the season. List the number of bullpens to have sustained success for multiple years with the same 3-4 guys. I have to agree with Greg, if it’s not the most replaceable, it’s the least predictable so the most in flux.

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 13:58:35 +0000

A back-to-normal Soria is my biggest concern at this point. I’m not expecting any of the three rookies you mentioned to completely flame out, but if they do I think Holland, Coleman, and even Wood or others can likely be servicable? In short, I’m not worried about middle relievers. I like the ones we have, but I think it’s probably the most replaceable part of a team.