Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Bullpen "Management"

OK I started this on the last post, and decided to make a full post out of this.

"But with our bullpen, it doesn't happen too often"-Mike Hargrove. I'm sorry but from what I have seen this year, it does happen too often. I'd like to take a look at inherited runners statistics with this bullpen when I get a chance, but it seems like a number of times the bullpen hasn't been able to put out the fire when they come into a pressure situation. I don't understand why there are 12 pitchers on the staff to begin with, but that's another story.

Thornton wasn't credited with any of those runs the other day when he came in and let the Mets cut the lead from 6-1 to 6-5. Against the Nationals, he came in with the bases loaded and walked the first two batters. If you look at the "Game 54" entry, I made a comment about Villone giving up runs that were charged to Piniero.

In fact, I will take a second here and look up the relievers numbers. Let's do it by category:

WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched):
Guardado .81
Mateo 1.09
Hasegawa 1.11
Putz 1.26
Nelson 1.5
Villone 1.5
Thornton 1.78

OBA (opponent's batting average):
Guardado .216
Mateo .278
Hasegawa .287
Putz .296
Nelson .365
Villone .371
Thornton .376

Appearances:
Villone 33
Guardado 26
Nelson 26
Putz 25
Hasegawa 22
Mateo 22
Thornton 22

I chose those numbers because ERA doesn't tell the whole story, as many runs are not charge to relievers. A good bullpen will come in with runners on, and clean up the mess, and GET PEOPLE OUT! I chose WHIP because it gives a good indication of how many batters they are(n't) getting out, and OBA because it shows how many hits they are giving up, regardless of the runs they are giving up. If anyone would like to take the time to find inherited runners scored, splits, etc. type numbers, I'd love to see them.

So I have the following questions/thoughts/ramblings....
Clearly Eddie is the best of the bunch. Then Mateo and Shiggy. Do we see how bad Thornton is? Why is he on this team? Why are there 12 pitchers? Shiggy and Mateo should be getting more work. I know Shiggy isn't what he was 2 years ago, but he is clearly better than Nelson and Villone. WHY IS RON VILLONE PITCHING SO MUCH? Easy answer-he is the best lefty option. Maybe he is overworked and getting worn down, but I think its that he sucks. But why Nelson over Shiggy, Mateo, and Putz? The three relievers that came in last night were Villone, Nelson, and Thornton. Their OBAs are 70 points higher than anyone else on the team. They have the three worst WHIPs on the team. We can say Hargrove doesn't have much to work with, and there's the whole lefty thing, but I really question his managment of the bullpen. I say Thornton needs to go, as does Nelson, and bring up Sherrill.

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:05 AM

    sherrill scares me ---never looked confident whne he was up l;ast time

    Villone did the job last night--the offense couldn't do it for the club,thjough--hit hte ball on the nose often but the A's defense sucked everything up--especially Border's drive to right center (and Richie's hitting into doiuble plays didn't hlep either)

    nice analysis of the bullpen,Mike----let's wait for Soriano

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  2. Did i mention that Thornton is crap?

    He's 29 too. Didn't realize that. If he were 23, it'd be one thing. And his minor league numbers aren't impressive either, so I don't know why there is any thought that he is good at throwing a baseball for strikes.

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