Dbacks looking into many bullpen options

[coyoteshockeyfan]

The Diamondbacks are looking for relief help and recently sent a scout to watch the Yankees, Indians, Pirates and Devil Rays. Arizona was interested in the Yankees' TOM GORDON and TANYON STURTZE, Cleveland's BOB WICKMAN, Pittsburgh's JOSE MESA and Tampa Bay's DANYS BAEZ. Of those, Baez is the most likely to be moved before the July 31 trade deadline. Baez has been throwing his fastball in the mid-90s and has impressed scouts in limited work...The market for starting pitching has yet to take shape, since there are few eye-poppers available after JASON SCHMIDT (who may not be available). Boston is interested in Toronto lefty TED LILLY, and the Twins have been calling around to let teams know that right-hander KYLE LOHSE could be available if he brings back a hitter. Minnesota, which had fallen 10 games behind the White Sox in the AL Central as of Thursday morning, likes Padres third baseman SEAN BURROUGHS...The Yankees will have serious competition in their efforts to get center fielder MARK KOTSAY from Oakland. The Cubs covet Kotsay and have much more to offer in the way of prospects than do the Yankees. Chicago would put Kotsay in center and move COREY PATTERSON to left field...The Red Sox also have expressed interest in Kotsay, though it's unclear where he could play for them. He does have some experience at first base...The Marlins continue to try to trade outfielder JUAN ENCARNACION, with Atlanta expressing some interest, but Florida would rather not do a deal within its own division.

http://www.nj.com/columns/ledger/gr...umns-0/1119767419243560.xml&coll=1&thispage=2

 

[asudevil83]

i MUST know what our bullpen ERA is. it has to be worst in the bigs by at least double the next worse team. could it be the worst ever?

we are in a game, and blow it night in and night out. down by 2 in the ninth and right now we are down 8 with only one out.

 

[spikecop02]

we were in that game to. How many times has bruney come in and blown the game for us?

 

[AZZenny]

Here's your answer:

On the season, the Arizona bullpen has worked 210 1/3 innings and allowed 142 earned runs. That, of course, includes the dependable work of closer Brandon Lyon before he went down with an elbow injury.

But it also includes the ugly numbers posted by a handful of guys who have since departed.

Kerry Ligtenberg, Matt Herges, Randy Choate, Edgar Gonzalez - all were with the Diamondbacks at some point, and all headed to Tucson lugging some heavy ERAs.

Herges and Ligtenberg pitched a combined 17 2/3 innings and allowed 27 earned runs.

Strike those four from the record and the bullpen suddenly doesn't look so horrendous. The bullpen ERA would drop more than a run, from 6.08 to 5.05. It wouldn't be among the best, but it wouldn't be the worst, either.

The St. Louis Cardinals lead the league with a 3.12 bullpen ERA, followed by the San Diego Padres at 3.55. The average bullpen in the NL has a 4.50 ERA.

Certainly any team with a struggling bullpen - and there are a lot of them - could play these numbers games and their stats would look better as well. Still, the Diamondbacks bullpen, in its current form, might be somewhat miscast when not everything is taken into account - like the pitchers who are gone and probably won't be back.

"There are no do-overs in this game," Garagiola said. "I understand that. But in a couple of those situations, guys had to stay out there and take one for the team. And given the limited number of innings that a bullpen works, it doesn't take very many bad outings to really skew the numbers, particularly earned-run average.

"Baseball is great for instant labels. Always has been and probably always will be. So I think to a large extent right now, the popular wisdom is our bullpen is a disaster. And our guys could put up zeros for the next three weeks and you will still read that the bullpen is a disaster."

It's certainly been better of late. The bullpen has allowed only two earned runs in its past 15 1/3 innings.

Jose Valverde hasn't allowed a run in his past five appearances, working six innings and striking out nine.

Greg Aquino hasn't allowed an earned run in his past five games, although the Tigers scored twice off him on Sunday with the help of an Alex Cintron error.

And Brian Bruney, who still has only one blown save since taking over closer's duties for Lyon, hasn't allowed a run in five of his past six games.

 

[MaoTosiFanClub]

Sorry Zen, way too much spin in that article for me. Even a 5.05 ERA is way too much if you're going to be a contender (which I don't think we are BTW). It neglects to mention the one and only Javier Lopez whose prolonged stay in the bigs is an embarrasment to the game.

 

[AZZenny]

Oh, I agree - especially since the spin seems to excuse some lousy player decisions as if they came out of thin air rather than the GM's head, and never existed once the players were shipped to Tucson. (Note - still stockpiled in the system. Whooopeee!) But there is a kernel of truth - for ex. the way everyone, myself included, has believed Bruney himself has blown a whole bunch of saves (which is actually the main reason I copied the article).

There ARE a lot of crappy bullpens out there, or injured pens, and what concerns me most is that real contenders like Boston will pay for anyone worth having, and we - a genuinely so-so .500 club - would end up once again overpaying for lame pitching dregs.

I used to think Schillingfan's implacable mistrust of all relievers was absurd, but the stats bear it out. They are extremely unpredictable statistically from one season to the next, they are very injury-prone, (BA has a little deal on how when bullpen warmups are included, they can raise a reliever's appearances up around 120 a season, and there is a strong correlation between appearances/workload and injury or decline in velocity or control) and they are usually relievers because they don't have good enough stuff or mechanics or durability to be starters.

 

[Gnomad]

Hey guys, been a long time since i posted... but I just can't take it anymore...

Is there an anti Bruney/Koplove movement somewhere? I'd like to join and contribute. These two have to be the worst 1-2 relievers (I won't give Bruney the status of closer, he gets pulled too often) in the game today.

Stop the madness!