Pen in April vs. Pen in September

[Hubs]

Many of you are calling for the promotions of guys like RJ Alvarez and Cam Bedrosian, and for Mike Morin to be used more.

 

Remember that It's only April. The pen has been better than we think, as a whole, but the guys who are contributing now aren't necessarily those who are going to be contributing in major roles down the stretch.

 

In 2002, the Angels opened the season, and pitched most of April, with a pen that consisted of Troy Percival, Donne Wall, Mark Lukasiewicz, Lou Pote, Al Levine, and Ben Weber. Dennis Cook started on the DL, if I remember right. In the 2nd half and then in the Playoffs, they used mainly Percival, Donnelly, Weber, K-Rod, and Shields. 

 

Guys they counted on for roles in the pen in April didn't even pitch down the stretch for them whether because of injury or because of ineffectiveness. Only Percival and Weber were in their roles the entire season. Schoeneweis started in the rotation but was more effective out of the pen, after being moved in favor of Lackey.

 

So, before calling out Scioscia for not pitching who you think should be pitched, remember that the pen is an ever evolving thing, and maybe the guys going forward aren't those who are there now. 

 

Donnelly started out in April with the team, but didn't really start getting into games until late June. Shields made his debut that year on June 15. We all know K-Rod came on in September. Schoeneweis was moved to the pen late June or early July. Those four guys pitched a total of 17 first half games out of the pen, versus 102 in the second half.

 

Lou Pote, Dennis Cook, Donne Wall, and Mark Lukasiewicz pitched a total of 11 games in the second half compared to 102 in the first half. If you add in Levine, the number jumps to 30 second half games compared to 154 first half. 

 

First Half Pen Numbers: 3.54 ERA in 229 IP. 198 hits and 107 BB for a 1.332 WHIP. 1.58 K/BB ratio.

Second Half Pen Numbers: 2.38 ERA in 215.2 IP. 151 hits and 76 walks for a 1.053 WHIP. 2.33 K/BB ratio.

 

Angels April Pen numbers: 4.54 ERA in 75.1 IP. 71 Hits and 47 BB for a 1.566 WHIP. 1.34 K/BB ratio.

Angels May-October Pen numbers:  2.65 ERA in 369.1 IP. 278 hits and 136 BB for a 1.113 WHIP. 2.081 K/BB ratio.

 

Frieri, Jepsen, Salas, Smith, Kohn, Marone and Herrera pitched the most games in April out of the pen.

 

By September, any of Morin, Alvarez, Bedrosian, DDLR, or Burnett might join any of Kohn, Jepesen, Salas, and Frieri to be the main guys.

 

It's early and we simply do not know what is going to happen going forward.

 

So let's just relax and watch them play.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

Fettuccini Alfredo always gives me diarrhea whether I eat it in April or September.

Just saying.

Both give you the runs.