Eppler may have already built the 2018 bulllpen

[Second Base]

One of the biggest surprises last year as Eppler's unprecedented success with waiver wire pitchers. He obviously saw something that other teams weren't or just didn't care about. 

I think the big question for 2018 was if he could possibly repeat this. Was this luck or talent for acquiring...well, talent. 

But after looking at the 40 man roster, I think Eppler's moves have made it clear that he believes he and his staff can repeat the unearthing they did in 2017. 

Felix Pena, Dayan Diaz, Noe Ramirez, Eduardo Paredes, a healthy JC Ramirez..  

We'll likely see Billy add more names to this list in the coming months, but I find it doubtful he will spend money on free agent relievers.

 

Edited May 29, 2018 by Tank

[KDWells]

I’m in agreement with you here for the most part, there will be some minor moves to convert over the offseason cause Eppler’s gonna Eppler. But I think the core of the bullpen is already there.

[ukyah]

it all depends on who becomes available.

[Billy_Ball]

Greg Holland might be available (if the Rockies don't re-sign him), but he'll cost a lot.

[Dtwncbad]

When I look at all the starters, I worry that the Angels are going to have a gap from inning six to inning eight.  Not many of the starters look like great bets to get past the 5th or 6th inning.

The Angels are going to need at least one rubber arm guy like they had in Shields.

They don't grow on trees. . .

[DMVol]

Stoneman, Reagins and DiPoto spent money on guys like Fuentes, Speier, Downs, Street and Smith....appears Eppler wants to spend his money elsewhere...

[floplag]

I want a lockdown pen far more than any starter, and what we have right now is not that.   
We may not need expensive closers and such, im fine with committee approach there is needed, but for that to work you need a competent committee.  
I would like to shorted game, we have a ton of potential starters but none are likely to give a lot of complete games. 

[Dtwncbad]

Is one of these starters well suited to be a high workload bullpen horse?

Shoemaker?  Ramirez?

[totdprods]

He needs to be opportunistic once again. I'm definitely beginning to trust in whatever formula/scouting they're going on for pitchers because the successes of Ramirez, Bridwell, Meyer, Petit, Parker, Norris, Hernandez, and Yates, even if on another team, show me that they know what they're doing. 

But there needs to be a little bit more depth worked into there. I still like the idea of Addison Reed, or at the very least, one reliever with some consistent MLB experience.

[Dtwncbad]

I know this is a bullpen thread but one glaring concern for the pitching staff is the obvious absence of anybody that looks like they can counted on for 180 innings.

I used to be strictly "I want to add an ace" but I have to be realistic.

A reliable #3 starter that can deliver 180 innings would be nice.

At the end of 2018 we may find out that this pitcher was here all along.  But at the moment is there anybody on the roster you would confidently predict will log 180 innings of decent quality (not a Nolasco)?

[WeatherWonk]

Wasnt Petit a pretty big part of last year's BP? He is currently gone.

I certainly think that the BP is not our top priority, this offseason. But we need someone who can replace what Petit gave us. He was used in many fashions last year; especially when it became apparent that we had a shot at the Wild Card. I recall him being used as a long reliever, a late inning setup guy and a closer, towards the end.

Some GM around the league has noticed Petit. He WILL get resigned by someone.

[Make Angels Great Again]

We have Blake Parker under control for a few more years, right?

 

That dude is nails.

[Angel Oracle]

12 hours ago, Scotty@AW said:

One of the biggest surprises last year as Eppler's unprecedented success with waiver wire pitchers. He obviously saw something that other teams weren't or just didn't care about. 

I think the big question for 2018 was if he could possibly repeat this. Was this luck or talent for acquiring...well, talent. 

But after looking at the 40 man roster, I think Eppler's moves have made it clear that he believes he and his staff can repeat the unearthing they did in 2017. 

Felix Pena, Dayan Diaz, Noe Ramirez, Eduardo Paredes, a healthy JC Ramirez..  

We'll likely see Billy add more names to this list in the coming months, but I find it doubtful he will spend money on free agent relievers.

 

Re-signing Petit, and maybe also Norris, will be a big move.  Big contracts for relievers don't work out a lot.   Someone will throw mad money at Wade Davis.

[totdprods]

2 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Re-signing Petit, and maybe also Norris, will be a big move.  Big contracts for relievers don't work out a lot.   Someone will throw mad money at Wade Davis.

Yup - throw 1/$5m at each and it'll go a long way to settling the pen. Billy will have enough to really wait out the market and see if he can find another NRI minor league deal like he did with those guys last year. 

[Second Base]

He's brought in a lot of velocity and movement already. A recipe for success. We could use more stability for sure.

[HaloNArizona]

4 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

Is one of these starters well suited to be a high workload bullpen horse?

Shoemaker?  Ramirez?

I would not be surprised to see Shoe in the pen.  

[Ace-Of-Diamonds]

5 hours ago, Dtwncbad said:

Is one of these starters well suited to be a high workload bullpen horse?

Shoemaker?  Ramirez?

Ramirez struggled in the first inning with a 5+ ERA, which doesn't scream RP. He was much better after the first inning.

[Chuck]

3 hours ago, totdprods said:

Yup - throw 1/$5m at each and it'll go a long way to settling the pen. Billy will have enough to really wait out the market and see if he can find another NRI minor league deal like he did with those guys last year. 

Yeah, I agree.

Maybe add some incentives for Norris and Petit. Like if they get a certain amount of holds they get a 2-3 million dollar bump to their paycheck.

[totdprods]

3 minutes ago, Chuckster70 said:

Yeah, I agree.

Maybe add some incentives for Norris and Petit. Like if they get a certain amount of holds they get a 2-3 million dollar bump to their paycheck.

The fact that both are being overlooked so frequently in offseason write ups encourages me that a deal can be had.

[SigBaby]

Have people forgotten the disaster Norris turned into after his solid yet unmaintainable start? No way should he be brought back unless it's on a minor league deal, there's plenty of guys who can eat a couple innings and post a 4 ERA out of the pen pitching in low leverage situations. Definitely re-sign Petit, but Norris is just not very good. I like Noe Ramirez, he seems to be similar pitcher to Petit,a guy who relies on off speed and command. I think the current locks in the pen are Parker, Bedrosian, Middleton. Add to that Petit and Ramirez and that's a pretty good and inexpensive group of guys to hold down the 7th, 8th, and 9th. I think we should add a lefty who can actually be relied on in high leverage situations and think Jake McGee would be a solid get with his value at somewhat of a low point. Then the final piece would be putting one of JC/Tropeano/Bridwell in the pen. 

It's remarkable the job Eppler has done evaluating bullpen talent by sifting through the scraps, it's something you don't see a lot teams able to do successfully. 

[Second Base]

JC Ramirez was very effective in 2016. We stretched him out and he had arm issues. 

With Richards, Heaney, Skaggs, Tropeano, Shoe, Bridwell, Smithand Barria all healthy and all figuring into the rotation for 2018, I don't think they'll be using Ramirez anything beyond 2 innings, or even Meyer for that matter once he's healthy.

Looking ahead to 2019, if we have Ramirez, Meyer, Bedrosian, Parker, Middleton and Paredes, that's a whole lot of velocity.

[stormngt]

7 hours ago, WeatherWonk said:

Wasnt Petit a pretty big part of last year's BP? He is currently gone.

I certainly think that the BP is not our top priority, this offseason. But we need someone who can replace what Petit gave us. He was used in many fashions last year; especially when it became apparent that we had a shot at the Wild Card. I recall him being used as a long reliever, a late inning setup guy and a closer, towards the end.

Some GM around the league has noticed Petit. He WILL get resigned by someone.

Petit signed with another team?

[totdprods]

1 hour ago, SigBaby said:

Have people forgotten the disaster Norris turned into after his solid yet unmaintainable start? No way should he be brought back unless it's on a minor league deal, there's plenty of guys who can eat a couple innings and post a 4 ERA out of the pen pitching in low leverage situations.

He had five terrible games, and the manner, importance, and sequencing of when he blew them made the optics of his struggles way worse than he really was. 

Bud Norris pitched in 60 games this year (including 3 starts; remember, Eppler wants multi-inning relievers) - here are his combined stats in the good 55 of those, which made up 92% of his appearances : 55 games, 59.2 IP: 43 hits, 21 walks, 4 home runs, 72 strikeouts, and a 1.09 ERA, 1.07 WHIP. 
That's a K9 of 10.9 
That's a H9 of 6.5
That's a HR9 of 0.6
Walks were a little high, but nothing too dangerous.

His ERA suffered miserably with those two game-winning grand slams he served up practically in back to back games. 

If you can get him back on a one or two year deal for a few million, and don't count on him as a closer, how could you not want a reliever who could do something like that 90% of the time? It's not often a reliever gives up two game-winning grand slams in the same week, but events like that will dramatically skew numbers. He's worth the risk again, if the price is right.

To put into perspective, let's bring up Greg Holland, who Jon Heyman's article predicted a 4-year, $60-64m deal ($15-16m annually) and MLBTradeRumors predicted at 4 years, $50m.
Here are his numbers:
H9: 6.3 (Bud's good 55 games? 6.5)
HR9: 1.1 (Bud? 0.6)
BB9: 4.1 (Bud? 3.2)
K9: 11 (Bud was 10.9)

Obviously, I'm factoring out Norris' worst 5 games while keeping all of Holland's games in play, but if Bud Norris can match Greg Holland 90% of the time for 90% less money, it's a no-brainer. Bud Norris was very, very good for the Angels for a vast majority of the year and we shouldn't let the trauma of a half-dozen games  allow us to miss out on a steal.
 

[Jeff Fletcher]

You should consider Blake Wood and Noe Ramirez to be parts of the 2018 bullpen also.

[totdprods]

3 minutes ago, Jeff Fletcher said:

You should consider Blake Wood and Noe Ramirez to be parts of the 2018 bullpen also.

Any indication on whether Wood will be non-tendered and re-signed on a lesser contract?