Performance Grades at the Break

[eligrba]

10 hours ago, tdawg87 said:

Yeah but it'll cost ya

*Unzips pants*

[zenmaster]

No one has deserved Fs more than Cahill and Harvey. They are among the worst pitchers in all of baseball.

[totdprods]

Diving in a little deeper into the relievers...I simply split their games into halves, nothing scientific here, and if it was an uneven total, I gave the extra game to the latter half - this only would have radically skewed Noe's numbers, but given his role, I don't think it makes too big of a deal.

The thing with relievers is they pitch so few innings that ERA is a really poor way to judge their performance - so I tried to focus on the peripherals first.

• Hansel Robles
  • First 21 games: 19 IP, 14 H, 5 BB, 22 K, 2 HR - .197 BAA, 3.79 ERA
  • Last 22 games: 23.2 IP, 22 H, 6 BB, 20 K, 1 HR - .256 BAA, 1.90 ERA
  • That's about as consistent as you can hope for in a reliever. Really similar good peripherals across 43 games. Also, he's only 28 years old?
     
• Cam Bedrosian
  • First 21 games: 22 IP, 15 H, 12 BB, 25 K, 1 HR - .188 BAA, 2.86 ERA
  • Last 21 games: 21 IP, 17 H, 6 BB, 23 K, 4 HR - .205 BAA, 4.29 ERA
  • Bedrosian is proof that an ill-timed HR or three can really skew perception and numbers. Again, he's been remarkably consistent in a good way.  
     
• Ty Buttrey:
  • First 20 games: 22 IP, 18 H, 3 BB, 28 K, 0 HR - .220 BAA, 0.82 ERA
  • Last 21 games: 20 IP, 21 H, 9 BB, 22 K, 3 HR - .266 BAA, 4.50 ERA
  • See comments on Bedrosian; a couple HRs throws off the numbers. He hasn't been as dominant, but aside from a little fluctuation in BB:K ratio and a couple HR, hasn't been much worse for wear.
     
• Justin Anderson
  • First 18 games: 18.1 IP, 16 H, 9 BB, 29 K, 2 HR - .225 BAA, 4.42 ERA
  • Last 18 games: 13.2 IP, 9 H, 10 BB, 17 K, 0 HR - .180 BAA, 1.98 ERA
  • Sort of a reverse-Buttrey/Bedrosian thing here. The lack of IP per appearance suggest they're using him as the high-lev guy to give Buttrey a breather from his heavy use early in the year (might be why they moved him to AAA for a bit, to limit use) but recent control is a little worrisome. 
     
• Noe Ramirez
  • First 15 games: 21.2 IP, 17 H, 9 BB, 25 K, 5 HR - .215 BAA, 3.32 ERA
  • Last 16 games: 23 IP, 19 H, 5 BB, 30 K, 3 HR - .216 ERA, 3.52 ERA
  • Again, we see very consistent peripherals in trends. 
     
• Luis Garcia:
  • First 18 games: 16 IP, 10 H, 13 BB, 9 K, 1 HR - .179 BAA, 2.25 ERA
  • Last 18 games: 17 IP, 22 H, 6 BB, 16 K, 7 HR - .306 BAA, 6.88 ERA
  • Luis is really the only primary bullpen arm that's truly tailed off and performed poorly, and honestly, should probably be shown the door once Middleton and Ramirez return to the 25-man. 
     
• Luke Bard:
  • First 9 games: 12.2 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, 16 K, 3 HR - .200 BAA, 2.84 ERA
  • Last 10 games: 13.2 IP, 19 H, 5 BB, only 8 K, 2 HR - .322 BAA, 7.90 ERA
  • Bard's last four games were really awful - 11 H, 10 ER in 6 IP, but the peripherals above also suggest that he increasingly lost whatever was working for him to start the year.

Jewell, Curtiss, Cole, etc. don't really have enough games to base a true performance grade, and Allen is already gone.

The biggest takeaway? Our main bullpen core has been extremely consistent all year long. Sure, Buttrey and Bedrosian have wavered a bit of late, but Anderson has picked up some slack, and Ramirez and Robles' stability have really held it down. 
The problem hasn't been overuse so much as it's been a lack of a stable, solid 6th and 7th arm in the pen, especially with Luis Garcia being as flimsy as he's been, and the rotation being so inefficient. This consistency bodes very well for the remainder of the year, especially with Cole still showing good peripherals and Middleton and Ramirez returning. Still TBD if Cahill remains in the bullpen, but he could help a lot here as well.

Conversely, it also shows just how thin our bullpen depth really is. Any injuries to our top 3-4 guys could really throw off the balance. 

Edited July 11, 2019 by totdprods