Quarter Pole Check-In - Bullpen Edition

Acuña’s Bat Flip

Acuña’s Bat Flip

NL Rookie of the Year
Jerry Blevins - 0-0, 6 G, 3.1 IP, 4 ER, 2 H, 3 BB, 4 K, 10.80 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, 3 HLD.

Jacob Webb - 1-0, 12 G, 10 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 5 BB, 13 K, 1.80 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 1 HLD, 1 SV in 1 opp.

Dan Winkler - 1-0, 14 G, 12 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 4 BB, 13 K, 1.50 ERA, 0.83 WHIP, 3 HLD.

Josh Tomlin - 1-0, 13 G, 20.2 IP, 10 R, 9 ER, 18 H, 2 BB, 14 K, 3.92 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 4 HLD, 1 blown save opp.

Sean Newcomb - 0-0, 4 G, 4.2 IP, 0 R, 6 H, 0 BB, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 2 HLD.

Jonny Venters - 0-0, 7 G, 3.0 IP, 6 ER, 6 H, 5 BB, 5 K, 18.00 ERA, 3.67 WHIP, 1 HLD, 1 SV in 2 opp.

Jesse Biddle - 0-1, 14 G, 11.1 IP, 8 R, 4 ER, 14 H, 9 BB, 11 K, 3.18 ERA, 2.03 WHIP.

A.J. Minter - 0-4, 15 G, 11.0 IP, 12 ER, 17 H, 9 BB, 16 K, 9.82 ERA, 2.36 WHIP, 3 SV in 4 opp and 1 HLD.

Luke Jackson - 2-0, 18 G, 20.0 IP, 5 ER, 17 H, 7 BB, 24 K, 2.25 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 7 HLD, 5 SV in 8 opp.

I know it’s a small sample size in some cases but Blevins appears to be the LOGGY we all thought he was / is.

We may have found a hidden gem in Webb.

Winkler hasn’t shocked anyone in doing his job well.

Tomlin throws strikes and is an innings eater that has pitched over his head and bailed us out a few times but also made us want to pull our hair out at times.

Newcomb has been outstanding in a small sample size out of the pen, I really hope this holds up, I wanted to send Julio into this role but Newk has really been brilliant in this role so no complaints.

Venters was said to have made some adjustments but we have only seen him face one hitter, it was a very good hitter and he fell behind in the count 3-1 but rallied to get Peralta to ground out to first and earn the save on Saturday night in Arizona. I’m interested to see more of him to see these adjustments and if they work.

Luke Jackson has been a savior having only two bad games, one to start the season and one bad pitch costing him a save in Arizona. All I can say is Wow! The role of closer is his for now.

Biddle is still working on some adjustments in AAA, we’ll see how that goes.

Minter is also in AAA trying to learn how to throw strikes again and work on things you don’t have time to adjust in the MLB season.

I didn’t go into the young RP AAA shuttle and them not getting a chance to pitch and just sit in the pen.

If Newk can keep it up that minimizes the need to go out and get a Tony Watson or Will Smith from SF but the extra depth would help depending on cost.

The main questions are what do we have in O'Day?

Can Luke Jackson keep it up and be counted on to be the eighth inning setup man when / if we sign Kimbrel?
 
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I'm not sure we need to see the number of Wins, Losses, Hits and Holds from guys in the BP, but the most predictive stat for pitchers is xwOBA.

Here are the xwOBA values for all BP pitchers that have faced 40+ batters:

Jacob Webb 0.233
Luke Jackson 0.255
Dan Winkler 0.290
Sean Newcomb 0.301 (a lot of this is as a SP)
Touki Toussaint 0.303
Josh Tomlin 0.317
Wes Parsons 0.334
Chad Sobotka 0.343
Jesse Biddle 0.382
A.J. Minter 0.388
Shane Carle 0.467

In short, anyone above Tomlin is good, Tomlin is a fine long man, and anyone below Tomlin is not so good.
 
Enscheff said:
I'm not sure we need to see the number of Wins, Losses, Hits and Holds from guys in the BP, but the most predictive stat for pitchers is xwOBA.

Here are the xwOBA values for all BP pitchers that have faced 40+ batters:

Jacob Webb 0.233
Luke Jackson 0.255
Dan Winkler 0.290
Sean Newcomb 0.301 (a lot of this is as a SP)
Touki Toussaint 0.303
Josh Tomlin 0.317
Wes Parsons 0.334
Chad Sobotka 0.343
Jesse Biddle 0.382
A.J. Minter 0.388
Shane Carle 0.467

In short, anyone above Tomlin is good, Tomlin is a fine long man, and anyone below Tomlin is not so good.
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Jacob Webb, doe.
 
Enscheff said:
I'm not sure we need to see the number of Wins, Losses, Hits and Holds from guys in the BP, but the most predictive stat for pitchers is xwOBA.

Here are the xwOBA values for all BP pitchers that have faced 40+ batters:

Jacob Webb 0.233
Luke Jackson 0.255
Dan Winkler 0.290
Sean Newcomb 0.301 (a lot of this is as a SP)
Touki Toussaint 0.303
Josh Tomlin 0.317
Wes Parsons 0.334
Chad Sobotka 0.343
Jesse Biddle 0.382
A.J. Minter 0.388
Shane Carle 0.467

In short, anyone above Tomlin is good, Tomlin is a fine long man, and anyone below Tomlin is not so good.
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So basically what I posted but I left Touki off the list on purpose and we don’t know if Venters found something or not yet? Got it!
 
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Ranking the in-house options (and I'm going to include guys starting in AAA):

Righties:
1. Webb
2. Jackson
3. Winkler
4. Wilson (30Ks and 7 BBs in 31 AAA innings)
5. Touki
6. Wright
7. Tomlin
8. Parsons
9. Sobotka (currently on the DL, would move up this list if he can spend some time in AAA and improve the walk rate)
10. Carle
11. Rowen (AAAA pitcher pitching well in AAA)
12. Leyva (pitching well in AAA)

Lefties
1. Minter (I think he will sort things out in AAA, the stuff is there)
2. Newk
3. Biddle (see comments on Minter)
4. Venters (good rehab stint in AAA, was solid last year)
5. Blevins
6. Dayton
7. Clouse (injured in AAA at the moment)
8. Allard

If we stay in house, I could see one of Touki/Wilson/Wright supplanting Tomlin as long man. The righties would be Webb, Jackson, Winkler plus one of Touki/Wilson/Wright. Could we use an upgrade. Sure. But what is available in-house is not bad.

Among the lefties it would be Minter, Newk, Biddle and Venters. Biddle is out of options. Blevins would be odd man out, but I suspect we will find a way to hold on to him. Again an upgrade would be nice, but we could in principle have a decent crew of lefties just from the in-house candidates.

A case can be made that AA should exercise some patience and wait to see how things play out before acquiring bullpen reinforcements.

Early returns on Newk to the pen are promising. I'm more of a Luke Jackson skeptic than most around here (he hangs a slider or two every game he pitches, lately the hitters have not been punishing them). I like Webb. I still like Wilson as a starter, but spending the second half of this year in the major league pen might be a good move both for him and the major league team.
 
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nsacpi said:
Ranking the in-house options (and I'm going to include guys starting in AAA):

Righties:
1. Jackson
2. Webb
3. Winkler
4. Toussaint
5. Wilson (30Ks and 7 BBs in 31 AAA innings)
6. Wright
7. Tomlin
8. Parsons
9. Sobotka (currently on the DL, would move up this list if he can spend some time in AAA and improve the walk rate)
10. Carle
11. Rowen (AAAA pitcher pitching well in AAA)
12. Leyva (pitching well in AAA)

Lefties
1. Minter (I think he will sort things out in AAA, the stuff is there)
2. Newk
3. Biddle (see comments on Minter)
4. Venters (good rehab stint in AAA, was solid last year)
5. Blevins
6. Dayton
7. Clouse (injured in AAA at the moment)
8. Allard

If we stay in house, I could see one of Touki/Wilson/Wright supplanting Tomlin as long man. The righties would be Jackson, Webb, Winkler plus one of Touki/Wilson/Wright. Could we use an upgrade. Sure. But what is available in-house is not bad.

Among the lefties it would be Minter, Newk, Biddle and Venters. Biddle is out of options. Blevins would be odd man out, but I suspect we will find a way to hold on to him. Again an upgrade would be nice, but we could in principle have a decent crew of lefties just from the in-house candidates.

A case can be made that AA should exercise some patience and wait to see how things play out before acquiring bullpen reinforcements.

Early returns on Newk to the pen are promising. I'm more of a Luke Jackson skeptic than most around here. I like Webb. I still like Wilson as a starter, but spending the second half of this year in the major league pen might be a good move both for him and the major league team.
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I agree. Minter certainly has some things working in his favor when you look at the actual stats. I would have guessed he had issued more than 9 BB and had a lot more blown saves than just one.
 
I'm not worried about Minter if he is healthy. He'll revert to good form at some point otherwise.

Personally, I still would rather see Newcomb in the rotation than Teheran. I think trying Julio as leverage reliever (rather than a long ma) is worth a look. He might have the makeup for it and you could let him go two innings when it made sense.

I'm a little more patient than most with Newk. I know.
 
Newk and Julion would be perfect as a tandem against teams that like to load up their lineups for the platoon advantage. It would work something like this:

1) A righty opener
2) Bring in Newk against the lefty heavy lineup
3) Bring in Julion if the opposing manager flips his lineup

or
2) Lefty Opener followed by Julion followed by Newk
 
Teams are smart enough to stacks lineup based on the “bulk pitcher” rather than opener. There’s no need to use an opener to get the advantage from pairing Newk with another RHP.

The opener works on set lineups that skew one way or the other, not against teams like the Dodgers who platoon a lot.
 
Enscheff said:
Teams are smart enough to stacks lineup based on the “bulk pitcher” rather than opener. There’s no need to use an opener to get the advantage from pairing Newk with another RHP.

The opener works on set lineups that skew one way or the other, not against teams like the Dodgers who platoon a lot.
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True. But there is still something to be gained by having a choice of who is going to be the bulk pitcher. And having a second guy who can go multiple innings if the manager chooses to flip his lineup.
 
I think Newcomb is much more of a bullpen weapon than Teheran. Teheran is well suited to being an innings eater and just let him do what he does. Newcomb, though, with his combo of fastball/curve is devastating in 1 inning scenarios. Honestly, it's about time some of this plethora of young starters get turned into fantastic relievers. It may not be what's best for them in their career prospects, but it's best for the Braves right now.
 
Nerfherders said:
I think Newcomb is much more of a bullpen weapon than Teheran. Teheran is well suited to being an innings eater and just let him do what he does. Newcomb, though, with his combo of fastball/curve is devastating in 1 inning scenarios. Honestly, it's about time some of this plethora of young starters get turned into fantastic relievers. It may not be what's best for them in their career prospects, but it's best for the Braves right now.
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Fried has said his time in the pen was beneficial. Lots of other starters have said the same. Earl Weaver liked to break in a young pitcher that way.
 
nsacpi said:
Ranking the in-house options ...

A case can be made that AA should exercise some patience and wait to see how things play out before acquiring bullpen reinforcements.

Early returns on Newk to the pen are promising. I'm more of a Luke Jackson skeptic than most around here (he hangs a slider or two every game he pitches, lately the hitters have not been punishing them). I like Webb. I still like Wilson as a starter, but spending the second half of this year in the major league pen might be a good move both for him and the major league team.
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I'm guessing he is unbelievably well-suited to follow this suggestion.

Has any GM ever gone from Trader Jack to Stand Pat as completely as AA?
 
Great conversation and Acuna with some stats thrown in, nice.

I like the Earl Weaver thought and I can some wisdom behind that.

Touiki, Wright, Wilson, Anderson, they all throw very hard. Let them air it out in relief. Then ease them in and let those like Julion, Tomlin as trade bait.

Even though I am a Julion fan and he is crafty but today's players have evolved and you will never know they figure him out totally.
 
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