But that doesnt excuse the AAAA guys from performing terribly. We've used 15 relievers this year and only Bobby Seay has been consistently effective.
I'm not gonna buy the excuse that the relievers are tired. There are three guys in our pen who have logged 30 or more innings in 106 games with the big club. Grilli, Durbin, and Jones. They're not tired...they're just bad.
Here's your problem right here: WHIP
Here are the 2007 WHIPs for all relievers we've used this year (active relievers in bold):
Bazardo: 0.92
Seay: 1.14
McBride: 1.25
Lopez: 1.26
Capellan: 1.29
Durbin: 1.38
Zumaya: 1.38
Rodney: 1.45
Jones: 1.47
Grilli: 1.50
Miner: 1.50
Byrdak: 1.57
Ledezma: 1.79
De La Cruz: 2.10
Mesa: 2.14
totals of current active relievers (entering tonight):
264 IP, 271 Hits, 99 Walks, 177 Ks
1.40 WHIP (1.02 hits/inning; .38 Walks/inning) 0.67 K/inning
So in the average inning from our relievers, we can expect almost a man and a half on average (or a little less than 3 base runners in 2 innings). Now thats bad enough, but that becomes and even bigger problem with inherited runners. Unless a starter is completely bombing, we'd be better off letting them finish the inning so that the pen can start with the bases cleared.
When Zumaya and Rodney return, there is no excuse for Grilli or Byrdak to be on this team.
By the way, look at the lefty/righty splits for our current pen members (with a few highlighted delights:
NAME
VS L/R (BAA/ OBPA/ SLGA/ OPSA)
McBride
vs LH: .222/.314/.311/.625
vs RH: .241/.397/.310/.708
Byrdak
vs LH: .222/.294/.630/.924
vs RH: .288/.362/.424/.786
Capellan
vs LH: .238/.360/.381/.741
vs RH: .242/.294/.419/.713
Durbin
vs LH: .287/.356/.387/.743
vs RH: .238/.315/.461/.776
Grilli
vs LH: .271/.386/.424/.809
vs RH: .277/.335/.416/.752
Jones
vs LH: .289/.355/.402/.757
vs RH: .266/.310/.316/.627
Seay
vs LH: .211/.246/.298/.544
vs RH: .300/.345/.460/.805
Looking at these splits for 2007, it may surprise you to learn:
Bobby Seay has pitched 50 ABs against righties, and 58 ABs against lefties. Not exactly LOOGY splits there, but the suckitude of the pen probably forces Leyland to use him more than he wants to. Seay should be limited to lefties exclusively, no question.
Todd Jones has had 97 ABs against lefties (see splits above) and 79 ABs against righties. I know we've pretty much accepted Jones as our closer--which is fine--but if its a save situation with 2 or more lefties coming up, we'd be better off using either Seay or McBride. Jones has been very solid against righties this year, so I'm gonna suggest the unpopular notion that we do a closer by committee for the time being and play to our strengths.
Capellan has the best combined splits (and the strongest K and BB numbers and ratios) of all of our relievers (arguments could be made for McBride and Jones), and yet we've used him for 9.1 innings since we obtained him at the end of June.
McBride has a 9/15 K/BB ratio vs rightis, and allows them to get on base at a near .400 clip (in 58 ABs this year), yet they're only slugging .310.
Grilli's combined OBPA is .349. so 35 out of every 100 batters are getting on base against him. Or in other words, for every 100 batters he faces, he can only get 65 of them out. Not shockingly, thats the worst on the team, yet he leads the team in relief innings.
Byrdak has crazy splits. Lefties dont get on base a lot against him (4 walks and 6 hits against him in 27 ABS) but all 6 of those hits are extra base hits (3 doubles, a triple, 2 HRs)
Durbin is hard to gauge at this point because his numbers are skewed by what he did as a starter, so its harder to gauge what he has done in relief. Regardless, he should probably not be put in situations where he's going to face a predominantly left handed lineup. Save those games for Seay, McBride and Jones.
Bottom line. Grilli must go. Byrdak should as well. The pen will get significantly better with Rodney and Zumaya, even if they need to shake off some rust in their first few outings. Leyland also needs to do a better job of managing for the situation and the upcoming batters. With the inconsistencies of this pen, he should not be having a pitcher come into the game to face one hitter. At this point, he needs to jumble up the roles of a few pitchers in the pen. Give Durbin all the long relief innings in games where theres a 4 or less run difference. Use Capellan and McBride much more often. Jones should be used in tough situations even if they are in the 7th inning if we have several right handed hitters coming up (this should happen until Zumaya and Rodney return, then Jones can be used in only closer situations.) Byrdak should never be used against lefties. Seay should never be used against righties.
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