With another implosion, it brings up some questions for me... 1) Do we classify the bullpen as "horrible" (fair) or do we need to judge each pitcher's individual performance? Hatcher looks different mechanically and it's yielding great results. Kenley is Kenley. Avilan is getting big outs against both LH and RH. I don't trust much of anyone else. Even Howell. He's been meh for about a year imo. Despite his ERA. Johnson is a loser. 2) Where is Bolsinger? I thought putting him in the pen was the plan! Cotton? Main question... With a bullpen that has been pretty horrible...we have some capable guys. Is it possible that Kenley, Hatcher, Avilan and a couple new guys like Cotton can actually turn our pen around in the 11th hour? Is it possible for a pen to be crap all year and then turn it around at the last minute? Assuming our 3 starter isnt horrible, does our playoff fate lye on the pen?
I think you have to classify the bullpen as having a bad year, but I still also think they can be effective. Like you said, there's enough glimmers of optimism that you can envision 7 guys being useful in the playoffs, if used correctly. Kenley, Avilan, and JP are probably locks and I'm comfortable with Kenley, obviously, and can deal with Avilan and JP facing lefties. One long man means Bolsinger, Latos or Frias. I think those 3 are solid as a long man out of the pen That leaves 3 spots for Baez, Yimi, Hatcher, Johnson, Nicasio, Cotton?, Urias?, one of the long men that doesn't make it It's not sexy options, but I feel as if at least 2 of those guys you can envision at least being good against righties and hopefully on a good run late in September to have confidence in the playoffs Feel like every reliever, outside of Peralta, has shown a glimmer of dominance mixed with implosions. Just a matter of trying to figure out which are best for the match ups.
avilan, howell and kenley for sure hatcher probably bolsinger over frias for the long spot cotton and urias get every chance (from now to season's end) to earn a spot on the postseason roster baez, yimi, nicasio... pick your poison peralta, no latos and johnson can go fuck themselves
Why shouldn't Yimi& Baez be on the roster? However...Latos as the "long" man is fucking outrageously bad. The guy is good for nothing...on this LA team anyway. This guy is possessed by demons...exorcise this motherfucker to Cleveland or some shit...
Yeah they should probably just cut him and get it over with. But you know, that Peralta guy is still around soooo.
Guess I'm saying I'm ok with either pitching. I'm not sure why Baez gets so much hate, he's been very good.
This bullpen is madly inconsistent and frustrating to say the least. They lead the league in with 10.13 ks per 9 in. 10th in walks per 9 at 3.04 pretty impressive. 7th in fip at 3.43.1st in SIERA.The negative.... batting avg on balls in play(babip) is 317. 4th worse in the league.Hard hit % of 29.5% also 4th worse.4th worse in flyball % also, at 37.3%And we are 7th worse with 72.1% left on base %.. Meaning when inheriting runners they a scoring at a very high rate. On paper (cough cough) on analytical paper this Bullpen is a top 5 saber monster. But the (babip) suggests maybe they are a tad unlucky.The Hard hit % can mean a number of things. Pitchers making mistakes ?But how so if they are also missing a great number of bats by leading in Ks per 9?But why are they also terrible while runners are on base?And why is any contact seemingly hard hit contact or fly ball contact? Definitely leaves us susceptible to homers at the worse times...Only thing i can make out of all these useless info ... is DBB is mismanaging the shit out of it.. And in glimpses its shown how dominant they can be as a group .But wont live up to its saber monstrosity with DBB calling the shots
This is one of the few times where the stats say one thing and I think the complete opposite. I would not trust Baez with a late inning, high leverage assignment. According to BRef, his OPS against is 100 points higher in those spots so maybe that's what I'm and the rest of us are seeing? Don't get me wrong- I think he's a valuable as an asset but he's not the 7th or 8th inning guy for me
It seems in the high leverage situations that he is trying to pump the fastball up a bit and when he does that, he tends to miss middle middle or middle in and teams make him pay. I think he will figure it out, but it won't be this year.
Great write up. I think our BABIP is so bad due to when our guys miss, they miss bad. A lot of balls miss right over the plate and since our bullpen is a lot of guys who rely heavily on their fastballs, they get punished for it. A lot of young power arms in the bullpen, I think once they get comfortable with a secondary pitch, many of them have promise.
It's amazing how the bullpen always seems to implode together, or pitch great together. It's like they allow the momentum of one guys mistakes get to them and it causes one big chain reaction. I am still really worried about the bullpen for the playoffs, but some questions can hopefully be answered down the stretch. Kenley is a lock, but after that it is still pretty wide open. Garcia seems like a solid choice in the 6th or 7th with Avilan doing the R/L matchup. Hatcher looks to be the best choice for the 8th, but man last night that fastball scared me as it looked straight as an arrow, would love to see that splitter more. He's been solid since coming back and that bomb in Houston was just bullshit, a pop up anywhere else. Nicasio is too Jekyll and Hyde. Needs to use his slider more to stop guys keying in on his fastball. The big secret weapons down the stretch could be Frias as I want to see what he has in one inning spurts. If he could show signs of being dominant over an inning and get Hatcher and everyone pushed forward an inning, that could make the bullpen more than solid. We need this bullpen to get hot again like it was earlier in the season, that happens and the Dodgers will be tough to beat.
