Brooklyn manager Mike Wilkinson tries to call the bullpen before the game even starts.
It's no secret that the Robins have had some pretty mediocre starting pitching the past couple of seasons. Actually calling it mediocre would be a compliment. They have been outright bad. The good news is that no team in the BBA leverages the bullpen more then Brooklyn. After whiffing on some starting pitching this offseason, look for the trend to continue in 2040.
| Name | Age | T | OVR | POT | STU vL | MOV vL | CON vL | STU vR | MOV vR | CON vR | STM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Júlio Velasco | 32 | R | 70 | 70 | 8 | 4 | 9 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 7 |
| Ryosei Akiyama | 25 | L | 60 | 65 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 3 |
| Larry Good | 23 | L | 55 | 65 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Ivan Meerkerk | 24 | R | 40 | 60 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 8 |
| Enrico Morales | 21 | R | 45 | 60 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 7 | 3 |
| Carlos Ramírez | 22 | R | 50 | 60 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Pjotr Eland | 25 | R | 40 | 55 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| Steven Bobovnik | 24 | R | 50 | 50 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 5 |
| Luis Germán | 21 | R | 50 | 50 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 |
| Santiago Carranza | 23 | R | 40 | 45 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
| Yasuoka Okamura | 26 | R | 40 | 40 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| Louie Blackshaw | 19 | L | 30 | 35 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 2 |
The stopper has become a huge part of modern BBA baseball. Teams usually give the tag to their one top reliever and let him log a bunch of quality innings. For the past few years Brooklyn has been expanding the usage of the stopper. First it was two, then it was three, this year the team intends to designate 4 pitchers with the stopper tag. The idea is that you are saying, "I only want these 4 pitchers in the game with the game on the line". This actually helps a lot is during extra inning games. While most teams view extra innings as a coin flip or luck, we do everything in our power to gain what little advantage we can.
Velasco, Akiyama, Good, and Bobovnik will be Brooklyn's stoppers to start 2020. Julio Velasco was brought in as a high priced free agent to be the main guy. So he will get the high pressure spots. The Robins feel he can be a "Peter Grady lite". Meaning he should get 150+ innings and provide 2-3 war.
Long time Brooklyn stopper Ryosei Akiyama returns to the fold with a little less pressure on him. The Liquidator throws just as hard as anyone in the league and that kind of torque has caused stress on his body. The past several seasons the team has relied on him and he has let them down with lots of missed time. The addition of Velasco makes no excuses for Brooklyn to lose close games when Akiyama is inevitably on the shelf. And when he is healthy, he will just add to an already solid pen.
Good and Bobovnik are like ying and yang. Both are extremely split heavy with Good being 10/8/6 VS lefties and Bobo being 7/9/7 against righties. This is another reason we are going with 4 stoppers. We feel that if we give the manager enough choices, he will make the correct decisions to help us win close games. So by having 2 righties and 2 lefties, 2 split heavy and 2 even split pitchers in the stopper role, it gives Mike Wilkinson every tool he needs to get the job done.
Long Relief
When you hook your starting pitching as quickly as we do, you absolutely need quality long relief and lots of bullpen stamina. While not all of these guys will actually make the team to start, Meerkerk, Carranza, and German will all see action in the long man spot. Carranza and German can also start, which makes them a little more valuable. In fact, with the new division heavy schedule, Brooklyn expects to draw off their "pitching platoon" system of the past. Where the back half of the starting rotation is often switched around and taxied to and from AAA depending on the opponent on hand.
Middle Relief
This is where the stiffest competition lies. There is probably only room for two on the roster. Yet three of them are out of options. Making things harder is that the best of the lot is likely Morales, who is the one with the option.
While Ejland looks to be a bust, he got better as the season went along last year and filled out his ratings some. If he makes the team, there is strong considerations into making him mostly a righty specialist. This would limit his innings but increase his effectiveness. That will probably have to be a last minute decision depending on how many roster spots are left.
Okamura could be a dark horse after narrowly avoiding the first round of spring cuts. We used him as a starter late last season. And while he did much better then fared in Louisville and San Fernando, it still left a lot to be desires. But his ability to start and niche abilities could make him a nice fit in the matchup heavy Robins plans. Like is there a team in the Atlantic that is full of right handed free swinging bats? If so, he'll probably make the team.
Lefty Specialist
Sometimes you have to call something that is not in the playbook. After years of preaching the lefty specialist role, Brooklyn has since devalued it as a primary role. Saying a RP who only pitches 30-40 innings hurt your team in the long run. Yet here we are with Louie Blackshaw having a great spring and wreaking of lefty specialist tendencies. Your going to look at Bradshaw and take a hard pass. But his value is... right player, right place, right time.
He has 9 movement VS lefties and plays in a park that nerfs lefty power. So he is not going to give up any homers at all. His stuff is pathetically low at 3(4 VS lefties). So he won't really strike anyone out either. He is an extreme groundballer with a 60% lifetime(Col/Pro) rate. His control is about average at 6. So really, the likely outcome here is that he is going to get a ton of groundballs. Well in my book, a double play is much more valuable then a strikeout. And Blackshaw figures to get a lot of those. Technically I should use him as a stopper to ensure that Arief Alatas is on the field when he pitches. I just don't have the confidence to put a 30 rated pitcher in that spot. I'm not even sure he'll make the team out of camp in part due to 40 man logistics. But I think one day soon we will see what he can do in this role.
If the season started right now, the 4 stoppers, German, Morales, and Ramirez probably make the team. Eland too if I decide to carry 13 pitchers. With still half the spring to go, things can happen along the way. If you are reading this and looking for some cheap relief pitching. You just learned that Eland, Okamora, and potentially Ramirez could be had on the cheap. Who said it didn't pay to read these boring newsies?
