The Brewster

"Next Man Up" Approach Working About As Planned


June 21, 2045: Yellow Springs – In this golden age of the Yellow Springs baseball club, the bullpen has been a vaunted and venerated piece of the pie—comprised of a long list of elite arms that including the first and, so far only, Frick League Nebraska winning-bullpen ace. Alas, time moves forward, and certain things have come to bare that pundits had been predicting. Swingman Jose Sanchez got too expensive and ran off to take UMEBA cash, and Tiernan O’Macken—likewise too expensive—was dealt to Phoenix. A strength, it seems, was about to become a weakness.

Run time to today, though, and the Nine bullpen is about as deadly as it always has been.

Its 2.81 ERA is collectively third best in the Frick behind Omaha’s 2.45 and the 2.79 posted by Chicago’s highly publicized Four Horsemen of the Calumet. It’s 4.58 K/BB ratio is better than either, of those two, however with Chicago sitting at 3.61 and Omaha at 2.04. In addition, Omaha’s pen has the “advantage” of only having been employed for 145 innings to date while the Black Sox and Nine’s pens have seen 293 and 291 innings respectively.

“It’s a balancing act, really,” said pitching coach Alberto Sanchez, “It helps that we’ve got great pitchers up and down the roster. So if we get a tough outing from someone, we’ve always got guys to pick up the pieces. The rotation feeds off the bullpen and the bullpen feeds off the rotation.”

Among those pitchers this season are a pair of new faces, specifically 24-year-old Dean Stranaghan and fellow right-handed pitcher Derrick Chaney.

Stranaghan was signed as a minor league free agent late in the 2039 season, and made a slow progression through the Nine system before Ernesto Ramos’s injury made his debut necessary late last season. He pitched well, stating seven games and posting 3-1, 2.17 record. Ramos’s return moved him to the bullpen, where he’s thrived to the tune of 5-1, 1.84, with three saves—all multiple inning efforts. He’s an interesting pitcher in that he lacks a traditional four-seamer, but throws a 100 MPH cutter paired with a wicked curveball and a workable circle change.

“Dean’s going to struggle to find the plate sometimes, but he’s still a kid,” Sanchez said. “There’s still time for him—and to be honest, the stuff is pretty much electric even if his command never gets here.”

Chaney, a round one bonus baby in 2042, is the higher-profile arrival. He carries the big four-seamer that Stranaghan lacks, and can blow it past even the best of hitters. “We think there’s more to his top-end, too,” Sanchez said with a smile. “He’s fun to work with.”

The plan was for Sanchez to be working with him later this season, maybe September. The plan had been to give Chaney another chance to shine in the rotation at AAA, but news that Ramos was healing, and a blistering stint in spring training changed the plan. At 2-1 with a 2.60 ERA and size saves, Chaney has been showing Nine fans why the organization was well-served bringing him north after camp. He’s been used in middle relief as well as in the closer and stopper kinds of roles—all being good with him.

“I just want to pitch,” Chaney said. “This is a great bunch of guys to be around. I feel like I’m learning something new every day.”

That sensation you just felt was the shivering of hitters all around the Heartland division.

The pair has combined to throw 103 innings to date, striking out 147 hitters—not bad for a couple rookies, eh?

"There's more where we come from," Chaney said. "Some of those guys in Indianapolis could pitch up here now, too."

All part of the plan, says the Nine front office. The wheels on the bus go round and round.