40.10 Checking the Locks: Bullpen

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40.10 Checking the Locks: Bullpen

Post by crobillard » Thu Sep 26, 2019 10:52 am

This is a series where I will evaluate the options in each position leading into Spring Training. This is the tenth of eleven parts. I will be taking a look into the bullpen in this post.

Sure fire locks:
Jorge Huerta
Jose Luna
Jose Torres
Vincente Ventura

Near lock:
Rodrigo Gallegos
Ryosei Akahori
Ignacio Castaneda

Trying to get in the door:
Edgardo Torres
Johnny Morin
Jorge Elizondo
Arturo Lopez

This is where our weakness lies. I have never really figured the bullpen out in the BBA. I think we have enough talent for it to be okay, but year after year it flops. At the end of the year they turned it around a little bit, but the beginning of the year they were the cause of so many issues. The potential additions of Gallegos, Morin and Akahori (discussed in the SP post) are the only additions to this group. I have confidence that if this group is used correctly it can be dominant. We'll see how wrong I am soon though.

Huerta is my bullpen ace. The 23 year old is rated 9/6/7 with 10/10/1 pitches. He's had wildly different experiences pitching in the league though. His first three seasons in the league resulted with an ERA+ of 56 (yup), 102 and 143. Then, last season he was blown up again with an 89. With that said, he remains my best pitcher. I tried to mix things up last season to get him some support. I acquired Jose Luna from Nashville and I thought he would be a scuffed Huerta with his 9/6/7 ratings and 9/8/1 pitches. He performed better that Huerta with a 98 ERA+, but I was really hoping for something closer to his career average in Nashville of 139 ERA+. I'm not sure if it's something I am doing with my management of the bullpen, maybe it's my coaching, maybe there is something else I'm just not seeing, but I feel like those two should be performing a lot better than they are.

Jose Torres and Ventura ended up being my best pitchers out of the bullpen last season with Torres throwing in 74 innings with a 111 ERA+ and 78 strikeouts. He pitched out of the closer role most of the year and did alright, but not better than Huerta in years prior. Both of them blow a lot of saves and Torres blew nine of them in 25 attempts. On the other hand, Ventura and his 45 overall rating had a 188 ERA+ in 73.2 innings with his 6/6/6 ratings with 9/7/2 pitches, so I guess everything is just backwards once pitchers come to the mound in relief. That's what I am going with anyways.

That's why Castaneda is a near lock. He's 24 years old and I'll be honest, I only like him because he's a sidearm pitcher. I picture a Craig Kimbrell-like pitching motion for him lol. His ratings are okay with 9/4/6 with 11/7 pitches. He's a hard throwing groundballer that performed well in limited action prior to last season. In 2039 he pitched in 39.2 innings with a 101 ERA+ and he didn't really disappoint necessarily. He was a fine innings eater.

E. Torres, Morin, Elizondo and Lopez are the upsetters if they get in. I wouldn't have many spots left to fill in the pitching staff at this point so the question is whether we move one of the near locks in this post or in the SP post to AAA in favor of Edgardo, Morin, Elizondo or Lopez. I collected my thoughts on Torres and Morin in the SP post since they're in the running for the #5 spot in the rotation, but Elizondo and Lopez have a decent shot too. Lopez has pitched at this level with success before and is pretty versatile, having closed out games, pitched as a setup man and pitched in long relief. He has success as recently as 2038 too when he pitched in 74.1 innings of relief with a 120 ERA+. It wasn't a fluke either as he had a similar season in 2036. Last year he was was hammered against with a 6.75 ERA in 30.2 innings and wasn't seen much as they year winded down. Elizondo on the other hand has a very real shot at stealing a spot from someone. He was injured nearly the entire season with a torn flexor tendon last season, but ended up throwing in a very limited 18.1 innings, but he pitched really well with only a 2.95 ERA. His ratings are 7/7/5 with 9/7/1 pitches and he's a lefty on top of that. I have that lefty void filled with Jubal Troop and Julio Alicea in the rotation, but even in the bullpen we'll potentially have Akahori and Ventura, so it's not like we'll need that lefty arm.

I'm going to employ a different strategy this season with my bullpen though. I've tried to work follower/opener roles in the past and I've tried to do the same with stopper roles, but none of it was actually given a time to settle in. This season I am going to stick with it all season and cross my fingers that it ends up being an impactful change. I don't think my bullpen is as bad as it could be, but last season's start terrified me. I can't have that again.

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Re: 40.10 Checking the Locks: Bullpen

Post by usnspecialist » Thu Sep 26, 2019 11:59 am

With regards to Castaneda, how the fuck is someone a ground ball pitcher with 4 movement. Stever is rolling over in his BBA grave
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Re: 40.10 Checking the Locks: Bullpen

Post by crobillard » Thu Sep 26, 2019 2:31 pm

usnspecialist wrote:
Thu Sep 26, 2019 11:59 am
With regards to Castaneda, how the fuck is someone a ground ball pitcher with 4 movement. Stever is rolling over in his BBA grave
lolol true

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