46.16 Checking the Locks: Bullpen

[crobillard]

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:
Chandler Hall
Ramon Martinez
Ryosei Akiyama

Near lock:
Joey Piccoli
Jose Luna
Victor Ortega
Albert Love
Shinsaku Sato
Derrek Herapath

Trying to get in the door:
Jorge Limon
Jose Duarte
Manny Baca
Mike Henderickson

Lots of changes this season and the first one comes with the team moving on from Jorge Huerta after sending him to Brooklyn recently for Ramon Martinez and Luis Espinosa. That's a good place to start too because Martinez is pretty good and a lefty on top of that. The team is a little lefty out of the bullpen, but the Jackrabbits have an answer that we will get to very shortly. First, the two late inning power lefties. Martinez is the first of the short appearance, closer archetypes that we have with a 10/7/9 with 9/9/8 ratings. He's almost 25 and he's had an issue with his left arm for three of the five seasons he's been in the majors and that seemed to culminate in a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder halfway through last season. He was typically relied upon for between 40-50 innings in 2043 and 2044 and that was cut down to just 19.2 innings last season in which he only gave up five runs. Throughout his BBA career he's averaged a 1.12 WHIP and one season he collected a career high 134.1 innings in 2042 where he through in 80 games with a 10-4 record, 3.42 ERA, 136 Ks and a 1.16 WHIP. Not bad for a 2 stamina reliever.

Next to him will be Akiyama who gives up a ton of homeruns, but also strikes out batters at insane rates. A torn labrum in his throwing shoulder also put him out last season, but for him he was out all of last season. He was out for 13-14 months with his injury on 8/22/2044, but he has a long and vast injury history that includes injuries to his left arm, back, upper body and for a short time his left foot and leg. He's coming off his most career threatening injury though and at almost 32 years old, you have to wonder that if Akiyama doesn't come back from this injury in a strong way whether he might ever get another job in the BBA. I'm sure these thoughts were going through his mind last season. After being out a whole season though and watching your team win a Landis, I can imagine wanting to try to get your team there yourself and without Huerta in the way, he'll get his shot.

After that, the biggest change is Hall moving to the bullpen in a full time capacity. It's been a struggle trying to keep Hall healthy. I'm hoping that strictly regulating his time in the bullpen will help him pitch more innings in a season. Getting Huerta out of the way will help me get a good picture on whether this is a good idea or not. My hope is that Hall will never get tired from pitching again if I can manage his time effectively. I think what was happening to Hall is that he's so good that my manager was turning to him every time. Even a tired Hall is better than any other pitcher that I have, so leave him out there until his arm falls off. Hall is really awesome with 14/6/10 ratings and 10/8/10/9/3 pitches. He only has 4 stamina though which really diminishes his ability to be effective as a starter. It's his last year of arbitration, so I want to see if I can get a full year of pitching out of him for what might be the first time in his career. He has a long injury history filled with just about every injury you can think of. His first injury in his professional career was a torn flexor tendon when he was with Hawaii. Since then he's has back, leg, and arm injuries all on his throwing side. He had a torn UCL in 2040, a herniated disc, another torn flexor tendon in the same elbow in 2043 and then he had a torn labrum last season. It's honestly shocking that he's still as good as he is. He really hasn't lost much at all in his arm and putting him in the bullpen will only make him better for longer. Hopefully.

The near locks have a ton of maybes in there. I called them near locks but all of them might just be trying to get in the door. It's much closer to that. Ortega played really well in his first season in Edmonton. The issue with him is that he lumped in stuff and just doesn't look like the same player. He pitched in 96 innings last year with a 2.81 ERA and he was undefeated in decisions, 8-0. He also had a 1.24 WHIP, but his FIP was 4.34 so his production wasn't totally legit.

Herapath is drawing a lot of attention after I converted him to a reliever after drafting him in the second round last season. He's now rated 9/7/6 with a 9 fastball and 8 knucklecurve. He's an extreme groundball pitcher with a 98-100 mph sidearm velocity. I'm expecting him to be quite good, but I'd like to see him against some better hitting first, so I may have him look at some AAA batters first.

My LOOGY/ROOGY combo in Love and Sato has always been really interesting, but it never got the tries I always thought it would and now Sato and Love have regressed a bit. Sato is still 9/9/9 vs LHB with 8/8 pitches so he could still perform against LHB if he got a shot. The issue is that despite being in the majors all season, he only accrued 1.2 innings. In 2044 he only got 10 innings too. Just not enough, so hopefully we can make something work this season to get him more involved. I still like Love and he's 9/9/8 against RHB with 8/8 pitches as well, but he has the same issue as Sato. Not enough looks. He pitched 9 innings last season and he gave up 8 earned runs too. Not good. In 2044 he only got 20.1 innings as well, but he was much more successful then with only four earned runs allowed. I definitely want to work them in more because they need to start showing that they are valuable. If they make the team this might be their last shot.

Piccoli and Luna probably land in the same boat. Piccoli was claimed off waiver last season from Charm City and he's not bad. I just don't have a ton of confidence in him. However, he pitched in 9.2 innings in Edmonton last season and only allowed two earned runs. His 1.55 WHIP is scary though. If he makes the team he will need to do more to stick around. Huerta's departure leaves a lot of innings for other players to swallow up. Piccoli could be one of the beneficiaries. Luna is on his second stint in Edmonton after being claimed off waivers from Phoenix last season. It was a four season departure from Edmonton and he pitched pretty well in his return. It was only 18 innings, but he only allowed seven earned runs. We're probably looking to see if he can keep the homerun numbers down, but I could see how he could make the team. The real boom that he might provide now is that he is now one of very few "high" stamina reliever at 6 on the Edmonton pitching staff.

From there the rest are long shots and depth. Baca and Limon fill an obligatory lefty role and Duarte is a hardthrowing durable lefty who could sub in when we're in a pinch. Limon, now on his fifth year in AAA is the most successful one out of the group with an ERA around two over the past two seasons over 128 innings and a complete AAA career ERA of 3.22 in 268.1 innings. Definitely trending in the right direction, but at now 26 years old, time is up for Limon. Out of option years. It's time to perform now and make the team or else the future is uncertain. He has 9/5/6 ratings with a slight movement bump against LHB with 10/2/7 pitches. He's a neutral flyball/groundball pitcher that throws up to 97 mph. Baca is next up as a former 1st round comp pick that still needs a little work at almost 24 years old. He has 8/6/6 actuals with 9/5 pitches and 10/6/7 potentials with 9/9 pitches. If he fully develops he would surely make it to the majors, but he seems to be stagnant. Last year in AAA he had 32 saves with a 3.64 ERA in 47 innings, so the team is hoping he'll progress at some point. Maybe new pitching coach Sancho Delgado can bring it out of him. Finally, Duarte is a long shot. He has 9/5/7 actuals with 9/7/9 pitches and 10/5/7 potentials with 9/9/9 pitches, but he just hasn't performed well in AAA. He pitched in 33.2 innings in AAA with a 4.81 ERA. He'll need to bring that down to sniff at the majors.