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We've been talking about the M's bullpen, who goes behind Edwin Diaz and all that jiazz.  One guy who definitely is in there, 8th inning, is Mark Rzepczynski.  At his salary he takes the new Charlie Furbush role.  End of story.  No matter if he pitches good or pitches bad, he's in there for the 7th and 8th.  Well, within reason it's no matter whether he does good.

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PLAYING THE "Z" ON A TRIPLE LETTER

PITCHER A - $1,600,000 for 2016 - Charlie Furbush salary (11 strikeouts, 2 walks per 9 innings, .139 AVG vs RIGHT hand hitters in 2015)

PITCHER B - $10,000,000 for two years TO CLOSE GAMES!!, given last winter

PITCHER C -  $11,000,000 next two years - Marc Rzepczynski salary (9 strikeouts, 6 walks per 9 innings, .422 (??) OBP vs right hand hitters in 2016)

Granted, Charlie Furbush was a club-controls player.  But also granted, every ballclub has a dozen left hand relievers who can walk 6 guys per nine innings.  You would think that, if spotted one batter at a time, you might be able to find some kind of internal lefty who didn't cost so much.  Take Zup Chin Skee's money and lay it under Seth Smith's money, and you have... a lot of money.  Stars & Scrubs baby.

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ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR WATSON

Zup Chin Skee is very bad at pitching to right hand hitters.  As Marc points out, since 2010, Zip is #372 out of 372 among pitchers who tried to stop righties from reaching first base.  There are no two ways to look at it:  with a right hand hitter up, you would rather have any random Tacoma Rainier on the mound than this guy.  Random stat:  last year Zip had a 31:6 control ration against lefties... but a BACKWARDS 15:23 ratio against righties.  Heh!  That's funny rat theyah.

Now, before you run shrieking into the night:

Since Jerry Dipoto paid $6M per year for this guy:  logically, there is SOMETHING that Zup Chin Skee does really, really good.  It would be fun to know what that might be.

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Marc W at USS Mariner has a very good suggestion as to what that might be:  it's unpossible for left hand hitters to pull Zip in the air.  According to Marc, Zip has a .293 SLG against lefties ... and that's since 2010!

The component stats back 'im up.  Zip's ground ball rate is an astounding 67% plus in each of the last two years individually.  That ground ball rate is over and above Zip's ability to stifle lefties in the first place.

So, you've got a weapon in the bullpen that allows a .293 SLG to lefties.  That ain't worth no $6 mill a year --- > when --- > it is Nori Aoki or King Leonydas or Ketel Marte at the plate.  But!  What if it's the 8th inning, and you're up two, and there is a man on first, and ... it's Cano-Nelson-Seager for the ballgame?  Well, slap me silly, that's when you stick the little Rzepczynski debit card into the slot, security chip first, and you cash in the victory.  Strikeout-walk-two-bouncer and you win.  0.05 WAR on Fangraphs, +1 WAR in the standings.

And, of course, the presence of such a weapon trickles down to Mike Scioscia's lineup card before the game.  The one thing is that we've got to hope that Scott Servais is on the same one-batter-at-a-time sheet of music that we are.  Can't get overconfident and start using the guy against Edwin Encarnacion.

:- )

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LET'S!  Go TO! the VID eo TAPE!  Dept.

The first three sliders IN THIS VIDEO HERE give a sense of the predictability and reliability of Zip's bendy pitch.  It's got a tight, late break and he can throw it to either side.

HERE IS ONE OF THOSE FIRES he puts out - Cards up 3-2 but the Dodgers have the bases loaded with one out.  A slider to a righty is used as a forkball, dropping below the zone, which is fine if Zip can ever get two strikes on a righty; considering it WAS a righty, the Cards were kind of lucky that Zip didn't walk the tying run in.  The following pitch is a fatball and the BIP had about a .600, .700 chance of falling in.  But still.

IN THIS VIDEO HERE check out Zip's 2nd, 3rd, and 5th pitches.  The 2nd and 3rd pitches are as heavy as Jupiter and the 5th pitch you see him detonating a lefty in typical Zip fashion.

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As Marc points out, a contending team grabs Zip like Every. Single. Year. for the stretch run.  That is because from dugout view, once the Bright Lights Hit during the stretch run, that one big at-bat in the late innings can make or break your club's psyche.

Zyp won't improve the M's WAR, but he will certainly encourage them to look good teams in the eye.

One o' the all time great "pure loogys",

Dr D