COULD Pryor start closing as soon as next week? Sure.
But Wilhelmsen is very comfortable as the closer (like JJ Putz comfortable) and there's nothing wrong with having multiple closer-types on a roster together. Sasaki was probably the third best pitcher in the best Ms bullpen ever, but the Nelson/Rhodes/Sasaki layout was basically perfect. We have that with Pryor/Furbush/Wilhelmsen - but now we ALSO have a fireman we can deploy. Capps can either put out fires himself, or pitch the 7th and let Pryor extinguish people.
Let me say that again: we have roving closers in this bullpen.
Pryor might look weird coming out in the 7th...but would you want to face him? I know I wouldn't want to see Pryor coming out to snuff a 7th inning rally and laugh in my face because the M's have got Capps and Wilhelmsen and co still deployable.
I absolutely agree on the jog from the dugout - it's not a run Pryor should ever make. He should not be a multiple inning guy. Deploy Furbush or Capps for that. Pryor should be used for extermination.
Since I don't think closing is as hard as it's made out to be - but I ALSO think having stability at closer and in the pen in general is crucial - I don't necessarily want my best pitcher getting 3 outs with a 3-run lead. Using Pryor or Capps to elephant stomp an Angels rally will bring a large smile to my face that will last past Tom's closing time.
Last night was extremely frustrating, with the huge blown lead and then dragged-out death scene. That shouldn't take away from the fact that we're building a pen that can demolish lefties or righties, and overpower almost anyone, with relievers who are bringing guns to a knife fight.
It's a very young pen, but it should also be an extremely scary one. It will require buy-in on roles, though - and the last thing I want is a squabble over the posh position of closer. It was given to Tom because League was a screw-up, and Tom has killed from that position. Rule #1 of team management: don't mess with success. If Tom somehow screws up we have plenty of other options, starting with Pryor, but possession is 9/10 of the law.
Pryor will have to close the door earlier in games, that's all. The body blows opposing teams will sustain from seeing that many quality arms through the course of a series should be...how can I put this...enjoyably demoralizing?
Cuz I'm not looking to fill one position. As Ruby Rhod would way, "I want all positions!" And we're getting really close...
~G
.... it ain't right, but we'll still need a McDonald's Super Mo please.
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Q. Okayyyyy. 1.2 IP, 4 K, 0 BB. He's up to 11 K, 3 BB in 8 IP with Seattle. How was his fastball velocity on Tuesday?
A. In his first inning, his ten fastballs were:
- 99 MPH x 2 pitches
- 98 x 4 pitches
- 97 x 1 pitch
- 96 x 3 pitches
That doesn't really do it justice, though. Pryor's fastball is effectively about 2-4 miles an hour faster than somebody else throwing the same speed. Yeah you heard what I said.
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Q. Why would his fastball be effectively faster than somebody else's?
A. Huge spin rate, is the minor thing - Pryor's fastball rotates at over 2,600 RPM, compared to (say) 2,200 for Brandon Morrow and 2,400 for Justin Verlander. The ball has excellent late life.
The major thing is the hop. His fastball rises more than any other major league pitcher's, that I've seen -- it rises a good 11-15 inches compared to vacuum, and sails armside not at all. Phenomenal. The pitch shape is very reminiscent of Mariano Rivera's; Mo got a lot of cash out of the fact that his fastball hugged in bizarrely on lefties' hands.
Stephen Pryor gets on top of the baseball, like, just flat better than any other pitcher on the planet. I defy you to show me a pitcher more on top of the baseball than this sasquatch is. And the theory of aerodynamics is willing to pay the tab:
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As a completely separate issue y'understand. His release point is frequently seven feet off the ground; I thought Tom Wilhelmsen was pretty crazy at 6 foot 6 inches. Throwing downhill? This guy is firing bullets from a lift basket straight above the plate.
You can see it in the hitters' reactions. They're starting the bats during the windup, as though Pryor were Aroldis Chapman.
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Q. The velocity was way down in inning two.
A. Dr. D is chewing nails every time Stephen Pryor enters the game from the Mariners' dugout rather than from the bullpen. Pryor is wayyy max effort, throws every pitch with all his might. You make him warm up the second time and he just doesn't have the bullets available.
Check this velo chart. Somebody have Pat Gillick talk to Eric Wedge about Arthur Rhodes. Some guys, you warm them up once, you grab your 15 pitches, and you run. If Stephen Pryor never comes out of the dugout again, it'll be too soon.
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Q. How was the slider?
A. Freakazoid. He was throwing it 91-93 MPH and the break on it, from the CF camera, looked like Blake Beavan's slider. Which is 81, not 91, MPH.
Of 28 pitches, he got 7 swings and misses - that's three games in Anthony Vasquez years. My two faves: an 0-2 slider, outside corner, 90 MPH plus, Adam Jones looked like no chance. And a 99 MPH cap-high fastball to Betemit that looked like the last pitch of Randy Johnson's no-hitter in the Kingdome.
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Q. How soon is he ready to close?
A. Two more games, I'd say. Could be three - granted, that's a worst-case scenario.
There are some closers who looked cool in setup. Mariano Rivera, when he was setting up Wetteland, looked like a stiletto. That was cool. But Troy Percival in the 7th inning? It would have looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger playing in a TV sitcom Thursday nights. Lee Smith, Greg Gagne, Billy Wagner coming in at random spots during the middle of the 7th? That just ain't right.
Pryor's a closer. He was born for one set inning, one and done, sail that banana fastball in there, three guys and let's go home. Granted, the Mariners already have a great closer. Let them figure it out.
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Comments
Yeah, you just have to suffer along with "closing" the 8th and "closing" the 9th. The Pryor-to-the-9th was partway tongue-in-cheek, as you can tell by the last line of the post. Of course Wilhelmsen has to close now that he's got the job and doing it perfectly.
In the All-Star Game they have a similar problemo :- )
Still would like to see Stephen Pryor given a nice clean entry to the 8th inning, as opposed to putting out fires... what's your thought -
When he first got here, he said that Lou needed four relief aces. "He can use Rhodes and Sasaki one night, and Paniagua and Mesa the next night." Similar to Baltimore where Gillick set up Davey Johnson with Rhodes, Mills, Orosco and Myers.
I'm with you Gordon - for me, Charlie Furbush can pitch that #4 role on a World Series winner -
Have always agreed with that G. In more than half their games, the great closers are wasted, killing birds with atom bombs. The score is 5-2 and here comes Percival - it's really just a celebration of the evening.
Lou would use Nellie, Rhodes and Sasaki, but IIRC it was very often with clean starts to the inning - 7th, 8th, 9th, see ya.
One cool thing was that he could interchange Nellie and Rhodes in the 7th and 8th depending on which inning had the other team's lefty bats...
Furbush and Pryor would provide the lefty/righty switchability for the 7th and 8th, and then Wilhelmsen comes in and crushed the 9th, no problemo. I think innings 7-9 work well when they're defined. Paxton just has to get through the 6th with a lead and then we release the Kraken from the bullpen to handle the last third of the game.
But for those times when the starter can't go 6 but we have the (tenuous) lead, you need the fireman. The Norm Charlton role in 2001 for that Nellie/Rhodes/Sasaki pen, in other words. It took the pen from a lead-holding pen to an offense-extinguishing one, and I happen to like that.
We do not have the 2001 hitting prowess, so we'll need the 2001 pitching staff to get it done and compete next year. I would support Pryor-as-closer if it meant Wilhelmsen-as-starter but otherwise leave things how they are - there's no such thing as too much bullpen pitching.
I'm glad Pryor and Capps are here to work out their major league kinks this year. I was disappointed to hear that Erasmo was going to stay down, but Beavan is holding his own still and Iwakuma absolutely needs to start. If we want to move Millwood and give his spot to Erasmo, that's the only way I see that working out for Ramirez before September.
The pen looks basically like I want it now, a long-reliever aside, and it'll be nice to check that off. The offense and the rotation need a little more tinkering (or gelling time) but you can't say Jack's plan isn't bringing in the talent.
Welding it into a cohesive team is the next priority. Guys like Ackley swinging like they should would help a lot.
~G
The best part of having "roving closers" is the ability to use strong pitchers based on game leverage, rather than the archaic "what inning # is it?"
Now that he apparently has perfected his "unhittable slider" (to go with mid-90s heat), in the second half, for High Desert:
0.81 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 4.0 BB/9, 13.7 K/9