..............
Q. Thumbs up or thumbs down?
A. Nothing to see here. Move on. The quicker he's out of the org, the happier I'll be.
At this point it's a semi-serious question, like did Doug Fister lead the league in garlic and onions? Two months later, nothing much having happened, Furbush and Ruffin are NOT even BACK of the bullpen?
I got Malcontent's Q-and-A right here: you couldn't trade Doug Fister and get BACK of the bullpen relievers?
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Q. How can such a nice guy write such a dastardly thing? Suppose Shawn Camp saw that?
A. He'd still be richer and better-looking than me, and he'd still be in baseball, somewhere. Besides, he won't see that.
I'm talking about Shawn Camp the 2-dimensional pitching abstraction, not the Shawn Camp who's a real person. He knows that. Wait... the other Shawn Camp knows that... whatever. I'm the blogger; he's the rich and handsome celebrity athlete. He'll live. If I were a mediocre American League pitcher and bloggers said that I was their least favorite player, I'd smile wryly. So should he. So DOES he.
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Q. What's wrong with Camp? He's like, as good as Chance Ruffin, right?
A. I don't like mediocre groundball relievers. I don't trust them, I don't want them, and I don't believe one should ever invest money in them.
Okay, I read it on the 'net. So sue me.
And they're not investing anything, true. There's nothing wrong with bringing guys to camp and making the Ruffins and Furbushes earn it. We put our pants on one leg at a time, we have an idea out there, fill in the bumper sticker.
The point's the same. If Shawn Camp has any chance of sending Chance Ruffin or Charlie Furbush to the minors... :::hurgh::
You've got a trillion blue-chippers stacked to the moon, and you spend your last three weeks bringing in ten Carlos Guillens. It's a little shrill at this point.
We do love the poor-mouthing up front and the sock full of nickels behind the back. Jay-Z means to win in 2012.
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Q. Aren't you being unfair?
A. I'll convert you in one sentence. Ready for it?
"Rubber game (three) of the Angels or Rangers series, tied in the 7th, Ackley gets on, and the Angels or Rangers bring in .... Jamey Wright or Mike White or Sean Green or Shawn Camp ... are you pleased?"
I'm not wrong about this, kids. You aren't going to see any blinkin' Mike White or Sean Green out of the Ranger bullpen in a tough game. That's because the Rangers are serious about winning.
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Q. Have the Mariners had their share of 50% grounder stoploss guys in the pen, would you say?
A. In the last three or four years, the Mariners have sailed the following huge flotilla of lousy groundball pitchers into their Safeco bullpens:
When a team is putting guys named "Sean" in its bullpen, it is groveling. Get that straight.
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Q. Surely a GM has to provide for a stoploss?
A. Yeah, that being the guy you just traded Doug Fister for. Or the other guy you traded Fister for. Or the guy you traded Cliff Lee for (Blake Beavan).
Or one of the three MLB(TM) starting pitchers you just brought in, in front of K-Pax and Deuce Hultzen.
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Q. When is it okay to grovel and when is it not okay?
A. It's not okay when you have talented power arms you want to look at. It's okay if it's 1977 and they just built you a dome or something. It's not okay when you just traded Doug Fister for Chance Ruffin.
Look, you want to put a 100 ERA+ "please hit a screamer at somebody" reliever in your pen, be my guest. Just don't expect the Angels to return the favor. When you're up in the 7th you're going to see some nasty shtick, not some retread who's hoping for an Atom Ball.
My $0.02,
Jeff
I'm guessing Wedge will use Camp the way he used groundballers in Cleveland...he'll be a specialist asked to get grounders with people on base in tight situations. Maybe you don't like that strategy...but it is a valid one. I'm not a fan of Camp...but as a stop-loss in case Sherrill or Kuo doesn't have it (two high risk high upside grabs)...I'm fine with it this year.
The guy doesn't need to be a fireballer, but then he'd better be a sidearmer or a dead-fisher or have SOME kind of weapon.
When the cupboards were bare there was an excuse for not putting the bazookas out there in the bullpen.
But we should be past the point where we're bringing a paring knife to a gatling-gun fight.
If you feel you have to have an 88 mph groundballer who gives up 10 hits per, then let him throw long relief in blowouts, but please use instruments of death for the important innings, not instruments of aggressive tickling.
~G
Had a 41 year old Arthur Rhodes get 32 relief apperances, the Angels payed 5.5 Million dollars to Fernando Rodney(.92 K/BB rate) for 39 appearances, the Rays let JP Howell (6.16 ERA) make 46 appearances.
Right now the Mariners Bullpen shakes out as
Brandon League
Tom Willhemsen (2nd ML Season)
Hong-Chih Kuo (Injury-riddled head case)
Shawn Kelley (Injury-riddled)
George Sherrill (Injury-riddled/losing velocity)
Best scrub/rookie
Shawn Camp (Only guy in bullpen besides Brandon League to pitch 3 consecutive seasons of 65IP+/>4.25 ERA[woops, Brandon League didn't do this], despite pitching in the offense happy AL East/Rogers Centre.)
Other than Brandon League, there's not a lot to call dependable in the bullpen without Shawn Camp, and Eric Wedge is a guy who likes dependability, he likes guys that can go out every day if need be.
Exactly what were the opinions on the following 2011 relievers in ST vs. what they actually did?
Jamey Wright
D. Pauley
A. Laffey
Chris Ray
Wilhelmsen
Josh Lueke
Kelley
Dan Cortes
Bullpens are almost always a royal pain to peg. But, Pauley was NOT viewed as the savior of the pen he turned into. I don't like 'em on paper. But I like what Z has done so far.
You don't have a young guy who could use those types of innings, either?
It had slipped my mind that you're going to be able to find a few scramble innings in anybody's bullpen ;- )
I take it that you'd concede the general point, though. 7th inning in Arlington, you're not going to see Sean Green in a tie game.
But here is Arthur Rhodes splits log for last year. Batters had 138 PA against him last year, 42 came in save situations, 70 came in "Late & Close" situations, 28 came in tie games, and 75 came when the score was within 2 runs. So that's half of Arthur Rhodes pitching appearances that came with the game on the line; Arthur Rhodes who lost 2 mph from the previous year, Arthur Rhodes who is 41 and allowed 2 HR/9 innings. Yes he switched teams at the end of July, and yes, Washington eventually stopped giving him high leverage innings, but it took 2 months, and he still got chances. Managers don't like to give tight situations to rookies, scrubs, head cases and guys coming back from injuries every time they come up, and especially not Eric Wedge.
2 conditions will have to apply for Camp to be pitching for the Mariners through July.
A: The Mariners are contending.
B: Shawn Camp is doing his job.
In 2011, when the Mariners weren't contending, David Pauley got moved to Detroit, when they weren't effective, Aaron Laffey got jettisoned despite pitching OK, and Chris Ray got back burnered.
So I have faith that if Shawn Camp is having trouble keeping his ERA under 5 or is just getting lit up and lucky, or if the Mariners start out 25-40, Camp will be gone or out of the way. Wedge and Z have proven that they won't carry excess baggage if there's another option (including a 4 man bullpen).
If the guys in your pen are failing, no matter what their pedigree, a GM has to do something. The thing is, at that point it might already be too late. A good GM has to think stratigically as well as tactically.
I've received word that at least one lower division reliever is going to be fast-tracked this season ala Shawn Kelley. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if more than a few are. This could be a bullpen full of magicians and flamethrowers by September.
Lonnie