The Astry pie chart is better than most Taijuan Walker jokes. What thinks the brain trust about adding a name to the top of the pie chart this off season? For Example: 1. Nathan, 2. Farquhar, 3. Wilhelmson, 4. Furbush Etc. After last season, are Y'all on board if Jack stays in house for the bull pen?
Personally, Capps has soured my outlook on trying out the next young flamethrower. Bring on a vet!
Bullpen guys can be hard to figure. Sometimes they can come out of nowhere and carry a team. Sometimes they can have great stuff but never quite manage to convert it to outs when needed.
One thing is pretty obvious, though, it's better to have too many than not enough.
And it seems that the Zduriencik-McNamara pipeline is pretty well set in that regard. Carter Capps not getting it done? Meet Carson Smith! He's not "Jeff Nelson 2.0" after all? Greetings Stephen Kohlscheen! or Tyler Burgoon ... or Emilio Pagan ...
You get the idea.
Note: Oliver Perez is already a free agent, so he does not appear.
2014 age | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | Thumbnail commentary | ||
Danny Farquhar | 27 | RH | PreArb2 | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | Is he the closer? Well, he faced 89 batters in the 9th inning, and struck out 31 of them, with no HR. So far, so good. | |
Tom Wilhelmsen | 30 | RH | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | Turns out he was still hard to hit. ISO and HR/9 were fine. But his walk rate and BABIP both zoomed up simultaneously after mid-June. | ||
Charlie Furbush | 28 | LH | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | We'll take 1.1 WAR (fangraphs) from a lefty middle relief guy. | ||
Lucas Luetge | 27 | LH | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | Still has silver bullets vs. LH, but righties OPS almost .900 against him. | ||
Stephen Pryor | 24 | RH | PreArb2 | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | Limited to 7.1 IP by injuries, but they were a very tantalizing 7.1 IP. | |
Carter Capps | 23 | RH | PreArb2 | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | Like a bullpen Brandon Maurer, he just got tattooed (1.8 HR/9). It wasn't entirely bad luck, but we still believe he can figure it out. If not, there are a host of guys in line. | |
Yoervis Medina | 25 | RH | PreArb2 | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | Quite the escape artist. Managed to combine 5.3 BB/9 and 2.91 ERA. One of those numbers will change going forward, we just don't know which. | |
Chance Ruffin | 25 | RH | PreArb2 | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | Clearly, the club likes his potential, but the competition is going to be fierce. All these guys won't fit on the big club all at once. | |
Carson Smith | 24 | RH | PreArb1 | PreArb2 | PreArb3 | Arb1 | Arb2 | Arb3 | FA | Had the best season of any reliever in the organization. 1.80 ERA; 1.00 WHIP; 71 K in 50.0 IP. Some will recall that Jeff Nelson was one of the most valuable players on both the 1995 & 2001 teams. Just sayin'. |
Rest of the chart ... through Leoncio Munoz ... found at my site here.
Comments
the stories of Guardado talking to the young bullpenners of the time, notably Putz, about the philosophy and techniques of getting guys out late in the game. Even when he could no longer get guys out as well as he once had, he was the heart of that 'pen. We need at least two "been there, done that" guys in the 'pen to give it the strength it needs. Capps and Pryor (and Wilhelmsen) still need to learn the trade, no matter how good their stuff. I wouldn't mind Aardsma, as he will be just about the right point after TJ by spring training. He might not be the Aardsma of old, but he's been through the crucible and can help the pups. Whether we trade for a Gregerson, or sign an FA like Nathan or Thornton (as long as no QO was involved), we need that guy, or guys, who sits out there and gets them thinking and planning to use their "stuff" effectively.