Royals Bullpen of the Future Has Arrived

post from Royals Review - All Posts on 26 September 2012 03:02:13 PM. © Royals Review - All Posts

Coming into the season, Royals fans were fed the line that the team wanted to build one of the best bullpens in the league (as opposed to the teams who want their bullpens to be terrible). The logic behind this company motto was that the bullpen could help pick up the slack from the starting rotation, which is why they needed to sign Jonathon Broxton to a four million dollar contract this off-season.

To the Royals credit, the bullpen does lead the league in fWAR this season, at 6.9. Part of the Royals high WAR total is due to the fact the bullpen has thrown the third most innings out of any bullpen in baseball this season, but it does need to be noted that the Royals bullpen has been effective when called on.

The good news for the Royals is that they have four quality relievers who are young and cost-controlled, so the bullpen should continue to be effective in the future. Greg Holland, Kelvin Herrera, Tim Collins and Aaron Crow have all pitched well out of the bullpen this season, and their peripheral statistics support their low earned run numbers.

PlayerIPK%BB%ERAFIPfWARrWARGreg Holland64.131.50%11.20%2.82.252.11.8Kelvin Herrera8122.90%6.10%2.332.711.82.2Aaron Crow61.225.00%8.10%3.362.961.20.9Tim Collins68.231.90%11.10%3.413.430.91

Fangraphs has Holland as one the five most valuable relievers this season, with Herrera as a one of the top ten most valuable relievers. Crow and Collins are both around the 1.0 WAR mark for fWAR and rWAR, which is a strong number for any reliever.

Holland and Collins have similar strikeout-to-walk numbers. Both Holland and Collins are striking out an absurd number of hitters (greater than 12 per nine, for those who are not used to percentages), but are walking more hitters than one would like (four per nine). Both relievers throw a lot of pitches outside of the strike zone in an attempt to get batters to chase and strikeout, so the walk rate is probably tied in with the strikeout rate. The difference in FIP between the two pitchers is due to Collins tendency this season to surrender the longball, while Holland has kept the ball in the park well for two consecutive seasons.

Crow and Herrera's peripheral numbers are similar as well, with Herrera's numbers being slightly better in both categories. Herrera has been truly dominant this season, as he sports a 55.4% ground ball percentage to compliment his strong strikeout-to-walk numbers. Crow has improved this season compared to last, despite a lower ERA and an All-Star appearance in 2011. Crow's walk numbers last season were similar to Collins and Holland's this season without the absurdly high strikeout numbers to offset the walks. His HR/FB percentage has halved from last season, something all Royals fans should hope will continue.

The Royals have done a good job laying the foundation for a high-quality bullpen for the next few seasons, and deserve credit for acquiring these arms. Even though the Royals have had one of the best bullpens in the league, however, the team has not been close to contention this season. Although a team's bullpen is important to it's success, it should be clear after watching this Royals team this season that starting pitchers and position players are much more important to a team's success due to the increased opportunities regular players have to affect the game.

If Dayton Moore uses some the of David Glass is claiming he will spend this off-season on another Broxton, the money will be wasted. The Royals bullpen should already be a strength, adding a high-priced reliever will be a waste of resources that should be spent shoring up areas of weakness. Their are plenty of arms already in the system that can compete next spring to fill in the final two or three spots in the bullpen (without factoring in Joakim Soria, who deserves his own post), so depth should not be an issue. Moore has assembled a young, quality bullpen; now he needs to make sure he takes advantage of it.

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Three Braves Prospects Among Top Appy League
Talent

post from Talking Chop - All Posts on 26 September 2012 03:02:09 PM. © Talking Chop - All Posts

In their continuing series of ranking the top minor league talent from each league, Baseball America brings us the Top-20 Appalachian League Prospects. The Braves are well represented here, including two of their top new pitching prospects. Ranking 5th and 6th on the list respectively are right-handers Mauricio Cabrera and Lucas Sims.

Cabrera is one of the organization's top young international arms, signing in 2010 for $400K. He's a big-framed 18-year old with mid-90s gas that has natural sink and/or cutting action. He held opposing hitters to an Appy League best .213 average. Talking Chop ranked him as the 8th-best prospect on our mid-season top-25 Braves prospects. He is still a work in progress, and he'll have to refine his secondary offerings and sort out some minor mechanical flaws, but the future looks bright for Cabrera.

Lucas Sims was the team's top draft pick this year, getting drafted 21st overall, and signing for a $1.65 million bonus. Talking Chop ranked him as the Braves 4th-best prospects mid-season, on reports of his mid-90s fastball, plus curveball, and developing changeup. Sims started out in the GCL, but after only three games the Braves pushed him to Danville. He struggled some with walks and control, but held his own for an 18-year old getting his first taste of pro ball.

As expected, shortstop Jose Peraza makes an appearance on this prospect list as well. He ranks 18th on the Appy League list (after ranking 10th in the GCL).

The next prospect list that might have any Braves prospects will be released October 3rd by Baseball America.

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Miami Marlins Manager Ozzie Guillen's Job In
Jeopardy

post from Fish Stripes - All Posts on 26 September 2012 03:02:09 PM. © Fish Stripes - All Posts

The Miami Marlins are considering firing manager Ozzie Guillen for his part in the struggles of the team in 2012.

Amid the word from yesterday afternoon that president of baseball operations Larry Beinfest may be on his way out, a little bit of news trickled out about manager Ozzie Guillen as well. MLB.com's Joe FrIsaro acknowledged the rumor that the Marlins were considering major personnel moves, potentially involving Beinfest, general manager Michael Hill, and Guillen. When the beat writer of the official Marlins website speculates on rumors, you know that there may be something to the situation.

But within the article regarding the Beinfest firing rumor, there was also some discussion about Guillen's job security, and in particular the fact that the Marlins are already discussing his future.

Nothing has been decided on the future of manager Ozzie Guillen -- who is signed through 2015 -- and, according to a source, the pros and cons of a change at manager already are being discussed. The Marlins, in considering a potential managerial change, have talked about ex-Marlin Mike Lowell as an option.

Guillen is at most partly to blame and likely not much to blame for the failure of the 2012 Miami Marlins, and in my opinion, if there is anyone that can motivate this team to potentially perform better, it is the hot-headed, temperamental Guillen. In addition, with the Marlins potentially running a lower payroll than in 2012, the club has more things to worry about in terms of their use of money than adding another manager to the fold while still paying Guillen $2.5 million a year for the next three seasons.

Then again, Mike Lowell looked like the type of player who would make a good managerial candidate, and if the Marlins do go after someone without previous managerial experience, they are not likely to have to commit a whole lot more money to yet another manager. Lowell has been the most vocal among old Marlins of the 2003 era team, and he is usually the first guy to go to for a coherent interview, so he could be as good a new managerial candidate as there is out there. Other candidates listed in the article include former Marlins and current Washington Nationals third base coach Bo Porter and former Marlins catcher and current Toronto Blue Jays Single-A affiliate manager Mike Redmond.

I for one would welcome the return of Mike Lowell. But I do not think Guillen should fired and scapegoated for the pitfalls of this team. Yes, perhaps changes should be made, but if the Marlins end up sacking their manager and heads of front office, you get the feeling like the team was going for a "change for change's sake" approach rather than a thought-out approach.

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Orioles Lose Again to Jays, Each Game Matters
Now...

post from Oriole Post - Baltimore Orioles Analysis & News; The World of Baseball and Beyond on 26 September 2012 03:01:53 PM. © Oriole Post - Baltimore Orioles Analysis & News; The World of Baseball and Beyond

For the second straight game, the Baltimore Orioles lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, this time by a score of 4-0.

Overall, the Orioles were held scoreless by Jays pitching, who only allowed six hits on the night. They didn?t have many opportunities to even do much on the scoreboard, and when they did ? nothing much happened.

Joe Saunders was decent on the night on the mound for the Orioles, but obviously didn?t get the help he needed from the bats.

Aaron Laffey ? who started the game for the Jays on the mound ? stifled the Orioles offensively throughout his outing as he induced groundball after groundball, keeping the ball out of the air. Baltimore got a few solid hits off of him, but overall, they were no match for Laffey on the night.

After Laffey left the game in the sixth inning, the Toronto bullpen also kept Baltimore at bay.

Saunders tried to match Laffey on the mound, pitch for pitch, but a few mistakes did him in. He and the Orioles perhaps deserved a better fate on the night, considering they are trying to do their best to keep pace with the Yankees with the number of games dwindling along with maintaining their Wild Card standing.

Saunders lasted 6 1/3 innings on Wednesday, and gave up four runs - three earned.

The first third of the ball game was very well-played by Baltimore; however, the Toronto took a 1-0 lead off Yan Gomes? RBI-single in the first inning and added another in the fourth with Adeiny Hechavarria?s single to left. They added two more in the seventh off runs driven by Colby Rasmus and Edwin Encarnacion.

The Orioles had chances in the first and seventh innings as they had two men on base and could have started a rally, but they could not capitalize.

J.J. Hardy and Matt Wieters did have two hits for Baltimore.

>>> Read More

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Willie Mays 2012 Topps Archives Floating Head
Sticker

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 26 September 2012 02:42:39 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

Willie Mays 2012 Topps Archives ‘Floating Head’ Sticker I have traded away a bunch of these ‘floating head’ stickers from the 2012 Topps Archives set. But now that I really take a minute and check out my Willie Mays sticker, … Continue reading →

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Twins Deduno pulled after 2 innings with eye
issue (Yahoo! Sports)

post from MLB News Blog on 26 September 2012 02:42:18 PM. © MLB News Blog

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Samuel Deduno has left the game against the New York Yankees because of irritation in his left eye.

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e-issue-yahoo-sports/

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Atlanta Series: Game Two (155) Preview

post from Marlin Maniac on 26 September 2012 02:25:19 PM. © Marlin Maniac

Tonight, the Marlins are still in Atlanta, facing the Braves in the second of three. Josh Johnson squares off against Paul Maholm. Maholm brings a 4.09 ERA to the rubber, vice J.J.?s 3.84. Johnson has come on strong since the All-star break, and looks to continue for the remainder of the season. A [...]

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Building Anew From A Strong Core

It?s becoming clear that Heath Bell won?t be a part of the Marlins next year. We?ve also heard lately that the Marlins will retrench, with a payroll in the neighborhood of $80m. So, what to do? A shakeup of some kind is necessary, but I don?t think a gutting and filleting of the [...]

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The Heath Bell Flap, Part Two

Fans of W.E.B. Griffin?s potboiler series on the WWII-era Marine Corps will remember the character of Lt. R.B. Macklin III. He has come to life, and is now wearing number 21 for the Marlins. Demonstrating a finely honed inability to accept blame for failed performance, Heath Bell has most convincingly earned the horns [...]

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The Heath Bell Flap, Part One

In the visiting clubhouse before yesterday?s game in Atlanta, Greg Dobbs closed the door to the press. Prior to the door closing, the audio feed from a live Ozzie Guillen interview was being piped in. The subject was Ozzie?s reaction to comments made by Heath Bell. This past Monday, on Dan Sileo?s WQAM [...]

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