Zach Britton = Mariano Rivera?

[ChrisP]

590 more saves and he'll be just like Mariano..

[25 Nuggets]

Never extend a pitcher with 4.26 career ERA working on a season mark of 0.74.

In any case, he'd probably want a deal buying out his three arb years plus another year or two. You'd be paying him for roughly 70 x 5 = 350 innings, based mostly on his performance in his last 36.

Well said. And yet real live MLB teams keep falling for the same trap again and again because the agents don't want to let them in on this little secret.

[Can_of_corn]

Maybe we should try and extend him now? It could easily backfire but I'd like to think Britton will be at least serviceable for the foreseeable future.

Boras client.

And he switched to Boras right when he was high up on the prospect lists.

[25 Nuggets]

So many Boras clients on the Orioles. I thought they weren't dealing with him.

[Can_of_corn]

So many Boras clients on the Orioles. I thought they weren't dealing with him.

Like I said, Britton switched to Boras after already being in the O's system for a few years.

The two sides might not have ever discussed him.

[weams]

well said. And yet real live mlb teams keep falling for the same trap again and again because the agents don't want to let them in on this little secret.

era g gs gf cg sho sv

2.49 71 0 63 0 0 51

[weams]

So many Boras clients on the Orioles. I thought they weren't dealing with him.

That was in B.W.

Before Wieters.

[birdcrazy]

Jim Johnson has a 9-96mph sinker no one could hit. Then he lost it...

[Can_of_corn]

Jim Johnson has a 9-96mph sinker no one could hit. Then he lost it...

In 2012 JJ had a K/9 rate of 5.4, out of the pen. That is nearly the complete opposite of unhittable.

[25 Nuggets]

In 2012 JJ had a K/9 rate of 5.4, out of the pen. That is nearly the complete opposite of unhittable.

Let's amend that then.

Jim Johnson has a 95-96mph sinker no one could hit out of the infield. Then he lost it...

[weams]

In 2012 JJ had a K/9 rate of 5.4, out of the pen. That is nearly the complete opposite of unhittable.

Let's amend that then.

Jim Johnson has a 95-96mph sinker no one could hit out of the infield. Only he stunk fielding his position and that hurt us. Then he lost it...

Statistically, he was Mariano Rivera. And then he wasn't. What made Mariano himself was that he did it for like 27 years. Not 2. Or 2 months.

[Can_of_corn]

Let's amend that then.

Statistically, he was Mariano Rivera. And then he wasn't. What made Mariano himself was that he did it for like 27 years. Not 2. Or 2 months.

Having a fistful of rings is also part of it. If Rivera had been a Padre his entire career...

[MrOrange82]

Many planets, moons, and minor and/or dwarf planets lack any substantial atmosphere, reducing drag to almost zero, and allowing pitchers to throw baseballs at a higher velocity than you can on Earth.

Must spread rep. I was hoping someone would say that.

[Brion McClanahan]

I don't care how good your best pitch is, it will lose effectiveness if everyone knows it is coming.

No. See Mariano Rivera. He had one pitch essentially, a cut fastball. Everyone knew it was coming and could not hit it.

[Brion McClanahan]

Even Rivera threw other pitches. If he really only threw the cutter 100% of the time it would have been less effective. If he only threw the cutter every time he depended on the next pitch it would have been less effective.

It's like the argument with Adam Jones - why does anyone ever throw him a strike? Well, if all the pitchers only threw him balls it would take about two games for him to catch on and walk every plate appearance, and they'd go back to mixing in balls and strikes. (Cue the jokes about Jones never learning and still swinging even if every pitch went to the backstop...)

Again, no. He threw a fastball and a cut fastball. That was it. If you want to split hairs and say the fastball is not the cut fastball, ok, but he threw the cutter over 90 percent of the time.