Relievers

[Can_of_corn]

Has anyone noticed that Jim Johnson is good again?

And that is not surprising at all.

I said at the time it was a good move for the Braves to pick him up on the cheap so they could flip him if he turned things around.

He has a decent shot at parlaying this season into a 2 or 3 year deal.

[wildcard]

Has anyone noticed that Jim Johnson is good again?

Glad to see it. Jim is a class guy. He is bargain a at one year, 1.6m with 900K in performance bonus. Most pitching setup but has pitched the 9th in a few non save spots.

If the O's didn't already have a lot of right handed relievers I would like to see him back with the O's. But as it stands now I will just wish him well.

[sportsfan8703]

Just goes to show that a relief pitcher doesn't have to have a lot go right to have a good season. Looks like he's found command of his sinker, and the NL is seeing him for the first time.

[wildcard]

I think Jim put too much pressure on himself to live up to his 10m salary and it messed him up. He has generally been as very good reliever since he converted from being a starter. Last year was abnormal for him.

[xKHx]

Man you guys are crazy picking Gregg as your least favirote. I understand not your favirote but come on he hit big sloppy with a right hook and a baseball.....

[MeSoHardy]

Man you guys are crazy picking Gregg as your least favirote. I understand not your favirote but come on he hit big sloppy with a right hook and a baseball.....

I think he whiffed on that actually

[terpfan101]

So I was bored at work and came up with some interesting facts from our list of pitchers found here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/BAL/pitch.shtml

1) There have been 795 pitchers in franchise history, of which since 1998 season (arbitrarily chose this as it was the start of years of losing) we have had 209 pitchers.

2) Of the 209 pitchers since the 1998 season we have had 102 start at least one game.

3) Only one Mussina pitched for ten seasons, two pitched for eight (Ponson & J. Johnson) and nine (Mills & Rhodes) seasons each. Not seasons during that time period but total.

4) Save leaders are Jim Johnson, Julio, Britton, Sherrill, Ray, Ryan, Timlin, Benitez, Gregg, and Kohlmeier.

5) Of pitchers with an ERA of anything over zero, the lowest was Jim Miller (1.17 in 2008) followed by Andrew Miller (1.35 in 2014). The two are not related as far as I know.

6) Only seven players only pitched in one game, Mychal Givens (2015), Ramon Ramirez (2014), Mike Belfiore and Zach Clark (2013), Chris Davis (2012), Luis Rivera (2000), and Radhames Dykhoff (1998).

7) We had two players named Radhames (Liz and Dykhoff).

8) The most common first names have been Chris (9), Mike (8), John (6), Jason and Steve (5), Brian and Scott (4).

9)Rodriguez, Wright, and Johnson are the only last names to have occurred by three different players.

10) Start leaders (includes those made before 98): Mussina, Ponson, Erickson, Guthrie, Cabrera, R. Lopez, Tillman, Jason Johnson, Bedard, Chen, M. Gonzalez, Matusz, Arrieta

11) Ponson led the team in losses with 85, four more than Mussina despite pitching in 65 fewer games.

12) Cabrera leads pitchers with 60 wild pitches. Next was Ponson with 42 despite pitching nearly 550 innings more than Cabrera.

13) Complete game shutouts were done by Mussina (15 total), Erickson (10), Ponson (4), Rhodes (3), R. Lopez (2), Cabrera (2), and one each for Tillman, M. Gonzalez, Bedard, Bergesen, Hammel, Key, Guzman, Scott Feldman and one hit wonders like Josh Towers and Chris Waters who made only 23 and 12 starts respectively with the team.

14) Only one pitcher with a minimum of 100 innings pitched has had an ERA of less than 2.00 with the team?Darren O?Day.

15) Of players to have pitched 400 innings for the team, only two had under 60 starts, Alan Mills with three and Jim Johnson with one.

16) The highest ERA period is 36 held by Denny Bautista and Mark Worrell. Each only pitched two innings. The highest ERA for those who pitched at least 25 innings was Kurt Ainsworth 9.82 in 33IP, Paul Shuey 9.82 in 25.2IP, and 9.31 by Hayden Penn in 58IP.

17) Most unique names: Rocky Cherry, Heathcliff Slocumb, Radhames Dykhoff, Miguel Socolovich, Clay Rapada, Ricky Bones, Nerio Rodriguez, Chris Jakubauskas, Rocky Coppinger, Darwin Cubillan, Jair Jurrjens, Cla Meredith, Sendy Rleal, Kam Mickolio,Ubaldo Jimenez, Yorkis Perez, Koji Uehara.

18)Biggest busts (prospects): Hayden Penn, Radhames Liz, Matt Riley, Daniel Cabrera, or Chris Ray.

[bpilktree]

Johnson could be another possible option to help the back end of the pen he has good numbers vs both sides of the plate. Grilli is also another option as well with good splits.

[Redskins Rick]

18)Biggest busts (prospects): Hayden Penn, Radhames Liz, Matt Riley, Daniel Cabrera, or Chris Ray.

Nice work, however, Chris Ray had 49 saves for the team, hard to call that a bust.

[Can_of_corn]

Nice work, however, Chris Ray had 49 saves for the team, hard to call that a bust.

The list needs more Loewen.

[terpfan101]

Nice work, however, Chris Ray had 49 saves for the team, hard to call that a bust.

True, but wasn't he hyped as a third rounder to be a good starter? Don't think he started a game outside the minors. Forgot about all the saves but thought more of his final season or so here.

And yes Loewen was definitely a bust. Can't recall who was worse though, him Penn, or Riley.

[Can_of_corn]

True, but wasn't he hyped as a third rounder to be a good starter? Don't think he started a game outside the minors. Forgot about all the saves but thought more of his final season or so here.

And yes Loewen was definitely a bust. Can't recall who was worse though, him Penn, or Riley.

Riley- third round pick

Penn- fifth round pick

Loewen- fourth pick overall

[Morgan423]

I think he whiffed on that actually

Um... if you're a Major League pitcher, shouldn't you be punching people with your non-pitching hand if you needed to throw down? Just sayin', Kev.

[Redskins Rick]

True, but wasn't he hyped as a third rounder to be a good starter? Don't think he started a game outside the minors. Forgot about all the saves but thought more of his final season or so here.

And yes Loewen was definitely a bust. Can't recall who was worse though, him Penn, or Riley.

he was being groomed for the closer role and one season, he pitched 40 innings and had 8 holds.

Got rushed into the closer role, when BJ Ryan left.

Did pretty well that first year, the 2nd year, he didn't do as well.

He then had TJ surgery and was lost for 2 years, and got traded to the Rangers for Millwood.

[Spy Fox]

True, but wasn't he hyped as a third rounder to be a good starter? Don't think he started a game outside the minors. Forgot about all the saves but thought more of his final season or so here.

And yes Loewen was definitely a bust. Can't recall who was worse though, him Penn, or Riley.

Hmmm..

Matt Riley had a 5.99 ERA in 97.2 innings over parts of four seasons.

Adam Loewen had a 5.38 ERA in 164 innings over parts of three seasons.

Hayden Penn had a 9.51 ERA in 82.1 innings over parts of three seasons.

Just based off MLB performance, Penn definitely wins the Who Was Worst contest. 97 runs/87 earned runs over 82 innings! That is amazingly terrible!

Loewen and Riley both had bad starts to their careers but then were denied a chance at eventual improvement because of injuries. If they didn't both develop elbow problems, who knows maybe one of them might have Chris Tillman-ed.