In 2016, I want to stretch Britton back out and make Brach the closer for 2016.

[DrungoHazewood]

Britton 2014-2015 to this point is actually comparable to Jim Johnson 2011-2012. I don't see how it's relevant; JJ was never a starter and won't be. I agree that closer as a concept (and saves) aren't worth so much, but relief pitching overall is more important than ever.

Jim Johnson was a starter through his entire minor league career. Through 2007 he'd been a professional for seven years and had only made 11 relief appearances, while starting 122 times. His major league debut was as a starter. But like many pitchers he converted to relief very early in his MLB career and never started again.

As for Britton as starter, I'm very wary of pulling someone out of a role where they're very successful on the hopes that they can be even more successful. All of these players are at the very, very far right of the distribution curve. Pushing them further to the right isn't anything like a sure bet, and it's not without risk. Most notably injury risk.

As OFFNY pointed out Gossage is a good example of this not working. I've read accounts of that as an example of the game passing someone by, in this case Paul Richards. Richards was a very good builder of teams earlier on, but he took Gossage and saw him as a big, strapping hard thrower and said "In my day, those kind of guys were starters. Of course they were starters. Only broken down guys who couldn't handle starting end up in the pen." Gossage's one year in the rotation stands out like a sore thumb in an otherwise HOF career, and he's lucky he didn't blow out his shoulder or elbow trying to throw complete games after years of pitching a couple innings at a time.

[Aristotelian]

If Brach closes, who replaces O'Day? If that is Givens, a big "if", then who replaces Brach? What happens if Brach has an injury? Then you have Givens closing and Roe in O'Day's role? There are too many question marks in the bullpen to lose Britton, in my opinion. Worst case scenario, you have something like the KC bullpen. We have seen how valuable it is to have three or more shutdown guys.

[Ruzious]

It'd be one thing if Britton was a 4 pitch pitcher, but he isn't. He has 1 dominant pitch. He's ideal for the bullpen. He'd be a big questionmark for the rotation. The O's have gotten to the playoffs 2 of the last 3 years in large part because of their bullpen. Yet people still tremendously undervalue the importance of the... bullpen.

[EagleOriole]

I would not want to do this either...just too much risk.

[Aristotelian]

I do think OP is correct that Brach is an underrated asset who deserves to see increasingly high leverage situations. Good nugget find by DD that gets overlooked as much as people complain about Snider, De Aza etc.

[sportsfan8703]

Could our bullpen handle losing Britton and O'day.

Brach

Givens

Wright

Wilson

Drake

Macfarland

Bundy(has to be here if not on the DL, no options left)

[backwardsk]

Could our bullpen handle losing Britton and O'day.

Brach

Givens

Wright

Wilson

Drake

Macfarland

Bundy(has to be here if not on the DL, no options left)

I'd be concerned that Wilson and/or Wright weren't stretched out in case a starter gets hurt.

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[Slade-OH]

Yea, he has a handful of MLB appearances to his name but I think Mychal Givens is the future closer if anyone is to replace Britton.

[Tony-OH]

This made me literally lol! Great use of a GIF.

AS for the OP, no thanks. Britton found his niche!

[TouchemAll]

He was a great starting prospect but got shaken due to an early call up. I think he has the confidence to take his sinker back to the rotation.

As for Brach, I think he's ready to take over the role. His ERA+ and FIP have improved every season for 4 straight years and he's enjoying a terrific K% rate to help with the closers job.

I am all for not messing with one of the premier closers in MLB right now.

[Nevermore]

:agree:

I am all for not messing with one of the premier closers in MLB right now.

[Redskins Rick]

So whats the over and under on how many more threads we will see on the Britton needs to be starting threads?

[El Gordo]

Which would you prefer, stretch him out or trade him after next season?

[blid]

I'm saying we have a closer.

What I don't like about this mindset is that it basically is stating that once a pitcher is successful as a reliever, he's stuck there for life. Surely there are guys who were good relievers that were able to move into the rotation and help out more that way.

I'm not sure if that applies to Zach or not. When he first came up he had some success even without his sinker working, before running into trouble with his shoulder. Based on that I'd think he could be an interesting rotation candidate now, with his sinker working better than ever, but if there's evidence that it's only working better because of his limited number of pitches or that he's lost his repertoire and become a one-pitch pitcher, then maybe he needs to stay in the pen. But if so, it should be based on that sort of thing and not this "if it ain't broke" mantra imo.