What will it take to make Mychal Givens good again?

[Aristotelian]

I think he is most effective as a late inning matchup reliever when the manager can exploit his splits against RHB. Going back to that role will help him tremendously. RHB have career .567 OPS against him. Even in a down year last year that number was .587. He has always had extreme splits and will always have extreme splits. Manage him around who he is and not who we want him to be.

[DrungoHazewood]

Here's an example of random variation: a regular position player gets about 100 or 125 PAs a month. Similar to how many lefties Givens faces in a year.  In Eddie Murray's career he had July batting averages ranging from .172 to .357.  The .172 and the .357 were consecutive years in mid-career.  He also had consecutive year pairs of .364 and .279, .260 and .337, .282 and .348,and he had a .238 the year before his .357.  Even players known for their consistency have wide variations in results in small samples.

[sportsfan8703]

2 hours ago, weams said:

Have him pitch to predominantly right handers. 

This is what we should do to maximize his value.  If he happens to pick up some saves along the way then so be it.  Also, don't pitch him into the ground.  Avoid b2b and 3/4 situations.  

[Frobby]

5 hours ago, Scalious said:

Lets blind you all with numbers and colors!

When did OFFNY change his screen name?

[Just Regular]

3 hours ago, weams said:

Is Cobb walking?

Haha, I honestly don't know.  He is The Man Time Forgot roster-wise, non-Davis category.  MASN's November report was expected ready for Spring Training - we are I guess coming to the weeks where ambulatory or not will become known.  I imagine we want him taking his turns in April/May if he can, and he has a league to impress if he wants to get out of town.  Jake Odorizzi's made a nice living 5-and-diving and Cobb can have a shot at that here now, unlike 2018 when Buck maybe had 200-inning visions dancing in his head.

[weams]

1 minute ago, OrioleDog said:

Haha, I honestly don't know.  He is The Man Time Forgot roster-wise, non-Davis category.  MASN's November report was expected ready for Spring Training - we are I guess coming to the weeks where ambulatory or not will become known.  I imagine we want him taking his turns in April/May if he can, and he has a league to impress if he wants to get out of town.  Jake Odorizzi's made a nice living 5-and-diving and Cobb can have a shot at that here now, unlike 2018 when Buck maybe had 200-inning visions dancing in his head.

Right there is where I am. I'll see him on Feb 11. I'll let you know if he is out of the hip brace. 

[sportsfan8703]

17 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

I think he is most effective as a late inning matchup reliever when the manager can exploit his splits against RHB. Going back to that role will help him tremendously. RHB have career .567 OPS against him. Even in a down year last year that number was .587. He has always had extreme splits and will always have extreme splits. Manage him around who he is and not who we want him to be.

This is true. The “fire stopper” role wasn’t for Givens. No reliever gets asked to do that for a lengthy period of time.