The 2021 Bullpen

[HowAboutThat]

4 hours ago, sportsfan8703 said:

It’s not looking too bad, and appears it could be a strength. A lot has to do with if they actually play 162 games, and what the roster size will be. 

Let’s assume an 8 man pen

RH: Harvey, Armstrong, Tate, Phillips, Valdez, Lakins/Eshelman/Sulser/etc....

LH:  Scott, Fry

I think it’s way too early to be making predictions, especially after Mike has shown us that he can find real value on the waiver wire. I’m just wondering if two left handers will be enough?

Also I think several of these guys are going to be gone.

[wildcard]

37 minutes ago, Philip said:

I think it’s way too early to be making predictions, especially after Mike has shown us that he can find real value on the waiver wire. I’m just wondering if two left handers will be enough?

Also I think several of these guys are going to be gone.

Ziimmermann, Lowther, Brian Gonzalez and Kevin Smith are all lefties.

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

The Os have a lot of young arms..some will fizzle out, some will be starters and others will be relievers.

Not worried about Elias being able to find your 6th-8th members of the pen.

Let me put it another way. I'm worried about the depth of the top group. You not only need a closer but 1-2 all purpose guys plus another couple of matchup guys. Harvey-Scott-Valdez can probably close out games fairly consistently but how would you feel about Scott-Valdez-Tate/Lakins? I don't know that I would call that a good back end bullpen. If you move Scott to close, is Fry dependable enough as primary lefty? Etc. Especially since Harvey is an injury risk. 

[Sports Guy]

I’m perfectly fine with a Tate/Scott/Harvey back end.  Pop will eventually figure into that mix as well. 

[sportsfan8703]

I think we’ll keep anyone with starter potential a starter for as long as possible next year. Especially with losing lots of time next year. 2 vets like Eshelman and Fullmer could be innings eaters. Pop could be another back end option. Some guys will get DFA but that doesn’t mean they will be gone. Like Hanhold, Sulser, Kline, Carroll, etc....  sometimes it just takes relievers awhile to figure it out. 

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

I’m perfectly fine with a Tate/Scott/Harvey back end.  Pop will eventually figure into that mix as well. 

As I said, what happens if Harvey is injured? Are you OK with Scott/Tate/Lakins or Scott/Valdez/Tate. That is starting to look pretty vulnerable. Look at the Rays, Yankees, Dodgers, etc. If they lose their closer they don't really skip a beat. I think top to bottom it is fair to say those bullpens are better than ours and even more so if there is an injury. 

[NCRaven]

14 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

As I said, what happens if Harvey is injured? Are you OK with Scott/Tate/Lakins or Scott/Valdez/Tate. That is starting to look pretty vulnerable. Look at the Rays, Yankees, Dodgers, etc. If they lose their closer they don't really skip a beat. I think top to bottom it is fair to say those bullpens are better than ours and even more so if there is an injury. 

So you're saying the Yankees and Rays are better than us today?  Hell of an insight!  

 

[Frobby]

4 hours ago, wildcard said:

One of the other factors is that the O's have a lot of cheap pitchers. Here are 20 pitchers that will be making close to  the minimum:

 Kremer,  Akin, Lopez, Fulmer, Stewart, Zimmerman, Baumann,  Lowther,  Harvey,  Scott, Tate, Fry, Lakins,  Valdez, Pop, Eshelman, Mattson, Phillips, Kline, and Sulser.

Well, you can cross Fulmer off the list.    Waived and claimed by the Pirates.   

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, NCRaven said:

So you're saying the Yankees and Rays are better than us today?  Hell of an insight!  

 

I mean it seems obvious but the OP is saying that the O's bullpen "could be a strength". Other poster was saying the back end is fine and Elias will find some low leverage guyes. If the thread topic was "Orioles Bullpen Could Be Meh" I would of course agree. 

[interloper]

Bullpen gonna be good! 

Can we talk about Lakins for a minute? There hasn't been a single thread dedicated to this guy since we claimed him but he's got a 3.52 ERA over 46 career innings with the O's. Solid middle reliever. 

[Aristotelian]

29 minutes ago, interloper said:

Bullpen gonna be good! 

Can we talk about Lakins for a minute? There hasn't been a single thread dedicated to this guy since we claimed him but he's got a 3.52 ERA over 46 career innings with the O's. Solid middle reliever. 

Agreed, he has been surprisingly decent. Reminds me a bit of Tommy Hunter in stuff and possible ceiling. 

[NCRaven]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

I mean it seems obvious but the OP is saying that the O's bullpen "could be a strength". Other poster was saying the back end is fine and Elias will find some low leverage guyes. If the thread topic was "Orioles Bullpen Could Be Meh" I would of course agree. 

I'm just messing with you!

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, interloper said:

Bullpen gonna be good! 

Can we talk about Lakins for a minute? There hasn't been a single thread dedicated to this guy since we claimed him but he's got a 3.52 ERA over 46 career innings with the O's. Solid middle reliever. 

His WHIP is worrisome.  Also, he has allowed 10 of 17 inherited runners to score, which is awful.   I’ll say this, a lot of his inherited runners came in very tough situations — twice he entered a game with the bases loaded and nobody out.    It would be miraculous if none of those runners had scored.    But all six of them did score, and that ain’t good.  

[Sports Guy]

18 hours ago, Aristotelian said:

As I said, what happens if Harvey is injured? Are you OK with Scott/Tate/Lakins or Scott/Valdez/Tate. That is starting to look pretty vulnerable. Look at the Rays, Yankees, Dodgers, etc. If they lose their closer they don't really skip a beat. I think top to bottom it is fair to say those bullpens are better than ours and even more so if there is an injury. 

If Harvey gets hurt, you still can be pretty good back there.  I like Armstrong as well.

As I said, Pop will figure into things here, perhaps as early as June.  
 

I don’t have an issue if they sign a vet for the pen either.

[hoosiers]

IMO, the biggest takeway is that Elias, even after dealing away multiple good, pre-FA relievers, has a cheap, mostly young bp with some potential high quality options entering next season.  That is exactly where we should be at this point in the rebuild process.  

I think he will stick almost exclusively with what we have in-house entering next season.  I could see signing one veteran guy or more likely an injury comeback candidate, but that's about it.