What about the pen?

[Sports Guy]

43 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

Did you not see him pitch? He was absolutely lights out dominant. 

No he wasn’t. 

First of all, he threw 14 innings.  That isn’t any kind of a sample size to even really discuss.

Secondly, he had a mediocre K rate and a very lucky and unsustainable BABiP.

He was hardly dominant.

[Aristotelian]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

No he wasn’t. 

First of all, he threw 14 innings.  That isn’t any kind of a sample size to even really discuss.

Secondly, he had a mediocre K rate and a very lucky and unsustainable BABiP.

He was hardly dominant.

I don't think you watched him pitch. He is not a strikeout pitcher. He threw 83% changeups. He was a beast for 14 innings against MLB hitters. I don't care about his age. As long as he is cheap he gets a shot. 

[Sports Guy]

1 minute ago, Aristotelian said:

I don't think you watched him pitch. He is not a strikeout pitcher. He threw 83% changeups. He was a beast for 14 innings against MLB hitters. I don't care about his age. As long as he is cheap he gets a shot. 

I watched him pitch..I’m just not completely overvaluing 14 innings.

[TommyPickles]

I think Valdez makes the opening day roster.

On a different note, what happened to Chandler Shepherd? I know the O's cut him, but did he rejoin the organization? Sign on elsewhere? Despite the inflated ERA in 2019, I thought he had some potential as a long reliever.  8.1 SO9/2.8 BB9

[DrungoHazewood]

43 minutes ago, TommyPickles said:

I think Valdez makes the opening day roster.

On a different note, what happened to Chandler Shepherd? I know the O's cut him, but did he rejoin the organization? Sign on elsewhere? Despite the inflated ERA in 2019, I thought he had some potential as a long reliever.  8.1 SO9/2.8 BB9

In 2020 the average MLB reliever had 9.4 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9.  So eight and three are just okay.

(Weird observation: last year relievers walked more batters than starters.  That has to be the first time in 150 years of history that happened.  Most years it's not remotely close. Even in 2019 starters were ahead by 600 walks. In 2010 starters walked almost 4000 more batters.)

[Can_of_corn]

4 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

In 2020 the average MLB reliever had 9.4 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9.  So eight and three are just okay.

(Weird observation: last year relievers walked more batters than starters.  That has to be the first time in 150 years of history that happened.  Most years it's not remotely close. Even in 2019 starters were ahead by 600 walks. In 2010 starters walked almost 4000 more batters.)

Bullepn innings had to be the highest percentage of total innings pitched ever.

[TommyPickles]

4 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

In 2020 the average MLB reliever had 9.4 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9.  So eight and three are just okay.

(Weird observation: last year relievers walked more batters than starters.  That has to be the first time in 150 years of history that happened.  Most years it's not remotely close. Even in 2019 starters were ahead by 600 walks. In 2010 starters walked almost 4000 more batters.)

That is interesting. 

Most of Shepherd's 2019 innings were as a starter, so I was just comparing those strikeout numbers to the other O's starters that year. Guess we don't have a lot of strikeout guys though:

2019 Starters (with at least 3 starts) - K/9:

Dylan Bundy- 9.0

Asher Wojo- 8.7

Chandler Shepherd- 8.1

David Hess- 7.7

Ty Blach- 7.4

Jimmy Yacabonis- 7.2

John Means- 7.0

Andrew Cashner- 6.2

Dan Straily- 6.2

Aaron Brooks- 5.9

Alex Cobb- 5.8

Thomas Eshelman- 5.5

Gabriel Ynoa- 5.4

 

 

[LookinUp]

1 hour ago, DrungoHazewood said:

In 2020 the average MLB reliever had 9.4 K/9 and 4.0 BB/9.  So eight and three are just okay.

(Weird observation: last year relievers walked more batters than starters.  That has to be the first time in 150 years of history that happened.  Most years it's not remotely close. Even in 2019 starters were ahead by 600 walks. In 2010 starters walked almost 4000 more batters.)

Now we have openers. Mixing of talent pools. The pitching revolution.

[DrungoHazewood]

38 minutes ago, LookinUp said:

Now we have openers. Mixing of talent pools. The pitching revolution.

There has never been a decade where pitching roles weren't in flux.

[LookinUp]

33 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

There has never been a decade where pitching roles weren't in flux.

Like this?

[Frobby]

Because MLB allowed bigger rosters this year, teams were much more willing to yank starters early and go to the bullpen.    Average IP/start went from 5.18 to 4.78.   So, that mostly explains why relievers total walks per game went way up and starters went down.   

Interestingly, both starters and relievers allowed more walks per 9 innings in 2020 than in 2019.  Starters went from 2.96 to 3.17 walks per 9; relievers went from 3.75 to 4.00.