The Tanner Scott Roulette Wheel

[Frobby]

Scott can be a pretty dominant pitcher, but man he’s scary when he doesn’t have his command.  10 walks in 8.2 innings so far, and he was nowhere near the plate for the most part last night.   Six walks in his last two outings - yikes!

I never feel comfortable when Scott enters a game, wondering if this will be one of those days where he has no idea where the ball is going.   Usually within three pitches you know if it’s going to be one of those days.    Most days, thankfully he’s OK, but I’m nervous every time.   

[Tony-OH]

13 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Scott can be a pretty dominant pitcher, but man he’s scary when he doesn’t have his command.  10 walks in 8.2 innings so far, and he was nowhere near the plate for the most part last night.   Six walks in his last two outings - yikes!

I never feel comfortable when Scott enters a game, wondering if this will be one of those days where he has no idea where the ball is going.   Usually within three pitches you know if it’s going to be one of those days.    Most days, thankfully he’s OK, but I’m nervous every time.   

Scott has not had his command all year, including spring and unfortunately has seemed to have taken a step back after looking like he figured it out last year. While his stuff can be unhittable and he can work around his wildness at times, he really can't be entrusted in leverage situation with a good team which will limit his value.

He can be fun to watch when he's on, but he's maddening to watch when he cant throw a strike. Not sure what he's doing differently from last year when his bouts of wildness were at a minimum, but I hope he can refind it once again. Right now I would prefer to have Fry in high leverage situation over him.

[oriole]

Long term outlook for a reliever that can’t throw strikes can’t be good. Let’s hope he figures it out by the time the team is competitive again but if not he’s gotta be a low leverage type of reliever when the games matter. 

[Moose Milligan]

The new Mitch Williams.

I was looking forward to seeing him this year as I thought he'd turned a corner last season.  But he's backslid.  I'd look to put him in lower leverage situations against weaker parts of opponents lineups the next few times out to see if it can get him back on track.

[Sanfran327]

I've always felt like he was over-throwing. That's probably a big part of what makes his stuff so electric, but he's gotta be able to at least threaten throwing a called strike. 

[Just Regular]

Hyde tried for the nice tidy 8th/9th thing, and the MASN broadcast showed Cesar Valdez bouncing up to throw after Ball Six to open the 8th inning.

We don't make many good defensive plays, but the ultra-high leverage of the Hays/Franco one to cut down Judge was wonderfully timed to bail Scott/Valdez out of a possible mega-disaster scenario.

[now]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Usually within three pitches you know if it’s going to be one of those days.   

That's why it was so baffling to see Hyde leave him in so long. Redemption with the Odor matchup, but the sacks were already loaded and he'd thrown like 2 strikes total. The ump did miss a few close ones (as he did the whole game); maybe Tanner relies on liberal strike zones.

[waroriole]

That FB and SL are just so dominant, it reminds me of Andrew Miller, who also had control problems for a long time. 

[foxfield]

18 minutes ago, now said:

That's why it was so baffling to see Hyde leave him in so long. Redemption with the Odor matchup, but the sacks were already loaded and he'd thrown like 2 strikes total. The ump did miss a few close ones (as he did the whole game); maybe Tanner relies on liberal strike zones.

We are in a unique spot and he has a unique gift.

17 minutes ago, waroriole said:

That FB and SL are just so dominant, it reminds me of Andrew Miller, who also had control problems for a long time. 

AND this is why he will continue to get a chance.  Of course as this team improves we will have to see results, but for now.  Be patient and try to develop him.

[Frobby]

1 hour ago, waroriole said:

That FB and SL are just so dominant, it reminds me of Andrew Miller, who also had control problems for a long time. 

I think we all see that analogy.   Of course, some pitchers eventually overcome their wildness as Miller did, and some never do.    I hope Scott will, but I’m not holding my breath.   
 

[now]

1 hour ago, waroriole said:

That FB and SL are just so dominant, it reminds me of Andrew Miller, who also had control problems for a long time. 

 

54 minutes ago, foxfield said:

We are in a unique spot and he has a unique gift.

AND this is why he will continue to get a chance.  Of course as this team improves we will have to see results, but for now.  Be patient and try to develop him.

Hmm, would love to see the next A. Miller... but BBRef's similarity score doesn't bode so well:

Similar Pitchers

1. Hector Mercado (992.5)
2. Buddy Boshers (991.7)
3. Sammy Solis (990.8)
4. Luis Perez (989.9)
5. Tim Mayza (986.6)
6. Dennis Kinney (985.5)
7. Rigo Beltran (984.6)
8. Phil Nastu (984.3)
9. Sean Gilmartin (984.3)
10. Tim Davis (983.9)

[SteveA]

2 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

The new Mitch Williams.

I was looking forward to seeing him this year as I thought he'd turned a corner last season.  But he's backslid.  I'd look to put him in lower leverage situations against weaker parts of opponents lineups the next few times out to see if it can get him back on track.

So 7.3 career WAR, 192 saves, closer for a league championship team?   I'll take it, even if it does mean losing the World Series on a walkoff.

Yeah, right now I have more confidence in Fry.

Well, that's what Holt gets paid the big money for.   Scott has talent, now fix him!

[Philip]

I have always been anti-Scott, on the grounds that he was wild and unpredictable. Last season he calmed my nerves mostly, and I came into this season expecting that he had turned a corner. Not necessarily Randy Johnson, but somebody you could mostly rely on.

The problem is that when he’s good he’s phenomenal. But you don’t know until five or seven pitches into the appearance whether you’re getting the phenomenal or the other kind.

Hyde Knows this, so his only option is to not use Scott for the ninth. Use him in the eighth, and simultaneously get up another reliever, Expecting that that other reliever will handle the ninth, and also handle whatever damage Scott may create in the 8th. 
That’s really hard on the bullpen, I know, but the only other option is just letting him throw 11 balls in 13 pitches and THEN getting someone up.

Or using him in low leverage spots, which is a waste.

Or trade him. But he doesn’t have much value.

What IS a boy to do?

[Philip]

6 minutes ago, SteveA said:

So 7.3 career WAR, 192 saves, closer for a league championship team?   I'll take it, even if it does mean losing the World Series on a walkoff.

Yeah, right now I have more confidence in Fry.

Well, that's what Holt gets paid the big money for.   Scott has talent, now fix him!

I think Holt has helped him so far, but there comes a point in time where a player is what he is, and on any given day he may give you 10% more or less but he’s always going to be hovering around X.

The best thing to do until you get rid of them is just do your best to prepare for the bad days, one of which was last night.

[SteveA]

2 minutes ago, Philip said:

I think Holt has helped him so far, but there comes a point in time where a player is what he is, and on any given day he may give you 10% more or less but he’s always going to be hovering around X.

The best thing to do until you get rid of them is just do your best to prepare for the bad days, one of which was last night.

I am opposed to getting rid of anyone with high potential who is getting paid pre-arbitration minimal money in a year you aren't trying to win.   So that means we need to keep him at least the rest of this season and see what we can make of him.

He's arbitration eligible in the offseason, right?   So the tender/non-tender decision comes in November.