The Tanner Scott Roulette Wheel

[Moose Milligan]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

  He’s a useful bullpen piece but I’d never want him as my closer, not because he can’t handle pressure, but because he’s inconsistent.   
 

If he's inconsistent, IMO, he's not a useful bullpen piece.

Someone that has an arm like that, IMO, can't be a mop up guy, low leverage guy.  If you've got a guy who can sit at 97-99, they need to be a guy you can bring in high leverage situations, save situation or not.  They need to be able to be a guy who can get tough batters out, strikeout guys when there are runners in scoring position, etc.  

I guess you can put him in low leverage situations for the rest of this season and maybe next year but if he's going to continue to be inconsistent in high leverage situations...with an arm like that, it's kind of a waste.  

[interloper]

25 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

If he's inconsistent, IMO, he's not a useful bullpen piece.

Someone that has an arm like that, IMO, can't be a mop up guy, low leverage guy.  If you've got a guy who can sit at 97-99, they need to be a guy you can bring in high leverage situations, save situation or not.  They need to be able to be a guy who can get tough batters out, strikeout guys when there are runners in scoring position, etc.  

I guess you can put him in low leverage situations for the rest of this season and maybe next year but if he's going to continue to be inconsistent in high leverage situations...with an arm like that, it's kind of a waste.  

100%. The thread is about the roulette wheel, right? Well, that's just every kinda sucky reliever then. He's no different, therefore, to me he's completely expendable just like any other random reliever. To be a "good reliever" you have to be consistently good. Otherwise you are a dice roll and your only purpose is to hopefully eat up an inning. We can talk up his arm all we want, but at the end of the day who do you trust more, Cole Freakin' Sulser or Tanner Scott?  

Right now Tanner Scott is a middle reliever who just happens to throw 97. The 97 is completely meaningless because he's not high leverage. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

9 minutes ago, interloper said:

100%. The thread is about the roulette wheel, right? Well, that's just every kinda sucky reliever then. He's no different, therefore, to me he's completely expendable just like any other random reliever. To be a "good reliever" you have to be consistently good. Otherwise you are a dice roll and your only purpose is to hopefully eat up an inning. We can talk up his arm all we want, but at the end of the day who do you trust more, Cole Freakin' Sulser or Tanner Scott?  

Right now Tanner Scott is a middle reliever who just happens to throw 97. The 97 is completely meaningless because he's not high leverage. 

Tanner seems to be in the mold of a Tommy "Home Run" Hunter a reliever who can throw hard, but not a guy you want to rely on in high leverage situations. Tanner can have a role on this team, but it's probably limited to a 5th/6th inning pitcher and mop up guy. 

[LTO's]

The last pitch was not a very good one but Scott should have been out of that inning. 

[Frobby]

56 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

If he's inconsistent, IMO, he's not a useful bullpen piece.

Someone that has an arm like that, IMO, can't be a mop up guy, low leverage guy.  If you've got a guy who can sit at 97-99, they need to be a guy you can bring in high leverage situations, save situation or not.  They need to be able to be a guy who can get tough batters out, strikeout guys when there are runners in scoring position, etc.  

I guess you can put him in low leverage situations for the rest of this season and maybe next year but if he's going to continue to be inconsistent in high leverage situations...with an arm like that, it's kind of a waste.  

 I think a main difference between being a set-up man and a closer is that usually there’s no back-up plan if the closer is off his game.  With a set-up guy, sometimes you can see that he doesn’t have it that day and yank him after 2-3 batters.    So inconsistency is a little more tolerable in a set-up guy than a closer, IMO.

[Frobby]

35 minutes ago, interloper said:

100%. The thread is about the roulette wheel, right? Well, that's just every kinda sucky reliever then. He's no different, therefore, to me he's completely expendable just like any other random reliever. To be a "good reliever" you have to be consistently good. Otherwise you are a dice roll and your only purpose is to hopefully eat up an inning. We can talk up his arm all we want, but at the end of the day who do you trust more, Cole Freakin' Sulser or Tanner Scott?  

Right now Tanner Scott is a middle reliever who just happens to throw 97. The 97 is completely meaningless because he's not high leverage. 

Well, the guy does have a 3.08 ERA and has only been scored on in 10 of 43 appearances.   He’s no Darren O’Day (2012-15 version), but he’s pretty close to, say, Mychal Givens.  

[LTO's]

3 minutes ago, Frobby said:

 I think a main difference between being a set-up man and a closer is that usually there’s no back-up plan if the closer is off his game.  With a set-up guy, sometimes you can see that he doesn’t have it that day and yank him after 2-3 batters.    So inconsistency is a little more tolerable in a set-up guy than a closer, IMO.

I also think there’s a ton of overreaction here. In no way is Scott a “mop up guy” with that stuff. He’s given up 3 home runs in his last 58 innings. That’s better than some of the elite closers in the game right now. His command is shoddy but when your stuff is so good that MLB hitters aren’t squaring it up at all you are a legit late inning reliever. 

[orioles22]

I'd like to know the percentage of relievers in MLB who would rate as "inconsistent." That's setting a high bar that is not practical for the current Orioles.

The bottom line is if someone else released Scott, I'm sure we would scoop him up in minutes and everyone on here would be excited about his potential as far as helping the Orioles this year and beyond.

[connja]

I think you can bring him in for high leverage situations, just not in the 9th inning.  Maybe that's just too much for him.

[RZNJ]

Scott is definitely useful but frustrating.   He's cheap, young, decent, with the potential to be very good.   You keep guys like that and keep putting them out there.   No one has come through as a 9th inning guy.  However, Tate, Wells, and Scott are all useful arms that factor into next year's bullpen for me.

[LA2]

3 hours ago, RZNJ said:

Scott is definitely useful but frustrating.   He's cheap, young, decent, with the potential to be very good.   You keep guys like that and keep putting them out there.   No one has come through as a 9th inning guy.  However, Tate, Wells, and Scott are all useful arms that factor into next year's bullpen for me.

If he pitches like he did as recently as the 2020 season--during which he cut his walks down to 4.4/9 and WHIP down to barely over 1--he'll be extremely useful. His FIP this year is actually better than last (3.24 vs. 3.48), but his WHIP has soared.

[Frobby]

Scott was lights out today after Wednesday’s disaster.   Came in with two on and two out in the 7th, got a one-pitch routine fly out, then quickly navigated the 8th on an infield grounder and then two swinging strikeouts.  The slider was nasty tonight.  

[Moose Milligan]

Is it called Roulette if every chamber is loaded?

[Gofannon]

10 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

Is it called Roulette if every chamber is loaded?

Tanner Scott is a left-handed relief pitching version of Ubaldo Jimenez.  Either really good or completely awful, and you know immediately when he doesn't have it.  When you would see Bad Ubaldo, I used to say the pitching coach should have come out after 8 pitches and hit him in the leg with a crowbar.  Tanner Scott is in the same territory.

[Il BuonO]

1 hour ago, Gofannon said:

Tanner Scott is a left-handed relief pitching version of Ubaldo Jimenez.  Either really good or completely awful, and you know immediately when he doesn't have it.  When you would see Bad Ubaldo, I used to say the pitching coach should have come out after 8 pitches and hit him in the leg with a crowbar.  Tanner Scott is in the same territory.

Meh, Scott thinks he has a better slider than he does and doesn’t trust his FB enough. He’s inconsistent along with sometimes being light out. Jimenez was never lights out with the Orioles. He had one season when he wasn’t horrible, but not good.

Scott could be good if he can get his head screwed on tight. That, and hope Severino is playing in South America next year.