It's definitely too early to say this, but there's a lot to like about the bullpen as of 4/13/22

[Hank Scorpio]

A bunch of guys that can throw it through a brick wall but at the drop of a hat can miss the brick wall altogether.

[Moose Milligan]

A good bullpen is key these days.  It seems like our run of mid 2010's good teams were anchored by a lockdown bullpen, especially the 2012 team.   Our starters were adequate and there were some smoke and mirrors with them too but the bullpens were always good.

Remains to be seen if this group can be an elite unit but I agree that the early returns are encouraging so far.  I've bashed Akin repeatedly on here but I'll tip my hat to him, he looked good last night.  

[Frobby]

It’s way too early to tell.   Heck, look at how our bullpen performed in a 60-game season in 2020 (3.90 ERA), or in the first month of 2021 (2.81 ERA).   I do like the arms and have been pleased with their performance over the initial five game stretch, but we’ll see.  

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, Bmorebirds24 said:

My worry is that the bullpen is taxed early due to the lack of innings from the SP. I do like seeing multiple guys a night and see what they have but the old school in me likes seeing a SP give 6 strong innings. 
 

I also wonder if this innings limit is more of an organization thing or a Hyde thing? 

I think everyone needs to take a breath and let the season play out a little.  Spring training was very short so starters didn’t build up their innings as much as usual.   The O’s may have been a little more protective of their starting pitchers than some teams in the first week of the season, but it’s pretty meaningless in the big picture.   My guess is that by Turn 3 the pitchers will be allowed to go 6+ innings if they’re actually pitching well.   Maybe even this turn.   Now obviously, guys like Wells may not.

[Whammer]

On a related note, I see where our boy Tanner Scott gave up a walk and a 2 run tater in one inning of work last night. 22 pitches, 12 for strikes.

[DrinkinWithFermi]

11 hours ago, interloper said:

And finally, Tate looked great his first appearance, and then showed a pretty severe down-tick in stuff his 2nd appearance. Hyde says it was a mechanical flaw that they've identified and are working on, so thankfully not injury-related. A lot of people don't like Tate, but I think he could be primed to be much more interesting this year. I am not a fan of him in multiple innings stints, but the O's insist on using him like that for whatever reason. Anyway, time will tell. 

It would be really nice if Tate was able to take a step forward this year and sustain it so that the 2018 fire sale wasn't a complete dud. Of the pieces still remaining in the organization from it, he looks like the one with the best chance of becoming something useful, although maybe Kremer could still develop into a decent bullpen piece too, I suppose.

[Aristotelian]

I wonder ho much longer the Jorge Lopez closer experiment lasts.

[interloper]

1 hour ago, Aristotelian said:

I wonder ho much longer the Jorge Lopez closer experiment lasts.

I give him a couple more I guess. Who are you going to if not him? For me, Bautista is probably too green. Perez I don't want to mess with his command by putting him in that spot. Fry would be disappointing. I think I go Baker. 

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

17 hours ago, Moose Milligan said:

A good bullpen is key these days.  It seems like our run of mid 2010's good teams were anchored by a lockdown bullpen, especially the 2012 team.   Our starters were adequate and there were some smoke and mirrors with them too but the bullpens were always good.

Remains to be seen if this group can be an elite unit but I agree that the early returns are encouraging so far.  I've bashed Akin repeatedly on here but I'll tip my hat to him, he looked good last night.  

Yeah the Orioles bullpen from 2012 to 2016 had quality pitchers that could hold down the fort and allow the offense the opportunity to erase a deficit or break open a tie ballgame.

With this offense though it might not make much of a difference even with a redux of those bullpens from that last period of O's success. 

[Just Regular]

Poking around Relievers Team Stats from Fangraphs after a week of games.

Orioles Relievers:

3rd in WAR

24th in K/9     (30th place Tigers have 5.2 K/9, astonished that is even possible in 2022!)

1st in FIP     (a 0.0 HR/9 helping that)

6th in xFIP     (believe one of the things xFIP does is regress you towards normal HR rate, and it doesn't care you have actually yielded none)

21st in K-BB%

Holding my breath and hoping the Felix Bautista as Armando Benitez wishes I am starting to wish perhaps pan out a little bit.

[Aristotelian]

2 hours ago, interloper said:

I give him a couple more I guess. Who are you going to if not him? For me, Bautista is probably too green. Perez I don't want to mess with his command by putting him in that spot. Fry would be disappointing. I think I go Baker. 

Baker was my guy in the "what happens if Tyler Wells starts" thread. Baumann looked like his stuff is back. I could also see going back to Wells, by the way. 

[Frobby]

How about the bullpen as of 4/15/22?   That was a truly outstanding performance.  

[yark14]

10 minutes ago, Frobby said:

How about the bullpen as of 4/15/22?   That was a truly outstanding performance.  

I'll repeat what I said the other day: Chorinos is a big factor in the success of our bullpen.  Can't wait for CoC to play devil's advocate.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

21 minutes ago, yark14 said:

I'll repeat what I said the other day: Chorinos is a big factor in the success of our bullpen.  Can't wait for CoC to play devil's advocate.

[Aristotelian]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

How about the bullpen as of 4/15/22?   That was a truly outstanding performance.  

Went toe to toe with the great Aroldis Chapman and came out with the win. Absolutely the story of the game and one of the few bright spots in a 2-5 start.