The 2023 Bullpen Thread

[RZNJ]

6 minutes ago, oriole said:

Lots of surprises so far in the bullpen. Coloumbe, Baumann, Cano are all bright spots I did not expect.  

Join the club.  Also, Baker is looking even better than I expected.   We have 5 pitchers I’m not afraid to see come in the game.

Believe it or not, I think Voth can become one more but time is running out for him.

[LA2]

16 hours ago, Billy F-Face3 said:

Oh wow. Alot of people thought Tate was going to be out longer than Givens but it looks like he will be back up a couple days sooner if rehab goes well. 

And soon we will have the deepest bullpen ever.

[Sports Guy]

Cano is off to a nice start. Hope he keeps it up. But he is 29 and has been a solid but unspectacular reliever in the minors, while always being old for his league.

The start is great and certainly reliever is a position where you can come out of nowhere but we need to temper expectations some.

[Mooreisbetter27]

7 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

Cano is off to a nice start. Hope he keeps it up. But he is 29 and has been a solid but unspectacular reliever in the minors, while always being old for his league.

The start is great and certainly reliever is a position where you can come out of nowhere but we need to temper expectations some.

If he was getting results with smoke and mirrors I’d be more reticent to get excited about him.

But his stuff has been really good. His movement is ridiculous and his command has been great.

But I think that’s what it will boil down to, his command. If he continues to command his pitches I feel really good about how his year will go. 

[RZNJ]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

Cano is off to a nice start. Hope he keeps it up. But he is 29 and has been a solid but unspectacular reliever in the minors, while always being old for his league.

The start is great and certainly reliever is a position where you can come out of nowhere but we need to temper expectations some.

What expectations?  He looks good so far.  Felix Bautista had a 3.41 at low A when he was 24.   At 26 he was an elite ML reliever.   Sometimes you can see the stuff and know it’s good.  Cano didn’t even pitch in the States until age 25 in 2019 when he pitche TWO innings.   For all intents and purposes his pro career didn’t get off the ground until 2021.  He’s not some journeyman whose been in the minors for 12 years.   Context is always nice.

[spleen1015]

 

[RZNJ]

10 minutes ago, spleen1015 said:

 

That sounds like two weeks.

[Big Mac]

The only current member of the bullpen with a FIP above 3.24 is Austin Voth.  Other than Voth and Perez, everyone in the bullpen has a FIP below 3.

[Sports Guy]

5 hours ago, Mooreisbetter27 said:

If he was getting results with smoke and mirrors I’d be more reticent to get excited about him.

But his stuff has been really good. His movement is ridiculous and his command has been great.

But I think that’s what it will boil down to, his command. If he continues to command his pitches I feel really good about how his year will go. 

Agree with all of this.

 

[Frobby]

The pen now has a 3.12 ERA, 4th best in the AL.  Also, an 8-4 record.

On the down side, the O’s have 5 blown saves to go against 5 saves.   Two of the blown saves were by Bautista (the McKenna dropped ball game in Boston and the Tigers game on Saturday that we won in the bottom of the 9th). Gillaspie had two (one of which came in a win) and Baker had the other.   

Overall, the bullpen has been good, but still has room for improvement.  
 

[interloper]

The big question looms: how the heck does the team make room for Givens and Tate? Certainly there's enough time before they're ready that an answer could (and likely will) reveal itself. We see how much has changed in a couple of weeks. But if everyone is healthy there will be some tough decisions to make.

I don't want to give up on Perez just yet - he will get claimed if he's put on waivers, we can be 100% certain of that. I think he's a tweak or two away from figuring it out again. 

I am much less certain of Voth getting claimed, and don't particularly care if he does. I think like it or not, the Orioles have to bite the bullet and put him on waivers. Baumann and Akin can provide length. Watkins if you need reinforcements. 

After that, I guess it's Akin. I don't love optioning Akin because aside from 2 outings, he's been fine and I think he's about to heat up again. He's also your only other effective lefty after Coulombe. I could see a temporary optioning here though, and he's right back up when they're in need. 

With the (tentative) emergence of Cano, Tate and Givens are a little redundant, so it's going to be interesting to see what happens. Cano would be the easiest guy to option given his lack of time in the bigs, but he's been absolutely dominant and I just don't see it happening. However, things could change quickly over the next two weeks if he starts to struggle. 

Edited April 24, 2023 by interloper

[Ripken]

I'm really not concerned with losing Voth if it comes to that.

[interloper]

5 minutes ago, Ripken said:

I'm really not concerned with losing Voth if it comes to that.

Not at all. Loved what he did as a spot starter last year, but we have better options this year and he's not bringing much to the bullpen unless we're getting blown out. 

[Frobby]

3.1 scoreless tonight, bullpen ERA down to 3.00.   Great job all around.  

[Spy Fox]

Last year Lopez, Bautista, Baker, Perez Akin, and Voth all emerged from various versions of obscurity/mediocrity to form a strong pen. We needed a couple similar stories this year, and Cano & Coulombe are staking their claims.