Bullpen 2024

[Frobby]

8 minutes ago, bpilktree said:

You’re most likely going to be down 2-3 mph in the early months of the year so I am not too worried.  GRod was most 94-96 today.  

Uh, GRod averaged 97.1 on his FB today and topped out at 99.0.  Not sure what game you were watching.  

[emmett16]

Baumann is dog water, bruh. 

[Say O!]

6 minutes ago, Frobby said:

Uh, GRod averaged 97.1 on his FB today and topped out at 99.0.  Not sure what game you were watching.  

In fact Grayson didn’t throw any FBs below 96mph (rounded) per bbsavant stats here — link.  

[linedrive]

The bullpen was my biggest concern coming into spring training, and it still is. I was hoping we could add some solid arms in the off season, but that didn't happen. So I'm glad the offense scored 24 runs the first two games. If our offense wasn't on fire, then these could have been frustrating losses. Yes, it's still early, and there's plenty of time to right the ship, but our bullpen appears to be a weakness at the moment. They're not scaring anyone. But it's a long season, so I hope we make some dramatic improvement before the regular season ends. I'm not worried and I'm not panicking. Just concerned about what we've seen so far. In the end I think we'll be fine, especially if Elias makes some moves and the coaches help some of our players improve. Honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what the pen looks like when the regular season comes to an end. Will it be good enough to help deliver a Championship? Or should we not think about that yet?

[interloper]

The bullpen will be rocky for much of the year and it simply is what it is. We'll make a trade for a reliever eventually and hopefully guys like Seth Johnson help out. 

The good news is we've almost exclusively seen the worst pitchers in the bullpen so far because of the blowouts, so it's mostly whatever.

Baumann will be fine. It seems the extra velo in game 1 was just adrenaline perhaps, so that's a bit disappointing, but I expect he'll give us a similar 60-70 innings and sub 4 ERA. 

Edited March 31 by interloper

[Aristotelian]

We have had big leads in both games. I would expect the back end bullpen guys to perform as they have. What will be worrisome is if Kimbrel and Cano are having problems, then things could get ugly.

[eddie83]

The pen may struggle at times but let’s see how things play out….  It’s 2 games. 

[eddie83]

15 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

We have had big leads in both games. I would expect the back end bullpen guys to perform as they have. What will be worrisome is if Kimbrel and Cano are having problems, then things could get ugly.

I actually thought we might see Kimbrel on OD. Bet we see him tomorrow no matter what, Cano as well. 

[Frobby]

22 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

The pen may struggle at times but let’s see how things play out….  It’s 2 games. 

And sometimes it’s harder to focus with a huge lead.  

[waroriole]

2 hours ago, emmett16 said:

Baumann is dog water, bruh. 

At least we get him out of the way early in the season. I don’t see it with him and I don’t get what others see. 

[emmett16]

6 minutes ago, waroriole said:

At least we get him out of the way early in the season. I don’t see it with him and I don’t get what others see. 

He’s the million dollar arm 2 cent brain prototype.  It’s in there.  Not sure we will ever see it.

 

I’ll never forget the first time I saw him pitch in Norfolk.  Warm up before innings he looked like Nolan Ryan.  The cheese is legit…..

then the inning started.  Laser after laser.  Didn’t understand. 
 

Next time I saw him in Norfolk.  Rinse repeat. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

2 hours ago, Say O! said:

Dude is operating on like zero sleep given paternity return.  Webb was 94 mph in the spring.  Now when I saw Tate, he was 90-91 mph in spring. 

If Webb was actually hitting 94 mph in spring training then I’m far less worried and it probably is lack of sleep. No way he should have been active if he was that underslept, though…he’s allowed to be on paternity list for 3 games. Really poor mismanagement by him and/or the team, ultimately didn’t matter in the slightest though. 

[CaptainRedbeard]

2 hours ago, bpilktree said:

You’re most likely going to be down 2-3 mph in the early months of the year so I am not too worried.  GRod was most 94-96 today.  

Not only is this incorrect about Grayson today (he averaged 97.1 compared to 97.4 last year, and hit 99 more than once), but it’s also false that pitchers’ velos are generally down by much at all at the start of the season. At the start of Spring Training, yes, some pitchers build up more slowly. But by the time Opening Day rolls around pitchers are generally up to speed. Grayson was actually a perfect example of that - he was down a tick or two in early spring starts but today he was right where he was last year.

Any pitcher’s velo being down by more than 2 mph compared to the prior season is a big red flag that something is potentially not right with them physically. And the start of the season is the most critical time for injuries as pitchers have been ramping up.

Hoping Webb today was due to a crazy few days with the new baby and not anything else. Tate, however, after his injuries last year is just a really bad sign. 

[Moose Milligan]

I still think the bullpen needs another quality arm or two.  Perez going down today, with what I assume to be an oblique issue isn’t good. He had a terrible spring and was looking pedestrian before he came out. 
 

I’m assuming the perpetually underwhelming Vespi will be the guy called up which isn’t great. 
 

Fixing this airplane while it’s flying is going to be a task for Elias this year, IMO. 

[Billy F-Face3]

I kind of agree with Moose. What he said is basically why I came into this thread.

Though, I have just slightly more confidence in Vespi than that. He had a stretch in the summer of 2022 that I remember being pretty impressed by.

With that said I was looking at Norfolk's box scores and when I saw Wandison Charles pitch in game 1 it got me a little curious and excited because he pitched a shutout inning with 2Ks. Makes we want to follow him more closely in Norfolk. People have always said he has Bautista potential if he can continue to improve.