Closer by Committee

[sportsfan8703]

Welp, it’s looking like this will be a thing. Nothing official yet, except for Kimbrel’s blown saves. It looks like we’ll have Cano and Coloumbe be our highest leverage relievers with Webb, Suarez, Perez, and Akin just a notch below them.

Kimbrel probably needs a phantom IL stint at this point to find whatever he’s lost. We don’t have too many low leverage consistent innings at the MLB level. 

Has the bullpen by committee worked recently?  Is that how the Dodgers found Evan Phillips?  Boston tried it years ago, but shortly ditched it after a rough start. 

Edited May 9 by sportsfan8703

[Moose Milligan]

They’re gonna keep running Kimbrel out there for a bit. 

[riprulz8]

20 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

They’re gonna keep running Kimbrel out there for a bit. 

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue. 

[Sports Guy]

The committee isn’t very good.

[sportsfan8703]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The committee isn’t very good.

How so?  2-7 we probably have a top 5-10ish pen in baseball. Removing Kimbrel and Baumann. Playing at a 107 win clip we probably need another high leverage arm to sustain that, and preferably a closer for the playoffs.

Edited May 9 by sportsfan8703

[ShoelesJoe]

25 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

They’re gonna keep running Kimbrel out there for a bit. 

If that's actually true then I have to believe Kimbrel will be on so short a leash that Hyde may as well be standing on the mound with him while he's pitching. Last night it took a HR and two walks to pull him. Next time it'll be less than that, maybe a lot less. 

[One eyed Bird]

9 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The committee isn’t very good.

Neither is Kimbrel

[Sports Guy]

10 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

How so?  2-7 we probably have a top 5-10ish pen in baseball. Removing Kimbrel and Baumann. Playing at a 107 win clip we probably need another high leverage arm to sustain that, and preferably a closer for the playoffs.

 No we don’t. I don’t care what the numbers say,  no one is confident in this pen in October in the big moments.  

[fernandodfcosta]

I wish they put Tyler Wells as a closer! He has a track...

[vab]

The only thing that could help Kimbrel find what he's lost is a time machine. On the bright side - the Kimbrel situation hasn't really hurt the team significantly but there's no doubt Elias will have to take another shot at filling the closer role. He has plenty of trade ammo to work with in the trade market so let's see what he can come up with. 

[DrungoHazewood]

The 2021 Rays won 100 games and 14 different pitchers had saves, no one with more than 14. The 2022 Rays won 86 games and nobody had 10 saves. The 2020 Rays, in just 60 games, had 12 pitchers get saves in 40 wins and they had a .667 winning percentage. 

You don't have to have one guy be the closer.

[clapdiddy]

2 minutes ago, DrungoHazewood said:

The 2021 Rays won 100 games and 14 different pitchers had saves, no one with more than 14. The 2022 Rays won 86 games and nobody had 10 saves. The 2020 Rays, in just 60 games, had 12 pitchers get saves in 40 wins and they had a .667 winning percentage. 

You don't have to have one guy be the closer.

Without "THE" guy in the bullpen, I like the idea of matchups.   That being said, I'd still like to see them add another reliable arm.   I'll actually be surprised of they don't.

[DrungoHazewood]

16 minutes ago, clapdiddy said:

Without "THE" guy in the bullpen, I like the idea of matchups.   That being said, I'd still like to see them add another reliable arm.   I'll actually be surprised of they don't.

I'd be surprised if they didn't. But I would be surprised if they traded one of the big prospects (and perhaps it would take more) for a closer.

[Bemorewins]

Closer by committee or not, the issue with the pen is that you need a guy with superb strikeout numbers to tilt the odds in extras with the ghost runner. 

That is one of the hidden values in a guy like Bautista that gave us such a competitive advantage in 1 run games (in particular in extra innings). That and he could go for more than 3 outs (like he did 9 times last year).

Luckily our team is better this year so we are not as reliant on winning close games. However, the day will come (in the postseason) where we will need to win a “battle of the bullpens” type of game. Right now I don’t like our odds in that scenario (especially if we were facing a team like the Yankees).

[LGOrioles]

1 hour ago, Sports Guy said:

 No we don’t. I don’t care what the numbers say,  no one is confident in this pen in October in the big moments.  

They’re top 10 in K/9, BB/9, GB%, ERA, xFIP, and 12th in FIP and WAR. That’s with Kimbrel pitching poorly and Baumann/Heasley/Tate/Ramirez pitching almost 1/3rd of their total innings. 

Coulombe, Akin, Cano, and Webb have all been good with statcast numbers to match. Wells in his career as a reliever is a near 3.5 ERA/FIP and 23% K-BB% guy. Suarez looks like a very good swingman at minimum with potential to pitch middle/later innings. That gives you 6 relievers who are very good.

I would argue that if we had Bautista right now, they’re borderline top 5 in ERA, FIP, xFIP, and WAR (with the 5th least amount of innings pitched) and there’s no talk about it being a weakness. They absolutely do need a dominant guy and someone they can rely on in the 9th inning (Helsley?) but the rest of the bullpen should be in pretty good shape if they get that backend piece.