FIX THE DANG BULLPEN

[Frobby]

11 hours ago, Malike said:

8 straight games with the pen giving up a run.

They’ve been covering a lot of innings due to rain delays etc.  in those 8 games, 29 IP, 17 ER, 5.28 ERA.

[btownoriole]

On 5/25/2024 at 8:34 PM, Aristotelian said:

There was a foul ball that was an inch or two away from being an inside the park HR on review.

It would’ve been interesting had that been ruled fair on review.  I’d have been incensed if they gave him a HR given that everyone except the runner stopped once it was called foul.  Without seeing where the ball ended up and the positioning of the fielders though it’s hard to know.

[sportsfan8703]

Who goes for the new guy today?  Gotta be one of Vespi, Akin, or Tate?  I’m guessing Vespi. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if we did a load management move with Akin. He’s pitched a lot so far. On pace for like 90 IP. 

Also, keep in mind that this would be Vespi’s fourth time being optioned this year, and I think a player can only be optioned five times. After 5 times in one season they have to be DFA’d to be assigned to the minors. 

Edited May 27 by sportsfan8703

[btownoriole]

1 minute ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Who goes for the new guy today?  Gotta be one of Vespi, Akin, or Tate?  I’m guessing Vespi. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if we did a load management move with Akin. He’s pitched a lot so far. On pace for like 90 IP. 

Also, keep in mind that this would be Vespi’s fourth time being optioned this year, and I think a player can only be optioned five times. After 5 times in one season they have to be DFA’d to be assigned to the minors. 

Does the “27th man” demotion count as an option?

[Aristotelian]

8 minutes ago, sportsfan8703 said:

Who goes for the new guy today?  Gotta be one of Vespi, Akin, or Tate?  I’m guessing Vespi. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if we did a load management move with Akin. He’s pitched a lot so far. On pace for like 90 IP. 

Also, keep in mind that this would be Vespi’s fourth time being optioned this year, and I think a player can only be optioned five times. After 5 times in one season they have to be DFA’d to be assigned to the minors. 

My understanding is that an option covers a whole year of moving back and forth. So we should be able to move Vespi up and down this year but then he will be out of options next year.

[Frobby]

11 minutes ago, btownoriole said:

It would’ve been interesting had that been ruled fair on review.  I’d have been incensed if they gave him a HR given that everyone except the runner stopped once it was called foul.  Without seeing where the ball ended up and the positioning of the fielders though it’s hard to know.

Yeah, I don’t really understand how a play like that can be reviewable, given that the fielders don’t chase after balls that have been ruled foul.  

[Frobby]

4 minutes ago, Aristotelian said:

My understanding is that an option covers a whole year of moving back and forth. So we should be able to move Vespi up and down this year but then he will be out of options next year.

No.  As of the last CBA, a player only can be optioned 5 times in a single year.  After that they have to be exposed to waivers.   

However, I’m not sure that optioning Vespi after being called up to be the 27th man on Wednesday counts towards the five times.   
 

[Aristotelian]

34 minutes ago, Frobby said:

No.  As of the last CBA, a player only can be optioned 5 times in a single year.  After that they have to be exposed to waivers.   

However, I’m not sure that optioning Vespi after being called up to be the 27th man on Wednesday counts towards the five times.   
 

Ah, I missed that. I guess Fangraphs needs to distinguish between options and option years. By my count Vespi has been optioned four times now but one of them was as a 27th man.

Looks like Vespi is in fact the move:

https://www.mlb.com/orioles/roster/transactions/2024/05

[LGOrioles]

Bumping this to talk about Akin. Yeah he’s had a brutal last 3 outings and a poor May, but he was legitimately their best reliever before his past 3 outings according to WAR and xERA. He’s still first in xERA (96th percentile coming into today) and is second in WAR. 

I don’t think he’s a high leverage guy and he needs to turn it around quickly or else they should option him to sort out his command. But I think he’s earned a little bit of a longer leash than this. I don’t feel great with him on the mound right now but I don’t think anyone besides Coulombe inspires much confidence at the moment out the pen. And Akin before this past week had performed as well as anyone in the BP. Feels like optioning him to bring up a mediocre reliever is not going to help anything. 

Even if he figures it out though, Elias is probably going to need to add 2 arms. The swing and miss stuff just isn’t there which was evident today. Red Sox relievers had 14 whiffs. O’s had 4. 

Edited May 29 by LGOrioles

[Sports Guy]

Can we trade any OFers to Atlanta for pitching?  Maybe a rare contender/contender trade?

[eddie83]

6 minutes ago, LGOrioles said:

Bumping this to talk about Akin. Yeah he’s had a brutal last 3 outings and a poor May, but he was legitimately their best reliever before his past 3 outings according to WAR and xERA. He’s still first in xERA (96th percentile coming into today) and is second in WAR. 

I don’t think he’s a high leverage guy and he needs to turn it around quickly or else they should option him to sort out his command. But I think he’s earned a little bit of a longer leash than this. I don’t feel great with him on the mound right now but I don’t think anyone besides Coulombe inspires much confidence at the moment out the pen. And Akin before this past week had performed as well as anyone in the BP. Feels like optioning him to bring up a mediocre reliever is not going to help anything. 

Even if he figures it out though, Elias is probably going to need to add 2 arms. The swing and miss stuff just isn’t there which was evident today. Red Sox relievers had 14 whiffs. O’s had 4. 

Stretch is coming up with only one off day in June. 30 games in 31 days. 

Then off day 6 games 

off day 6 games and ASB. 
 

Elias is going to have to be judicious in the moves he makes.  Akin has been good vs RHH this year that said he is off right now. Playing TB 7 games and TOR for 4 after tomorrow. Not sure we need 3 LH arms in pen facing them. Issue if of course who to bring up ? 

[LookitsPuck]

16 minutes ago, LGOrioles said:

Bumping this to talk about Akin. Yeah he’s had a brutal last 3 outings and a poor May, but he was legitimately their best reliever before his past 3 outings according to WAR and xERA. He’s still first in xERA (96th percentile coming into today) and is second in WAR. 

I don’t think he’s a high leverage guy and he needs to turn it around quickly or else they should option him to sort out his command. But I think he’s earned a little bit of a longer leash than this. I don’t feel great with him on the mound right now but I don’t think anyone besides Coulombe inspires much confidence at the moment out the pen. And Akin before this past week had performed as well as anyone in the BP. Feels like optioning him to bring up a mediocre reliever is not going to help anything. 

Even if he figures it out though, Elias is probably going to need to add 2 arms. The swing and miss stuff just isn’t there which was evident today. Red Sox relievers had 14 whiffs. O’s had 4. 

This is who Akin is. He’s not a high leverage guy. And he’s inconsistent. This team needs an elite Tier A group. Right now they have…Kimbrel and Coulombe? Not exactly confidence inspiring.

Akin is a fringe, mop up duty arm that can’t be trusted with runners on base.

Cano has completely fallen apart. Giving up too many fly balls and doesn’t have control. 

Tate…it’s too early to tell right now. He’s been solid so far, though.

Webb is solid, but he’s been hittable lately.

This team really needs a lockdown bullpen arm. Basically, they need a Felix type.

[eddie83]

6 minutes ago, LookitsPuck said:

This is who Akin is. He’s not a high leverage guy. And he’s inconsistent. This team needs an elite Tier A group. Right now they have…Kimbrel and Coulombe? Not exactly confidence inspiring.

Akin is a fringe, mop up duty arm that can’t be trusted with runners on base.

Cano has completely fallen apart. Giving up too many fly balls and doesn’t have control. 

Tate…it’s too early to tell right now. He’s been solid so far, though.

Webb is solid, but he’s been hittable lately.

This team really needs a lockdown bullpen arm. Basically, they need a Felix type.

This team is going to have to rely more on SP than any good Orioles team in a long time. 
 

I feel pretty good about rotation right now. Especially if Kremer is healthy. Pen is going to have to tread water and hope guys step up until trades are made. 

[LGOrioles]

12 minutes ago, eddie83 said:

Stretch is coming up with only one off day in June. 30 games in 31 days. 

Then off day 6 games 

off day 6 games and ASB. 
 

Elias is going to have to be judicious in the moves he makes.  Akin has been good vs RHH this year that said he is off right now. Playing TB 7 games and TOR for 4 after tomorrow. Not sure we need 3 LH arms in pen facing them. Issue if of course who to bring up ? 

Agree that he’s clearly off. Even going off his 50 PA rolling xwOBA, it’s been creeping up but still comfortably below big league average. The location is what’s concerning. He’s been walking guys, getting some easy outs, but then giving up the hard contact at the most inopportune times. Not an excuse for him, as he needs to locate better, but there’s definitely been some bad luck/sequencing there as well. Whereas a guy like Cano is legitimately struggling and getting consistently hit hard. 

[Chavez Ravine]

1 minute ago, eddie83 said:

This team is going to have to rely more on SP than any good Orioles team in a long time. 
 

I feel pretty good about rotation right now. Especially if Kremer is healthy. Pen is going to have to tread water and hope guys step up until trades are made. 

Good starting pitchers are reliable until they break. Plus they are expensive. So you better hope to have  a Rodrigo Lopez or two up your sleeve. Relief pitchers are like goalies. Just pray that whatever motley scrap heap you have compiled gets fire in Autumn.