Bullpen Options

[WI O’s Fan]

The bottom 4 of the bullpen has really underwhelmed- Baker, Tate , and Akin ( Irvin I will not count).  Looking at Norfolk, they have three interesting arms all from the left side.   Trey McGough, Luis Gonzalez , and Tucker Davidson.   Gonzo and  Davidson have good to great k/b rates and whip.
Time to bring one or two up for Akin and maybe Tate.

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

I think they need to call up a fresh arm or two it’s still 2 or 3 weeks until Elias makes any trades for bullpen help. 

[Aristotelian]

I'd like to see McGough and Davidson. Would require a couple of DFA's though. Elias will probably have to get a bit more desperate but that could happen soon.

[sportsfan8703]

We all know the best thing for the bullpen… to have good SP and not have to overuse/over expose the bullpen. 

Tried and true method. 

[wildcard]

The  O's have Perez, Akin and Irvin as lefties in the pen.    Davidson, McGough, Gonzalez are all lefties.   What Elias needs is to add some right-handed relief.   McDermott is right-handed but will probably be needed in the rotation at some time in the near future.

As far as making space on the 40 man roster.   Its currently at 39 and both Bradish and Coulombe can be moved to the 60 day IL.

[LookitsPuck]

Akin should never see the light of day in a game with runners on base. He's a fine arm to bring in mop up duty or extra innings once everybody else has been exhausted.

Irvin really is clogging up a roster spot. My issue with Irvin right now is he's been beyond awful the last 4 appearances (1.116 OPS, 347 BA, 10.47 ERA). So something is definitely off. The issue is he's out of options. And there's zero chance he makes it through waivers. If he's a long/middle relief arm, that's redundant w/ Akin. And they both aren't trustable.

Dillon Tate has been very disappointing, too. Strikeout rate has fallen a bit, hit rate has went up tremendously. He's not great with runners on. 

The O's desperately need a reliever with a decent strikeout rate. Because in games where they can deploy the 4 headed monster (Kimbrel, Webb, Cano, Perez), they usually are pretty decent. But when the other Tier of relievers have to come in (Baker, Akin, Irvin, Tate) the game is really on shaky ground. I don't think you can afford to have 50% of your bullpen questionable to be effective. 

Elias needs to acquire an effective reliever. That should bump Tate out. He has options remaining. Leverage Irvin only in long relief until he gets his crap under wraps. I'm not sold on Baker, but he has options remaining. And he's been better than Tate has so far. 

 

[OriolesMagic83]

Decided to bump this thread.  The O's really need to find some relievers with options for 2025.  That's part of what make the pen so great those years.  Always an effective reliever just a call away.  Now the relievers in Norfolk aren't MLB quality and if they are called up they don't have options.  Elias needs to look at trading a couple of our lower level blocked position prospects for reliever prospects in AA or above. 

Relievers who need to go:

Kimbrel, Tate, Baker, Soto

Relievers who need to stay:

Coulombe, Cano, Webb, Dominguez, Bautista (of course).

On the fence:

Akin-I think he's been mostly effective, despite the hate he gets here.  Perez

Need to add one high leverage, high K guy w/o big L/R splits.  Maybe trade for a lower leverage type guy and have competition in spring training for the last spot.

[OriolesUpAndDowns]

It would be nice to have two or three arms with multiple options to move up and down to keep fresh.  Not the backend guys, but guys who are fresh and can pitch in the 5th or 6th.  Then they develop into the later inning guys.  

[IPlayGM]

8 hours ago, OriolesUpAndDowns said:

It would be nice to have two or three arms with multiple options to move up and down to keep fresh.  Not the backend guys, but guys who are fresh and can pitch in the 5th or 6th.  Then they develop into the later inning guys.  

Yeah it was pointed out back in the spring that the lack of optionable guys was going to be a tough thing to maneuver. That, and lack of talent.

[OrioleintheATL]

This BS about bringing up fresh arms makes me laugh.  There is a AAA season each year, right?  The pitchers in AAA do have a job and get paid for it , right?  So it's HIGHLY likely these guys being mentioned have pitched a lot this season, right?  Do AAA innings not count on a guy's arm?  Stop with the fresh arm crap.  These guys have pitched just as much as if they had been here so that's not "fresh."  That's like just as worn out or close to it as their MLB counterparts.  I any o those guys were the answer they'd already be here.

Fresh to the dugout doesn't really mean fresh.

 

[Jagwar]

Once (if) GRod is healthy, Suarez will be added. If he keeps throwing strikes and showing good command, I'd consider adding Povich too.   

[ScGO's]

Next year's bullpen is going to be good, hopefully

Bautista, Dominguez, and Cano are your 7, 8 , and 9th inning.  Columbe can pitch in the back end when the match ups are solid.

I think McDermott MUST be transitioned to a backend bullpen piece and start the season on the MLB club. Having options for him is nice.

Soto is a wild card for me. Yes, he's been AWFUL, but he is under control and might be a project much the same as Rogers. Lefties with his stuff aren't easy to come by.

Hopefully Suarez is in the Bullpen next year once the starting 5 is figured out.  

Webb has earned his keep. The final spot needs to go to Akin/Perez/Soto/better LHP.  Maybe that is a target for Elias this offseason, a shutdown lefty for the pen.

Bautista, Dominguez, Cano, Columbe, McDermott, Suarez, Webb, & (Good Mystery LHP) is my bet for next season

 

[Morgan423]

58 minutes ago, OrioleintheATL said:

This BS about bringing up fresh arms makes me laugh.  There is a AAA season each year, right?  The pitchers in AAA do have a job and get paid for it , right?  So it's HIGHLY likely these guys being mentioned have pitched a lot this season, right?  Do AAA innings not count on a guy's arm?  Stop with the fresh arm crap.  These guys have pitched just as much as if they had been here so that's not "fresh."  That's like just as worn out or close to it as their MLB counterparts.  I any o those guys were the answer they'd already be here.

Fresh to the dugout doesn't really mean fresh.

 

Minor league rosters tend to be a little larger than MLB ones, so the guys don't pitch quite as often, as the workload is split among more total guys. 

Norfolk, for instance, currently has 18 pitchers on its active roster.  While MLB teams are almost always carrying only 12 to 14 pitchers depending on time of the year and current roster management issues (in fact, they are only permitted a max 13 pitchers from start of season to September 1, and a max of 14 pitchers from September 1 to the end of the season).

So to your point, while "fresh arm" is a misnomer, "fresher arm" would probably be accurate. 

[OriolesMagic83]

33 minutes ago, ScGO's said:

Next year's bullpen is going to be good, hopefully

Bautista, Dominguez, and Cano are your 7, 8 , and 9th inning.  Columbe can pitch in the back end when the match ups are solid.

I think McDermott MUST be transitioned to a backend bullpen piece and start the season on the MLB club. Having options for him is nice.

Soto is a wild card for me. Yes, he's been AWFUL, but he is under control and might be a project much the same as Rogers. Lefties with his stuff aren't easy to come by.

Hopefully Suarez is in the Bullpen next year once the starting 5 is figured out.  

Webb has earned his keep. The final spot needs to go to Akin/Perez/Soto/better LHP.  Maybe that is a target for Elias this offseason, a shutdown lefty for the pen.

Bautista, Dominguez, Cano, Columbe, McDermott, Suarez, Webb, & (Good Mystery LHP) is my bet for next season

 

I would like for the O's to not bring back Soto, Webb, and Kimbrel and use the money to get a shut down reliever.  Soto, Webb and Kimbrel together will cost around $20 million but I bet we can get someone better than all of them for around 2 yrs/ $20 mill.  Don-t need a closer, we'll have Baytista back. 

Back of bullpen could be Cano, Dominguez, Coulombe, Top free agent, Bautista.   Could be one of best bullpen out there.

[Roll Tide]

Looking at Tate’s AAA numbers one wonders if he’s not coming back soon. 15 innings, 1.085 WHIP. He’s only striking out 8 per 9IP. Otherwise he looks pretty good compared to what we’ve had lately