Currently viewing the tag: "Bullpen"

Work In Progress: Jimmie Sherfy’s Path to the Majors

On September 14, 2017 By

The bullpen has been a hot topic here at Inside the ‘Zona this season. It’s an intriguing crop, headlined by a breakout performance from Archie Bradley and The Fernando Rodney Experience. The group has been really good at times and somewhat horrendous at others. That’s part of the fickle nature of bullpens, sure, but the real issue has been …

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The Fickle Nature of Bullpens

On August 25, 2017 By

Things have tightened up a bit lately. Much has been made of the Diamondbacks’ shrinking wild card lead as the Brewers sit just 3.5 games out, the Cardinals are 5 games back and the Marlins just a half game further behind. It’s hard to imagine the Brewers willing their way to the postseason — they’ll likely need some help. The …

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Which Relievers Should the D-backs Target?

On July 28, 2017 By

The Diamondbacks entered the 2017 with perhaps the worst projected bullpen in the majors. There were question marks all over the place. Could Fernando Rodney still close? Did non-roster invitees Jorge De La Rosa, J.J. Hoover and/or Tom Wilhelmsen have anything left in the tank? How would Archie Bradley take to a new roll in relief? The outlook was …

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The Diamondbacks’ Bullpen Has Exceeded Expectations (So Far)

On April 18, 2017 By

The Diamondbacks just took two of four from the Dodgers in Los Angeles, which is really like taking two of three because facing Clayton Kershaw shouldn’t count. The D-backs now head to San Diego for a three-game slate with the Padres (as co-leaders of the NL West, nonetheless) at 9-5 for series that feels extremely important. It’s great that the …

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2017 Spring Preview: A Wide Open Bullpen

On March 6, 2017 By

My goodness, there are a ton of relief arms in camp this spring. I know, I know. This isn’t exactly unheard of as relievers, especially those not slated for late inning duty, are probably the most fungible assets in the game. They’re also the most volatile. With performances fluctuating wildly and sample sizes small, evaluating relievers is difficult in the …

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A Unique Set of Skills

On February 23, 2016 By

Relief pitchers are weird. Wait, that’s unfair. I’m sure most of them are normal in so far as professional athletes are concerned. But analyzing them is weird. There are so many variables to account for that it’s really difficult to do them justice. Which part of the lineup are they facing? What’s the leverage of the situations they’re placed in? …

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Double Plus: What Is Arizona Doing Drafting College Relievers?

On October 23, 2015 By

Okay, maybe the title is a little misleading. Drafting college relievers is defensible, if for one reason only: you get 40 picks and dammit, one of them is bound to be a college reliever by the odds alone. Another defensible reason might be that they’re a cheap bunch. It’s not that any of them have ever left me with the …

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Roundup: D-backs Right at Important Top 10 Pick Threshold; Setting a Franchise Relief Innings Record and That’s Okay

On September 18, 2015 By

This year, all of the first-round picks in the MLB draft signed with their teams (although one in particular did go down to the wire…). We won’t get a final draft order for the 2016 draft until well after the season ends, since some free agents could cause changes — but things are a little simpler than normal. And while …

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2016 Bullpen Taking Shape this September?

On September 10, 2015 By

The D-backs have used 20 different pitchers out of the bullpen this season — with three plus weeks to go. That’s the most since 2007, a year in which Tony Pena led the way in innings, Brandon Lyon led the way in value, and Jose Valverde led the way in saves. That year, the D-backs had 21 relievers toe the …

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Arizona Bullpen Much Better Than Advertised

On August 24, 2015 By

Last week in setting a benchmark for wins needed from the rotation, I used a placeholder for wins we could expect from the bullpen: about 2.5 above replacement. It was intended to be conservative, but if this season is any guide, the bullpen could be quite a lot better than catch-all statistics like Wins Above Replacement would indicate. As …

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Why Pulling Bradley for Perez Was Just So Wrong

On April 21, 2015 By

When Archie Bradley was announced as part of the Opening Day rotation, everyone was elated. Here’s a kid who’s been the face of the player development system for the better part of four years in a time when the Diamondbacks’ prospect landscape was somewhat devoid of star power. After all, trading Trevor Bauer, Tyler Skaggs and Adam Eaton can …

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Daniel Hudson’s Very Best Fit

On March 31, 2015 By

It’s one week until the Diamondbacks take the field for Opening Day. Of course, that will be their second game of the season for them since they play on Opening Night against the Giants, but baseball’s right around the corner. Finally. And, with this being the final week without real baseball, everyone’s releasing their final predictions. The trend for …

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Stacking Up the Stacked D-backs Bullpen

On December 3, 2014 By

Yesterday, the D-backs tendered contracts to all of their arbitration-eligible players (well, the ones that hadn’t already been released or designated for assignment). Among them: David Hernandez, who seems likely to be deserving of his projected $2.125M salary in his final arbitration year. We thought it was likely he’d be tendered, although there were justifications both ways. Still, …

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What a Consistent D-backs Bullpen Really Looks Like

On September 3, 2014 By

The Diamondbacks’ bullpen has been pretty good this year. After two years of constantly being burned by the ‘pen, things have shaped up. Some of those past struggles were seemingly part bad luck and part poor pitching. When those things come together, well, you’ve seen the results; it’s not pretty. On the flip-side, a lucky ‘pen can be a nice …

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Using RE24 as a Counting Stat for D-backs Relievers

On August 7, 2014 By

We’ve used a lot of different ways to evaluate relief pitching on this site: We’ve tried to define “clutch” in terms of LOB%; We’ve looked at bullpens and one-run games; And we’ve also introduced the idea of using WPA/LI, to list a few. Our very own Ryan Morrison did excellent work at Beyond the Box Score to explain …

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Why Addison Reed’s Closer Role is Overblown (pun intended)

On July 3, 2014 By

A bad closer on a bad team is bad news. So Diamondbacks fans have reason to be frustrated with Addison Reed and manager Kirk Gibson’s decision to keep him in the closing role. Reed blew his fourth save of the season on Tuesday, he is pitching to a 4.15 ERA (4.57 FIP), and his always troubling HR/FB rate has ballooned …

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