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Bullpen

Specialized Labor

by Hans on March 18, 2009

The Washington Nationals announced today that they have signed left-handed reliever Joe Beimel to a one year, $2 million contract. Beimel, whose lack of contract this late in the spring was a surprise to some, will serve as the primary setup man for closer John Hanrahan.

Washington has built a halfway decent bullpen rather quietly, adding lefty Beimel to right handers Saul Rivera (3.96 ERA in 70 innings), Stephen Shell (2.16 / 50 ), Jesus Colome (4.31 / 71), and well regarded starting pitching prospect Garrett Mock.

While the Nationals probably won’t drive ticket sales with this move, they did acquire one of the game’s best lefty specialists late and on the cheap.  But that’s not all.  At the beginning of the offseason, Beimel was tagged as a Type B free agent. The Dodgers, probably expecting to pay quite well for his services, chose not to offer arbitration forfeiting their rights to a supplemental 1st round draft pick in this year’s amateur draft.  If Beimel pitches as well as he has, the Nationals could wind up with a compensation draft pick in the 2010 draft should he leave as a free agent.

To put that in perspective, the Red Sox drafted Clay Buchholz with a supplemental pick in 2005.  The Yankees drafted Joba Chamberlain with the same in 2006.  Washington themselves took full advantage of this in 2007 selecting now top prospect Michael Burgess.

As the first official move made after the Jim Bowden era, the Nationals have made a good step in the direction of competence. Let’s hope they keep up the good work.

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Looking For Love In All The Wrong Places

by Hans on March 16, 2009

The Orioles announced today that they will be transitioning young fireballer Radhames Liz to a role in the bullpen. Most articles on the subject seem to highlight the lack of major league ready starting pitching in Baltimore more than the potential for Liz’s success in the pen. But what’s the fun in following the crowd.

The term Pitch 22 is often used to refer to a pitcher who is too valuable as a middle reliever to get a shot at the starting rotation. Guys like Aaron Heilman now of the Chicago Cubs come to mind. Radhames Liz is somewhat of the opposite – an arm who was evaluated for the pen when his shot at the rotation backfired miserably. But can he get a fresh start in the pen?

Liz has decent stuff, throwing a mid 90′s fastball, a hard slider, and a mid 80′s change, but can’t seem to find the plate with any of it. In 2008, Liz walked 74 batters in 109 innings. He did this by hitting the strikezone only 48% of the time, which would have placed him as the 5th least accurate in the majors had he pitched enough innings to qualify. Even this was an improvement on his 47.1% in 2007. The clear result is that he allows far more men on base than other pitchers. In fact, his 5.44 walks per 9 innings pitched last year would be the absolute worst in the majors had he amassed enough innings to qualify for that dubious honor.

Radhames’ struggles only seemed to get worse as the game wore on. When facing the batting order the first time around, Liz had a 4.08 ERA. Hitters having seen his stuff once through the lineup, his ERA climbed to 7.58 and 10.61 the second and third times, respectively.

But a reliever has certain benefits over a starter. They only face the order, or often merely a part of it, once per game at most. When used sparingly, his 94 mph power fastball / hard slider combo could prove more effective in a relief role. After all, by averaging 94 mph he matches the likes of such fastball/slider flamethrowers as Brad Lidge or Carlos Marmol.

But if the Orioles really want him to become a successful bridge to Chris Ray and George Sherrill, they’ll have to get their young gun to start pounding the strike zone a little more often.

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