Thread: Article: Reliever Ryan Pressly leaves an early impression

Pressly has to demonstrate he has upside beyond just a career middle reliever, because you can acquire those more easily than having to babysit a player before he's ready to contribute. He's tagged as a washout as a starter, so that means he needs to be able to close after a year or two of major league experience; I'm not sure an upside of setup man is enough. I think that's what the Twins have in mind - the quotes in the article speak of "late in the game" - but he still needs to show it in Florida, and that won't be easy for him.

I agree that he doesn't have much value as an expendable middle reliever, but even if he doesn't quite show what the front office is looking for this spring, but hints that there is still a possiblity of him being able to perform as a late game arm, I think you take that chance. After all, Swarzak, Roenicke, Burnett or whoever else that may take the spot clearly don't have 9th inning stuff, those kind of guys have already proven to be expendable.

Originally Posted by nicksaviking

I agree that he doesn't have much value as an expendable middle reliever, but even if he doesn't quite show what the front office is looking for this spring, but hints that there is still a possiblity of him being able to perform as a late game arm, I think you take that chance. After all, Swarzak, Roenicke, Burnett or whoever else that may take the spot clearly don't have 9th inning stuff, those kind of guys have already proven to be expendable.

If his upside is "closer" and he only achieves setup-man (think: Ron Davis for the Yankees, before the Peter Principle took effect), that will be a fine outcome. And I think scout Followell explicitly was talking about closing, although the actual use of the term in the article was a paraphrase and not in quotes. So that's all good. What I don't want is for expectations to get scaled back in March, and we keep him because his upside is only setup-man someday. Drafting a reliever in rule-5 is somewhat safe but also a low upside pick unless you have the discipline to not let it be. As with most transactions, it can't be judged for a year or two or three.