The Overworked Twins Bullpen

[jimmer]

Over at Rotographs, they had an article about our bullpen.  Here's the link:

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/the-overworked-twins-bullpen/

 

'Only three bullpens in baseball threw more innings than the Twins in 2014 — the Rockies, Cubs and Angels. No ‘pen struck out fewer batters than the Twins at 6.7 per 9. Worse yet was that the unit had the third-worst groundball rate at 40.1 percent. Sure, that’s OK in a big park, but not if you don’t have good outfielders, and not particularly if you don’t strike anybody out.'

 

'The Twins have become strangely married to relievers who, quite frankly, aren’t elite in today’s game. While the average MLB relief corps fanned 8.5 batters per 9 last year, the Twins lagged nearly two strikeouts behind.'

 

'Credit the club for seeing how the game is trending and addressing it — even if it was in a weird way. The Twins loaded up on relievers in the 2014 draft. That seems like an odd strategy, but at the same time given the attrition of picks after the first round or two, maybe going with high-ceiling, quick-moving arms isn’t the worst thing? It’ll make for a fascinating case study.'

[ashbury]

I guess it's obvious after you start reading it, but this article is written from a fantasy standpoint.  Since it's all about relievers, it's mostly on an equal footing, one player and another.  But it's looking at things strictly from a 2015 stats perspective, I believe, and thus bigger-picture issues such as giving playing time to guys like Pelfrey are not considered.

[jimmer]

I guess it's obvious after you start reading it, but this article is written from a fantasy standpoint.  Since it's all about relievers, it's mostly on an equal footing, one player and another.  But it's looking at things strictly from a 2015 stats perspective, I believe, and thus bigger-picture issues such as giving playing time to guys like Pelfrey are not considered.

Well, it talks about who to target for fantasy baseball for sure, but the info given about the bullpen is real world info as the quotes I provided clearly show.

 

And notice the guy said Pelfrey might very well be a really good reliever choice?

[ashbury]

I didn't try to say it wasn't useful.  Just that it comes from a different perspective than a fan of the team might have, and might not have the interests of the team foremost.  You can still glean something from it, and maybe understanding the difference in perspective forestalls a pointless argument about some conclusion drawn there.

[Willihammer]

Whether you look at it from a fantasy perspective or a fan perspective, this is not a very promising bullpen IMO:

 

CL Glen Perkins

SU Casey Fien

LHRP Brian Duensing

LHRP Caleb Thielbar

RHRP Tim Stauffer

 

Especially since some of these guys are standing in the same line:

 

RHP Mike Pelfrey

RHP Alex Meyer

RHP Trevor May

LHP Tommy Milone

RHRP Ryan Pressly

RHRP Michael Tonkin

RHRP J.R. Graham

LHRP A.J. Achter

LHRP Logan Darnell

RHRP Lester Oliveros

RHRP Stephen Pryor

LHRP Aaron Thompson

RHRP Mark Hamburger

RHRP Nick Burdi

RHRP Jake Reed

[jimmer]

Whether you look at it from a fantasy perspective or a fan perspective, this is not a very promising bullpen IMO:

 

 

This article is a real world breakdown of our relief corp. If one reads it, they see that.  And you are right, it is not very promising.

[Willihammer]

3rd year arb contract for Brian f-ing Duensing. Ye of 4.0 career FIP.

[h2oface]

I think the bullpen is going to get hit early and often this year, and look forward to seeing what the young arms can do and hope their rise is not impeded by false hope in the more veteran staff assembled and kept. With that in mind, replacements are available for tired arms.

I sure hope Perkins comes to camp in shape, and has gotten rid of the chub he added throughout last year. 

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

'Credit the club for seeing how the game is trending and addressing it — even if it was in a weird way. The Twins loaded up on relievers in the 2014 draft. That seems like an odd strategy, but at the same time given the attrition of picks after the first round or two, maybe going with high-ceiling, quick-moving arms isn’t the worst thing? It’ll make for a fascinating case study.'

 

Warne just implied that the Twins promote pitchers quickly.

 

I'd say that's, ummm, debatable. 

[jimmer]

Warne just implied that the Twins promote pitchers quickly.

 

I'd say that's, ummm, debatable. 

yeah, if he was talking how we did things before, but he's talking about the guys we just drafted right?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

yeah, if he was talking how we did things before, but he's talking about the guys we just drafted right?

Go ahead and compare Brandon Finnegan and Nick Burdi and get back to me. Think Finnegan is ticketed to start at Double AA this year?

[jimmer]

Go ahead and compare Brandon Finnegan and Nick Burdi and get back to me. Think Finnegan is ticketed to start at Double AA this year?

that's a great example of one case.  I have no idea how fast the Twins will move up these guys we just drafted. Seems he was saying these guys could move up fast.

 

In any event, how many teams promote a guy to the majors the year they drafted him?  EVERY team is slow to promote compared to that, not just the Twins.  And I don't see the Royals historically doing it either.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

that's a great example of one case.  I have no idea how fast the Twins will move up these guys we just drafted. Seems he was saying these guys could move up fast.

 

In any event, how many teams promote a guy to the majors the year they drafted him?  EVERY team is slow to promote compared to that, not just the Twins.  And I don't see the Royals historically doing it either.

True that's just one case but there's a trend. Twins, Rays, and a couple other teams are the slowest to promote pitchers. (The data is out there on other threads.) and unfortunately the Twins have to defend their handling of pitchers against the backdrop of four 90-loss seasons and league worst ERAs. But fortunately this should be the year it turns around.

[jimmer]

True that's just one case but there's a trend. Twins, Rays, and a couple other teams are the slowest to promote pitchers. (The data is out there on other threads.) and unfortunately the Twins have to defend their handling of pitchers against the backdrop of four 90-loss seasons and league worst ERAs. But fortunately this should be the year it turns around.

yes, they certainly have a history of promoting slowly, Hopefully, we'll start seeing some change, assuming the players are deserving.  Maybe the type of guys we focused on in the 2014 draft, all those college relievers, will move faster than normal for us.