The Great Bullpen Struggle of 2018

[KluberSociety]

Here's my "power rankings" of our non Allen-Millers at the moment based a lot on performances this year:

SIERA ("skill-independent ERA") is a good metric to measure how they've actually performed, and we've got:

Otero: 2018 - 3.20, 2017 - 2.96

Still no signs against him not being a quality middle-relief arm.

Ramirez: 2018 - 3.85, 2017 - 4.07

This is the guy that I think can really come through. Yes his MLB numbers aren't great this year, but his fastball has gained multiple MPH, and the higher sample size performance in AAA shows that he has a reasonably high ceiling (31-3 K-BB in only 17.2 IP, that is flat out domination). Expect better results to follow.

Goody: 2018 - 4.26, 2017 - 3.07

Inferior to Otero this year, as well as last. Still not a bad guy to have in the lower rung of the bullpen.

McAllister: 2018 - 3.94, 2017 - 3.58

At this point you sort of know what you are going to get with Zach. I wouldn't cherry pick low sample sizes with him. He's basically another Goody.

Taylor: 2018 - 2.20, 2017 - 4.56

Could be a dark horse option here, he put up some solid numbers in AAA this year too. He's been throwing in the zone a lot more this year in both AAA and MLB, which bodes well for his success and makes him potentially much improved over 2017.

Marshall: 2018 - 3.54, 2017 - 6.31

Well, he has shown good GB% but he's going to have to find a way to avoid walks. Probably more like a 4 ERA guy who creates a lot of headaches with walks, which is a fringe MLB reliever.

Tomlin: 2018 - 5.35, 2017 - 4.17

Yeah... I think we all know what he's about.

 

[The Wizard of Moz]

Those are some pretty low looking skill independent ERAs for such a terrible bullpen

 

[KluberSociety]

Those are some pretty low looking skill independent ERAs for such a terrible bullpen

That just shows there's likely a lot of bad luck involved with what's transpired so far.

I'm not saying the pen is good but it has some hope... if only we could trade in some of our depth for some quality late inning solutions.

Ramirez may have made it to the top of my power rankings, and actually I'd rather see him ahead of Allen now but Allen has a track record and think he'll figure it out, eventually. I do wonder how much he and other pitchers miss former reliever Callaway though, but the starters have been doing just fine.

I guess it's a lot to ask for but if Ramirez can be our "Shaw" and somehow get Allen/Miller healthy and commanding the ball well, things can flip around pretty quickly.

The loss of Salazar hurts though... we really may need to make that trade but might as well just see where things go in the days leading up to the deadline.