I think this is a big part of the Giants problem. Javy Lopez and Jeremy Affeldt retired, and the Giants cut the cord with Sergio Romo and Santiago Castilla. Here is what the new guys have accomplished (excluding those who have less than 10 innings work). All numbers from this morning's Chronicle.
Gearrin 33 IP; 47 hits+BB; 26 K
Strickland 27 IP; 38 hits+BB; 28 K
Kontos 36 IP; 45 hits+BB; 40 K
Melancon 19 IP; 28 hits+BB; 17 K
Osich 21 IP; 31 hits+BB; 24 K
Law 30 IP; 51 hits+BB; 27 K
Morris 21 IP; 35 hits+BB; 15 K
Okert 14 IP; 23 hits+BB; 8 K
Strike out "stuff", sure, but look at those runners put on base. Mixed artfully with games where the offense just isn't there, and you can get a lot of losses.
5 comments:
Yeah the Core Four are sadly missed. And while no 'pen has all the cylinders firing at the same time, you expect if one guy makes a mess another guy will step in and clean it up. This 'pen only pours more gas on the fire--too many baserunners allowed. The Giants had the best relief corps in the game for quite a while, I suppose we have to have the worst to balance out the cosmic scale.
I'm baffled by the pen's ineptitude too. But it's not as though we'd have done better to keep Lopez, who was dreadful last year, or Romo and Casilla, who have kept declining. Romo has a negative fWAR with LAD, and Casilla a 0.1 with Oakland. Something makes no sense here, as Melancon's troubles suggest; and I suppose one could throw in the surprising amount of failure from Cueto and Moore, who have caused the bullpen to be so often called upon.
I had this discussion with Ron a couple years ago - the Giants have gotten remarkable, even extraordinary longevity out of some of their relievers. You're right, it is not as though they should have kept Lopez, Romo or Casilla around. They got too long in the tooth. Relief pitchers have a short shelf life. That's one reason why we pay them less than starters. Remember, too that the Giants are still tied for second with the most quality starts in the majors, which suggests that it is not the amount of work that the bullpen has gotten that has caused this problem, but rather the quality (it would be interesting to know total innings and compare that with the rest of the league, but I am not going to parse numbers to figure that out). The sample sizes may be too small, but looking through the list, and leaving aside Melancon because he is so friggin' expensive, Kontos is the only other guy I would be tempted to keep if I had some replacements.
Some of these guys are pretty raw and unpolished, like Okert. Law, too. I could cut them some slack for that. Kontos and Gearrin are the experienced ones, I expected a little better. But too much talent left the 'pen in two short years and now the cupboard is thin. Will Smith's injury was a real loss as well. Not that one guy makes that big of a difference, but it was another brick pulled out of the wall.
the giant pen has not pitched that many innings as the giants starters after Monday's game have 42 quality starts. Seems as if the dodger relievers throw a lot more innings. They obviously have more good relievers, but they are tossing a lot of innings, as are Colorado's relievers. Depending on trades or what they have in the minors, one has to wonder if those teams will start to feel the effects of an exhausted pen. The giants do not need to feel the effects of an exhauted pen, because the pen is not that good when rested. A big disappointment has been Moore. He just cannot seem to spot his pitches where they need to go. Law probably needs an MRI. Seems as if Melancon has had a lot of rest and his arm is still questionable this year. The hitting needs to get hot for a nice long stretch and maybe this team can remember what it is like to win again. Roy HObbs, where are you?
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