Don't wear out your prize bull
Going to your bullpen can be addictive for a manager.
"I just...gotta...use...this guy...one more time."
I was thinking about Jake deGrom's brilliant but all-too-low 92 innings in 2021 as a starter.
It made me somehow think back to a highly used reliever for Boston who I was fascinated with in the 1960s, Dick Radatz.
He was one of the guys who transformed thinking about using power guys out of the pen.
Boy, oh, boy, did Boston use him.
In his 3rd season in 1964, 157.2 innings pitched. 16-9, 2.29 ERA, 29 saves, 181 Ks. That many innings would have tied the 44th highest innings starter in the majors in 2021. The top MLB reliever in terms of innings in 2021 was Chad Green, with 74 fewer innings than Radatz tossed in 1964.
In his prior two years, in 1962 (as a 25 year old rookie, after 3 minor league years) and in 1963, as a rookie and sophomore, the 6'6" giant threw a total of 258 innings, went 21-12, with an ERA a sliver above 2.00 for those 2 seasons, with 306 Ks and 47 saves.
How incredible. Back then, he was unique.
But in his 4th season in 1966, his first 2 relief outings were 3 innings apiece, in which he allowed 3 earned runs in both.
Huh? Where did the man nicknamed the Monster go?
His last relief outing in April 1966, he went SIX innings for the win! 22 batters, not sure how many pitches. Jake deGrom did not throw to more hitters than that in 8 of his 15 starts in 2021.
I think overusing Radatz like that was a mistake. His next outing a week later, 1/3 of an inning, 4 runs.
He ended that season, 9-11, 3.91, and "just" 121 Ks in 125 innings.
So, in his first 4 seasons, he threw 540 innings. Insane.
The burned out Radatz was a shell of his former self after that 1965 season, going 3-11, with a high ERA, missing 1968 altogether, and retiring after 1969.
Used and abused. Overworked.
Back then, overusing a talent like Radatz was just dumb, because it was before free agency - you owned the dude forever, unless you traded him. Regardless, you got gold, you treat it like gold. Unless you're dumb.
Nowadays, a guy may be under the contract only through year end, so less caution is needed for those guys. Burn them out, sign someone else. Think Pedro Feliciano for the Mets in 2010...92 outings. He signs with the Yanks after that season, but misses 2 full seasons due to arm woes in 2011 and 2012.
Speaking of the Yanks, Radatz was 6-1 in his career against them, with 14 saves. A Yankee killer. Wish we had a few of those in the Mets' pen.
Well, anyway, I am done with this article, and quite a relief that is for you and me both.
Time to relieve myself, if you'll excuse me. It doesn't get any bladder than this.
But kidding aside, I was a kid in the 1960s who was in awe of the huge, fireballing Dick Radatz back in the day.
The man was a larger-than-life Green Monster in Boston.
I thought he was indestructible. He wasn't.
P.S.
I’ll bet you can’t guess which major league reliever threw just an inning + less than Chad Green, as the second highest bullpen inning-eater guy in 2021 baseball.
Former Mets prospect Nabil Crismatt.
Amazing, huh? Another of the many guys who left the organization and achieved real success.
And pure gold, in that he was, in a day and age of pitcher fragility, a durable arm in 2021 whenever called upon.
And, just to digress a bit more before I go, don't let your pitchers go to Seattle. Chasen Bradford was 2-0 as a Mets reliever in 2017 in 28 outings. In 2018, with Seattle, he goes 5-0 in 46 outings. As in, five more wins than losses.
Heck, I'll leave you with one crazy (but not so crazy) idea:
Maybe the Mets should keep the name "New York Mets" but move the whole team to Seattle - they'd no doubt win it all every year, as Chris Flexen and Paul Sewald (a brilliant combined 24-9 in 2021 after being a nauseating combined 4-26 career as Mets) have proven.
I know you want Cohen bucks spent on new pen pals but I still believe you can find great additions from excess starters.
ReplyDeleteSign two hot shot starters and convert Yama and Cookie to the bench beyond the fences.
Excellent piece, Tom. Mediocre managers tend to overuse their best relievers because they're afraid of being criticized. One hallmark of a really good manager is using his bullpen intelligently and not having his top guys fried by late August. Especially nowadays, with starters pitching so few innings, a deep bullpen wisely deployed can take a team with average starters a long way.
ReplyDeleteI really liked last year's manager... as a person... but his bullpen management was from hunger.
ReplyDeleteDid Luis Rojas manage the bullpen or did the front office? Don't think we will ask that question this year. Buck has always been a good bullpen manager. That fact alone should help a lot.
ReplyDeleteThe bullpen was about the only thing that Luis managed last season.
DeleteMack, I am not at all sold on Yama. We can and should do better. But if we can sign a few hot shot starters, I am good with Adam Oller instead in the pen.
ReplyDeleteMike, thanks, I just think it is funny that the two years the Mets won the World Series, they used 50-50 lefty / righty closers with great success. I would hope we could do something like that with Edwin. Lots of pressure trying to be a closer in NYC. Share the pressure.
One thing to remember about relievers...
DeleteThey don't have to hold back in the first 30 pitches.
A fastball that sits 92 can be hurled at 95 for two innings.
Just saying
Oller did not do well as a bullpen pitcher early in his minor league career. He turned it around as a starter. That was then and this is now but that is something to keep in mind before shifting him to the bullpen.
ReplyDeleteMack, I hear ya. I just thought Yama sat in the high 80s. I could be undercounting him.
ReplyDeleteI think Oller (acknowledging what John said) has come a long way from the early days (and a long way from even early last season) and can probably get up to 97 if used out of the pen. With his secondary pitches, I'd not be surprised to see him on the big club, if not by opening day, then soon thereafter, in a meaningful pen - or starter/spot starter - role.
I still say they need to build the pen with a couple long guys that will pitch 3 or 4 innings a couple times a week. Perhaps that is Yamamoto and Carrasco, or Williams, or even Peterson. The days of a starter going 5 followed by 4 relievers every day have to end.
ReplyDeleteBill, I think you may well see more of that with the presumed return of the DH - no more need to pinch hit for pitchers.
ReplyDeleteThat is another of my pet peeves of Luis Rojas - the unwillingness or inability to double switch. I wish I had recorded the times I sat here knowing the pitcher was up second in the next half inning and he made a pitching switch with no other moves. There were times a guy would come in, throw three pitches to get out of the inning and then have to leave because his slot was up. Screwy baseball.
ReplyDeleteI think Johnny Callison took him deep to win the game for the NL in Shea a very exciting game. They need to expand the rosters to accomodate the 16 to 18 pitchers you need heck there really isn't "a closer" any more we need at least 2.
ReplyDeleteBy the way shouldn't we hire the Seattle pitching coach I mean just saying he's doing something right.
ReplyDelete