Wait...we have good middle relievers??

[Wannabe MEP]

ESPN lists 212 NL pitchers who have pitched at least 20 innings this year.



Not sure how much weight to give ERA...but still...

[El Turco]

add voggy to the list

[Wannabe MEP]

add voggy to the list

The List

• Current starter
• Middle reliever
• Late reliever
• Long reliever/would-be starter

ERA < 2.00

• Javier Lopez — 1.59
• Hunter Strickland — 1.61
• George Kontos — 1.62

ERA < 4.00

• Santiago Casilla — 2.89
• Chris Heston — 3.24
• Madison Bumgarner — 3.39
• Mike Leake — 3.52

ERA ≥ 4.00

• Sergio Romo — 4.01
• Ryan Vogelsong — 4.07
• Jake Peavy — 4.12
• Tim Lincecum — 4.13
• Yusmeiro Petit — 4.23
• Matt Cain — 4.50
• Tim Hudson — 4.80
• Jeremy Affeldt — 5.84

[Wannabe MEP]

Updated the #s, re-organized this by group, and changed the meaning of the colors to associate with ERA

Current starters

• Chris Heston — 3.24
• Madison Bumgarner — 3.39
• Mike Leake — 3.52
• Jake Peavy — 3.77
• Matt Cain — 4.91

Middle relievers

• Javier Lopez — 1.57
• Hunter Strickland — 1.86
• George Kontos — 1.93
• Jeremy Affeldt — 5.68

Late relievers

• Santiago Casilla — 3.32
• Sergio Romo — 3.79

Long relievers/would-be starters

• Yusmeiro Petit — 4.01
• Tim Lincecum — 4.13
• Ryan Vogelsong — 4.16
• Tim Hudson — 4.80

Coloring:
ERA < 2.00
2.00 < ERA < 4.00
ERA > 4.00

[Wannabe MEP]

Current starters

Gotta feel good about this group. MadBum is MadBum, and Heston’s been a revelation. Depth has been a real problem this season, but the addition of Leake + the return of (a steadily improving) Peavy = we look pretty solid through four.

If Cain can get back to being Cain…damn. That could be one helluva rotation.

Middle relievers

At the beginning of the season, I don’t think anyone would’ve said that this crew could be the Giants’ biggest strength, but that’s what the #s say thus far. Now, we’re not talking about a huge sample size, and neither Kontos nor Strickland have been near the *effective playoff pitching* stratosphere. But by this season’s numbers, this middle relief trio could make a case for best in the majors.

Late relievers

The #s have been disappointing for both Romo and Casilla, but Romo’s been heating up recently, and his WHIP, K/9, etc. look a lot better than his ERA. So there’s definitely hope that Romo’s gonna be what we need him to be when it counts.

Casilla is a problem right now. By a bunch of metrics, he’s one of the worst closers in the league this season. Either a) he starts getting it together, b) swap Romo, Kontos, or Strickland in at closer, or c) we go to closer-by-committee. I don’t know how long Casilla’s leash is at this point.

Long relievers/would-be starters

Some fantastic lifetime résumés on that list. Not so much this season, but you gotta imagine that we could still get meaningful innings out of one or two of those guys…right??

Summary

I think we can feel good about our starters and middle relievers, and Romo seems to be getting on track. That leaves two major question marks:

1. Closer
2. Depth – we need a legit contribution from at least a couple of the following: Cain, Vogelsong, Affeldt, Petit, Lincecum, Hudson. All guys who have done some fantastic pitching on big stages in the past.

[El Turco]

cant we just convert one of the good middle relievers into a closer? hunter can do it

[Wannabe MEP]

cant we just convert one of the good middle relievers into a closer? hunter can do it

Here are the options:

• Player . . . . . WHIP . . . K/9 . . . . . ERA
• Casilla . . . . . 1.44 . . . 9.23 . . . . 3.23
• Romo . . . . . . 1.12 . . . 12.52 . . . 3.68
• Strickland . . . 0.99 . . . 10.09 . . . 1.78
• Kontos . . . . . 0.92 . . . 5.54 . . . . 1.90

If we're only factoring in this season's numbers, you gotta go with Strickland. But Casilla and Romo have history on their side. I don't know when the small sample size of this season starts to trump previous years' success.

I guess I'd say, keep Casilla on it for 2-4 more weeks. If there's not clear improvement by then, it's Strickland, unless Romo stays on fire for that stretch.

I don't know. Tough call.

[Wannabe MEP]

Top ten NL relievers ranked by WHIP — min 30 innings pitched

1. Kenley Jansen — 0.70
2. Javier Lopez — 0.73
3. Carter Capps — 0.81
4. Francisco Rodriguez — 0.82
5. Joaquin Benoit — 0.83
6. Brad Ziegler — 0.86
7. Hunter Strickland — 0.89
8. George Kontos - 0.91
9. A.J. Ramos - 0.92
10. Tony Watson - 0.92