Building a Dominant Bullpen: Future

[The_Hater]

Relievers are so unpredictable that it's dumb to throw a huge contract at them. Even 3 years seems like pushing your luck.

For example, Andrew Miller was a dominant pitcher in NY, but he just transformed into a god in Cleveland. A whole new level. Had NY knew that ahead of time, he would not been dealt.... what are the chances Miller dominates like that next season?... not guaranteed.

Miller was almost identical in terms of performance between NY and Cleveland. 44.8% K-rate and 1.39 ERA in NY (45 IP), 44.7% K-rate and 1.55 ERA in Cleveland for the regular season (29 IP), 41.1% K-rate and 1.40 ERA for Cleveland in the playoffs (19 IP). Better K% and better ERA for the Yankees, actually. The difference is negligible. They knew what they had with Miller and Chapman, and they cashed in big time. There is an extremely high likelihood that Miller is elite again next season, as he has been for the past 3 years. It's not guaranteed, but very few things are. You can hope to stumble on a pitcher like that (maybe one or two teams per year find lightning in a bottle to that extent, rarely ever lasting for as long as what Miller has done), or you can pay for one.

Yup. Miller has been God like for about 3 seasons now. Before that, he was a solid RP but had poor command.

I think it seems like he was better in Cleveland because Francona deployed him in a manner much different than we're used too seeing, it allowed him to pitch multiple innings in most of the games during the post season. So based on that he was more valuable than previous seasons.

[Skin Blues]

Yeah it just goes to show how much more valuable a relief ace can be when not limited to save situations. Getting them 2 innings in a tied game in the 6th or 7th is one of the best ways to maximize them in high leverage situations. And if you can line them up against the best part of the opposing lineup, even better. As opposed to waiting so he can hold a 3 run lead with the 6-7-8 hitters due up in the 9th.