Quake Griffin wrote:I think it's a mistake to look to other starters who have become relievers and think that Wood could do it. For every Wade Davis and Luke Hochevar, there's a Chris Capuano who can't hack it as a reliever and it never hits the news or airwaves.
Wood isn't even a failed starter. There's no reason to push him into that role at this point IMO other than the surplus we have.
the difference between guys like Luke and Wade versus Capuano is their stuff. as a reliever, it is very important you have at least 1 dominant pitch. Chris didn't. Wade Davis averaged around 91 mph as a starter with the Rays, then kicked it up a notch when he was only responsible for one inning for the Royals, marking around 95 mph with his fastball. Luke threw around where Wood is at now when he was a starter, between 90 to 91. now as a setup guy, he is averaging 94 mph with his fastball.
Alex can do this. his fastball averaged around 90-91 with the braves in his first year, then the last two has been more around 89-90. if he is given the responsibility of three outs a night only, I can see his velocity getting up to 93 mph.
another reason to consider him as a setup man is due to his pitches. he had both slider and curve when he broke out with the Braves to go along with his four seam and two seam fastballs, change up and his knucklecurve. since then, in last two seasons Alex has completely abandoned his curve and slider due to ineffectiveness. Alex Wood as of now is really, essentially a two pitch pitcher. he has fastball aibeit in two variations, and an off speed pitch, although his KC breaks a bit more than his straight change. the reason why I call him a two pitch pitcher now is because the separation between his 4 seamer and 2 seamer is less than 1 mph, and the separation between his changeup and knuckle curve is barely 2 mph. those are not different enough of pitches and not different enough of velocities to make him a 4 pitch pitcher. he was a 4 pitch pitcher when he had his curve and slider, but those two pitches also had basically same velocity and same break, just different angle which is the reason why he doesn't throw them anymore. as a setup guy, his two pitch approach will work just fine, and in back to back games if facing the same set of batters, his two fastballs and two off speed have just enough shift in breaks that he can get away with it. but as a starter, his stuff is the reason why he gets rocked the third time around the lineup.
